Employee surveys: how to find out what your team really thinks

An employee survey helps you learn about problems before they show up in a resignation letter. But it only works if people answer honestly. Here is how to make that happen.

Step 1. Agree on why you are running it

A survey for the sake of a survey does harm: people spend their time, nothing changes, and next time they answer on autopilot. Decide in advance which topics you care about (workload, management, working conditions, growth) and who will work through the results.

Step 2. Make it truly anonymous

• Do not add name or email questions.
• Do not ask for combinations that identify people: department plus tenure plus job title gives everyone away in a small team.
• Send everyone the same link rather than personal ones.
• Say plainly in the intro text that responses are anonymous and who will see the results.

To keep outsiders out, set a survey password and share it in your team chat. Blocking repeat responses stops one person from answering twice.

Step 3. Keep it short

10 to 15 questions, 5 to 7 minutes. Make most of them ratings on the same scale, which works neatly as a matrix. Sample statements to rate from strongly disagree to strongly agree:

• I know what is expected of me at work.
• I have what I need to do my job well.
• My manager gives me useful feedback.
• My workload is manageable overall.
• I can see how I could grow in this company.
• I would recommend this company as a place to work to a friend.

Add two open questions: What do you like most about your work? and What is the one thing you would change first? The last one often brings the most valuable answers.

Step 4. Timing and reminders

Give people a week or two and set the survey lifetime so it closes on its own. Send a reminder after a few days to those who have not answered yet. Managers should not personally ask their reports to take the survey: it puts pressure on them.

Step 5. Share the results and what will change

This is the most important step. A couple of weeks after the survey, tell the team the key numbers, what you heard and the two or three changes you are going to make. Next time more people will answer, and more honestly.

How to analyze the answers

• Look beyond averages at the share of low scores: an average of 3.5 can hide a third of very unhappy people.
• Compare groups with filters, but only when each group is large enough, otherwise anonymity suffers.
• Sort the open answers into themes and count which come up most often.
• Repeat the survey with the same questions every six months to see what changes.

For inspiration, look through our example surveys, and export the results to Excel for your report.