If there’s something off when it comes to your employees, you can’t really identify the problem by just looking at it. 

Plus, we all know it gets awkward to ask employees in person about what’s wrong. Most of the time, they won’t highlight the problem or may avoid discussing it in front of their managers.

So, what’s the solution? Yes, employee surveys. The fact that they are anonymous makes employees feel comfortable sharing their opinions regarding problems.

So how do you create employee surveys and manage them effectively? This is what I am going to talk about in today’s article.

But first, let’s take a look at why employee surveys are important.

Why are employee surveys important?

“Your number one customers are your people. Look after employees first and then customers last.” - Ian Hutchinson, Author of People Glue

If you really care about your employees and are concerned about your company’s growth, you need to understand how they feel about their workplace. 

• What are their challenges?
• What parts of their job are they satisfied and unsatisfied with?
• What are their motivations?
• What would they like improved?

Their feedback will enable you to see issues that you might not notice otherwise. With this information, you can make data-driven decisions and work towards improving your workplace.

All of this can happen if you create employee surveys.

Here are some benefits of employee surveys: 

• Identify Hidden Issues: Employee surveys can reveal problems that are not visible on the surface. It will help you address the problems before they escalate.
• Boost Employee Morale: When employees see that their opinions matter and lead to tangible changes, it increases their engagement and job satisfaction.
• Improve Retention Rates: Understanding employee concerns and addressing them can reduce turnover rates, saving your company time and money.
• Enhance Productivity: Happy employees are more productive. Surveys employees can help identify ways to improve working conditions and boost overall efficiency.
• Promote Open Communication: Frequent surveys encourage a culture of openness and transparency.

Let’s now understand how to create an employee survey.

5 Easy steps to create employee survey

Creating effective surveys for employees involves careful planning and consideration. 

Follow these five simple steps to ensure your survey gathers valuable insights and promotes positive changes in your workplace.

1. Identify the Purpose

Do you really want to achieve specific outcomes from your employee survey, or are you just jumping on the bandwagon because every company is doing it? 

Be clear about the goals and objectives you want to achieve with your employee survey. 

If you’re unsure of the objectives, consider some of the challenges in your workplace.

It could be:

• Employee Engagement: Are your employees feeling connected and motivated in their roles?
• Job Satisfaction: Are there aspects of their job that employees are unhappy with?
• Workplace Culture: Are there issues with communication or collaboration among team members?

After identifying the purpose of your survey, you can create employee surveys that target these specific areas. This approach ensures that surveying employees provides actionable insights. 

Next, you need to decide on the type of survey. Let’s discuss the different types of employee surveys in the next heading.

2. Decide on The Survey Type

Different employee surveys serve different purposes. Here are some employee survey types and their objectives:

• Employee Engagement Survey: Measures the level of engagement and commitment employees feel towards their work and the organization.
• Employee Satisfaction Survey: Assesses how satisfied employees are with various aspects of their job, such as work environment, compensation, and management.
• Employee Pulse Survey: A short, frequent survey that provides quick insights into the current state of employee sentiment and morale.
• Employee Onboarding Survey: Gathers feedback from new hires about their initial experiences and helps identify areas for improvement in the onboarding process.

Choosing the right questions for an employee survey also depends on the type of survey. 

When you are clear on the goals of your survey and have chosen a type, it’s time to create employee surveys that are tailored to your specific needs.

3. Create Employee Survey

Now, based on your survey objectives, you need to create the questions for your survey. 

Consider what type of questions will best gather the information you need. 

Are you going to use open-ended survey questions to allow for detailed responses? Will you use a Likert scale to quantify employee sentiments?

Incorporate employee survey best practices by ensuring your questions are clear, concise, and relevant to the objectives. It's also crucial to make your survey inclusive. 

This means using language that is accessible to all employees and considering diverse perspectives to ensure everyone feels comfortable participating. 

4. Run a Survey Test

After you’ve created an employee survey, make sure to test it with a small group of people to spot any mistakes beforehand.

The test group may include people in management, as they can provide valuable insights and identify any issues that need improvement. They can point out unclear questions, technical glitches, or any biases in the survey design.

Testing is always a great idea because it helps you catch errors early and refine the survey before it reaches all employees. 

This step ensures that your survey is effective and professional, saving you from potential embarrassment and increasing the likelihood of meaningful responses.

5. Spread the Word!

Now that you’re all set, it’s time to distribute your survey among your employees. You can distribute this survey using many ways, including:

• Physical notice on the office bulletin board using a QR code that will direct employees to a Google form
• Through email or a password-protected form
• Through an in-house portal or CRM
• Via company newsletters

While distributing your survey, make sure to convey the importance of this survey and that you value employees’ feedback. 

This can increase your survey response rate and make employees feel that they are contributing to something that could create a change.

Another important factor in distributing the survey is timing. Make sure you pick the best time to send the survey so that it doesn’t get ignored.

Next, let’s discuss some employee survey management techniques.

Employee survey management

After you have received your employee survey feedback, it’s time to make sense of the data. Proper employee survey management involves analyzing the survey results thoroughly to find key insights and trends.

Start by categorizing the responses to identify common themes and issues. You can use data analysis tools or software to help visualize the findings. This will enable you to pinpoint specific areas that need improvement.

Also, make sure to act on the feedback provided by your employees. Communicate with them about the actions you plan to take based on their input. 

This not only shows that you value their opinions but also encourages participation in future surveys. 

By taking decisive action, you can address issues and enhance the overall work environment. This reinforces the purpose of your effort to create employee surveys.

Tips for writing good employee survey questions

Here are some tips to create employee surveys that are balanced and effective:

• Be Clear and Concise: Ensure each question is straightforward and easy to understand. Avoid complex language.

• Example: "How satisfied are you with the communication from management?"

• Use a Mix of Question Types: Combine open-ended questions with scale-based questions to get both qualitative and quantitative data.

• Example: "What do you enjoy most about your job?" and "On a scale of 1-10, how would you rate your job satisfaction?"

• Ensure Anonymity: Guarantee anonymity to encourage honest feedback.

• Example: "Do you feel comfortable sharing your opinions at work?"

• Cover All Relevant Topics: Address various aspects of the workplace, such as culture, management, and work-life balance.

• Example: "How would you describe the work-life balance at our company?"

Here are some survey errors that you must avoid if you want to collect authentic data:

• Avoid Biases: Ensure questions are neutral and unbiased.

Example: "How effective is our inclusive culture?" (instead of "Do you think our culture is very inclusive?")

• No Double-Barreled Questions: Avoid asking two questions in one.

Example: "How satisfied are you with your pay and job role?" should be split into two separate questions.

• Avoid Leading Questions: Do not influence the respondent's answer with the wording of the question.

Example: "Do you agree that our new policy is beneficial?" should be "What are your thoughts on the new policy?"

• Keep Questions Relevant: Ensure every question is related to the survey's goals.

Example: Avoid unrelated questions like "What is your favorite color?"

Create and manage employee surveys with Formaloo!

Creating and managing employee surveys the traditional way is time-consuming and tedious when it shouldn’t be in the age of AI. 

This is the exact problem Formaloo solves for you. With Formaloo, you can create employee surveys within minutes and distribute them wherever you want. 

Not only this but you can manage and analyze the survey feedback within Formaloo as well. 

It’s an all-in-one tool for survey-making and management. 

Try for free today and see the magic yourself.