How to construct effective employee survey questions

Employee surveys can be a treasure trove of employee data that communicators can use to take their internal messaging efforts to the next level. To get the best data, you have to compose questions that address the questions you need answered.

Melissa Kanter, head of communications and brand experience at ING, told Ragan that a lack of precision in how questions are composed can lead to imprecise data.

“Our questions need to be clear, easy to understand and they’re designed to give us information we can actually use,” she said.

Here are a few key ways internal communicators can formulate top-flight internal survey questions.

• Determine the purpose of the survey. Surveying employees on something that isn’t going to change can make them feel frustrated and unheard. Before the first question is written, communications should meet with leaders to figure out what kinds of choices they’re willing to make based on survey data. Finding out the purpose behind a line of questioning can help winnow down queries. “Survey success is more than the response rates and scores,” said Kanter. “The purpose of the survey should be to collect insights that drive actionable next steps.”
• Blend simplicity and specificity. General questions are a lot less likely to get internal communicators the deep insights they’re looking for. Chelsey Louzeiro, senior internal communications manager at Heifer International, told Ragan that a question that’s spot-on in one organization might fall completely flat in another, underscoring the need for internal comms pros to have a deep knowledge of the everyday challenges employees face during the composition process. “An effective question is simple, specific and gives employees a clear runway to respond,” she told Ragan. “It’s open enough to invite honest input and focused enough to generate insights you can act on.” In practice, this can look like the following with an example that asks employees to agree or disagree:
  • Weak question: Leadership communicates change effectively.
  • Strong question: When leadership communicates change, I understand what’s changing, how it impacts my role and why.

The difference between these two prompts doesn’t lie in what they aim to measure — it’s all in the precision of the language of the question.

• Use open-ended questions to capture what other questions may not have. After employees get through structured prompts that solicit the data internal comms pros are looking for, placing an open-ended question in a survey can give employees a chance to raise concerns in their own words. This feedback is also free from the constraint of predetermined choices. “One of the most valuable questions I’ve used is, ‘Is there anything else you would like to tell us about the topic?’” Louzeiro said. “Placing this open-ended prompt at the end of a survey consistently surfaces themes I didn’t think to ask about and things employees care about, but that may not show up in structured questions. These are often the richest source of insight, and those who respond to it are usually passionate about their responses and open to follow-up conversations to help be part of the solutions or changes that come next.”
  • Weak question: Do you have anything else to share?
  • Strong question: Do you have anything else to share about how internal communications can better support you in your role?
• Refine or rewrite questions. Even after all the questions are written and the survey is published, the composition process isn’t fully over. Kanter told Ragan that at ING, “After the results are in, we examine which questions drove meaningful insights and which produced flat results,” she said. “If a question consistently yields unclear data, we can rewrite the question or remove it from future surveys.”
  • Weak question: I feel informed by the internal communications team at work.
  • Strong, rewritten question: I feel that the internal communications team provides timely updates that help me do my job better.

Employee surveys might be judged by the data they produce, but the quality of that data often hinges on how well the survey questions are written. Sharply written questions give employees a better way to show communicators what they’re thinking about, and in turn, comms pros can use that detailed insight to enact meaningful change through messaging.

For more on how to write effective employee survey questions, join Ragan’s Communications Leadership Council.

Sean Devlin is an editor at Ragan Communications.