Employee Satisfaction Questionnaire: What should you ask and How?

Satisfaction and happiness are the most fundamental pursuits of humans.

Employees want to stay in a job where they feel content, and employers want to create an environment where employees can put their best efforts.

But even then, statistics reveal that employee satisfaction is shockingly low. Only 47.8% of men and 46.3% of women are satisfied at work. (Source)

It is a well-established fact that an employee’s satisfaction is hugely intertwined with their productivity and performance. It directly leads to low employee attrition rates.

Managers are constantly seeking effective and sustainable ways to keep employee satisfaction high.

Related: Employee Satisfaction Survey: A Brief Guide

But what exactly makes up Employee Satisfaction?

“It is better to take many small steps in the right direction than to make a great leap forward only to stumble backward.” ~Louis Sachar

The attributes of employee satisfaction can vary widely.

Employee attitude, work environment, stress-inducing factors, frequent absenteeism, burn-out tendencies, work-life balance, career growth opportunities are key indicators of employee satisfaction.

Read: 7 Best Practices to Keep Employee Satisfaction High

Every organization is different from the other. Specific attributes may hit the red alert in some companies and not in some others.

It is, therefore, important to continuously measure the degree of satisfaction among your people.

Employee satisfaction surveys can help you uncover the lesser-known or ignored factors leading to dissatisfaction among your employees.

Choosing the right set of survey questions and a suitable survey template is crucial to get the most out of your employee surveys. And that is exactly what I'll help you within this article.

Note: An employee satisfaction survey questions should gauge the intrinsic and extrinsic factors contributing to happiness and satisfaction at work.

Read: 45 Employee Engagement Survey Questions that you must ask in 2019

Do’s and Don’t:

• Do make the survey Annonymous
• Be specific and straightforward
• Maintain uniformity throughout the questionnaire
• Maintain Brevity
• Run Surveys timely and frequently
• Leave room for detailed/lengthy answers
• Give the option to skip through questions
• Take Action

Presenting 15 Questions that you must ask in the Employee Satisfaction Survey:

1. Would you recommend the organization as an excellent place to work for your friends and acquaintances?

This is a standard eNPS survey question, and it’s a significant one. An employee’s likelihood to recommend the company is a direct indicator of her/his overall satisfaction level.

2. On a scale of 0-5, how happy and satisfied are you with the organization?

“When people go to work, they shouldn’t have to leave their hearts at home.” When you ask your employees to respond to this question on a scale of 0-5, you get an obvious idea about where you currently stand. They might not be willing to give a definite Yes or No answer, but answering on a scale becomes somewhat easier.

3. Do you look forward to coming to work each morning?

Your people spend a huge chunk of their waking hours in the workplace. Therefore, it shouldn’t be a place that they dread coming to. The responses to this question will give a clear picture of how they perceive a workday.

4. Do you feel recognized for your hard work, and successes at work?

Being recognized for a job well done, consistent hard work or any particular attribute of an individual is a definite morale booster for employees. This specific survey question is essential to gauge their satisfaction at work.

5. On a scale of 0-5, how would you rate your work-life balance?

Achieving a healthy work-life balance has always been a top priority for working individuals. With more and more millennials and Gen Zers dominating the workforce, the need has only increased profoundly. More companies are promoting work-life balance through various policies, and it only makes sense to keep a check on your initiatives.

6. Do You have a clear understanding of how your work impacts the business?

People tend to work harder when they feel that their contribution makes a difference. You should clearly spell out the job roles and responsibilities to the employees. When they are not well-informed, it leads to confusion and often demotivation. It is important to keep a check if they well-informed about their expectations and responsibilities.

7. Do you have sufficient opportunities for personal growth and professional growth?

Your employees naturally have an inherent desire to grow. They should be made aware of their promotion and career paths. If they feel stagnant in a particular role, it can be one of the main reasons for lack of job satisfaction.

8. Do you feel proud to be associated with the Company?

Another very straightforward question to understand employee satisfaction is asking them if they take pride in being associated with the company. Additionally, when employees are proud of their organization, they often become active advocates for its products/services.

9. Do you get enough time to do your job well?

Incidents of burn-outs and stress are pretty common in corporations. Employees are often over-burdened with work and given unrealistic goals to achieve. Keeping up with the competitive edge usually takes a toll on their mental health. It is crucial to have this question on your online survey.

Related: How Can Managers Support Mental Health in the Workplace

10. Do you feel aligned with the broader company goals?

Alignment is essential when it comes to employee happiness. Employees must be able to achieve personal accomplishment while working for the company. It offers a clear trajectory for employees to stay for the long term and ultimately leads to employee retention.

11. Are you satisfied with the current compensation and benefits offered by the company?

The company's compensation and benefits remain to be one of the top reasons for employees leaving. It is needless to say that it is crucial to evaluate the extrinsic factors of employee satisfaction on a timely basis.

12. Do you have a good working relationship like with colleagues?

Everybody wants to be part of a work environment where people respect one another. A collaborative work environment is more preferred over a highly competitive one. The kind of relationship that an employee shares with their team members is crucial for their happiness at work.

Read: 9 Tips To Build a Healthy Work Relationship With Employees

13. Do you feel empowered at work?

Empowerment is having a certain degree of autonomy at work. People wish to have the freedom and authority to make sure independent decisions in their job. The absence of this often leads to stress and conflict in the workplace. Having an empowering and nurturing environment directly impacts how employees feel at work.

14. Do you find your job role exciting and challenging?

Having a certain degree of risk and challenge in the job is a long-lasting motivator for employees. It gets their creativity flowing, and they become more absorbed in their career. If they find the job uninteresting or mundane, they won't put their heart and soul into it.

15. Does your manager care about you as a person?

How a manager treats the employees make a significant impact on the company culture. Employees should feel free to communicate and exchange feedbacks with their managers. Similarly, the managers should be receptive to their opinions and ideas. When managers are empathetic and humane towards their subordinates, it naturally enhances satisfaction.

Final words

All the questions in the articles are asked so that respondents can rate their responses on a scale of 0-5 in the pulse survey format. These are just some examples of satisfaction survey questions. It would help if you had questions specific to your company. If you have any more suggestions and inputs, do let us know in the comment section below. I’m excited to hear from you!

This article is written by Darshana Dutta. She works as a Content Creator and Digital Marketer at Vantage Circle. She writes extensively on trends around employee engagement and transforming company culture. For any related queries, contact editor@vantagecircle.com