Employee benefits surveys allow businesses to get feedback on company perks and programs.
Benefits are a key part of being an employee and it’s a great idea to get feedback about them. Understanding what is great, what could be improved, and what employees aren’t interested in is key for businesses when trying to acquire great employees.
Keep reading to learn more about the benefits, importance, and creation of these surveys (and why you might need a third party to help you run one)!
What Are Employee Benefits Surveys
An employee benefits survey is a tool used by organizations to gather feedback from their employees about the various benefits and perks offered as part of their compensation package.
The purpose of such a survey is to assess employee satisfaction, preferences, and needs related to the benefits provided by the company.
Moreover, the questionnaire typically includes employee benefits survey questions about health insurance, retirement plans, vacation and leave policies, flexible work arrangements, wellness programs, and other fringe benefits.
Importance of Surveying Employees About Benefits
Employee surveys measuring benefits have a tremendous impact on a workplace. In fact, companies that are simply transparent about their benefits are 101% more likely to be trusted by employees.
Aside from just being transparent, employee benefits surveys help organizations understand how well their current benefits align with employee expectations, identify areas for improvement, and make informed decisions about adjusting or expanding their benefits offerings.
Other advantages of an employee benefits survey may include:
Improved Employee Wellbeing
Surveying employees about benefits will increase their wellbeing. How?
First off, employees will notice the fact that management cares enough to get their feedback.
But more importantly, the improvements made from the survey data will directly affect the employees. If benefits are tweaked/improved based on the survey feedback, this will likely increase employee happiness.
Increased Productivity
It's simple: happier employees are more productive.
When employees feel their needs are being met, through enhanced benefits or otherwise, they naturally work harder because they value their company.
A recent survey revealed that during the workday, up to 70% of employees are distracted by concerns related to their jobs and finances.
Improved benefits will allow employees to be less distracted by fears such as these, leading to better quality work.
Better Employee Engagement
All too often, employees feel a gap between themselves and upper-level management.
By sending out employee benefits surveys, workplaces automatically increase their connection to leadership teams. This can have long-term effects, especially if workplaces run these surveys continuously (hint: they definitely should).
Because employee needs/wants change over time, regular surveys will allow management to catch these and make improvements to benefit programs.
Of course, these benefits all work to improve workplace culture - ensuring employees stick with a company for the long run.
How to Conduct an Employee Benefits Survey
Below, we'll cover the basic steps to creating a benefits survey. We recommend partnering with an employee survey company to ensure businesses get the highest quality data as a third party helps with anonymity and proven best practices of surveying employees.
1. Define Objectives and Goals
The first step to any market research project is nailing down key objectives, which is best done in a kickoff meeting.
During these meetings, the research team will meet with the client to discuss what they want to gain from running the survey. This can range from overall satisfaction levels to identifying preferred benefits.
2. Develop Clear and Concise Questions
Survey questions in any market research study must be clearly written to earn high response rates. Ensure the questions target key aspects of benefits like…
- Health insurance
- Retirement plans
- Vacation and leave policies
- Flexible work arrangements
- Wellness programs
Once the survey questions are drafted, they will be programmed into an online format.
3. Maintain Anonymity and Confidentiality
Staff provide the most authentic responses when the employee benefits surveys are confidential - yet another reason to use a third party for employee surveys.
Employees are more likely to be 100% honest when they know the survey isn't being actively monitored by management.
4. Distribute the Survey to Employees
Most commonly, the employee benefits survey will be distributed online via email.
In some cases, physical copies of the survey may be made to ensure higher response rates. No matter the mode, the surveys need to reach all employees to get the best results.
Reminders to complete the employee benefits survey should also be sent out to remaining staff members who haven't completed the questions yet.
Our employee survey company recommends sending out at least two reminders to catch the attention of all employees being that some may have been out of office when the original email invitation was sent.
5. Collect and Analyze Responses
After fieldwork, the survey data will be cleaned and carefully analyzed by the research team using specialized techniques and tools.
Once the data from the employee benefits survey has been reviewed, it will be placed into a report to review with the client.
At our market research company, we hold a debrief meeting with the client to walk through the findings.
6. Share Results and Action Plan
Employees should be aware of the survey results. This promotes transparency and allows for helpful collaboration between teams. Communicating the results will also help keep management teams accountable to take action.
Taking action can mean many things in this space - from making tweaks to existing policies or creating new ones.
7. Monitor and Evaluate
Going back to what we mentioned earlier in the post, it's a good idea to conduct these surveys on a regular basis to continue to measure employee trends.
This will allow businesses to enhance their engagement strategies as they continue to grow.
The Best Employee Benefits Survey Questions
While all employee benefits surveys should be custom-written based on a company's unique goals and objectives, here are some basic questions/topics that may be found in the survey.
- Are there enough opportunities for professional advancement?
- Do you feel there are enough wellness initiatives in place?
- Is there enough flexibility within your benefits package?
- What are your satisfaction levels with your current benefits?
- Do you find communication about your benefits relatively easy?
- Are you aware of how to make the most of your benefits?
- Are there any additions you would like to see added to your benefits package?
- Does your benefits package help maintain your work-life balance?
- How can your benefits package contribute to your work-life balance?
- What is your satisfaction level with your health insurance?
- Would you like to see more wellness initiatives in the workplace?
- Are there enough customization options for your benefits?
Why A Third Party Is Best To Run Your Employee Benefits Survey
If your company is looking for the best way to run an employee benefits survey, you need to know why using a third party is the best option.
Alternatives like survey software or running it yourself come with privacy complications and a lot of extra time invested. These methods are going to rely on your ability to do everything yourself.
With a third party employee survey company, like us at Drive Research, you’ll get a completely private option for your employees so they can confidently answer without any worries. We’ve had clients in the past specifically come to us because their employees were worried about anonymity (or lack of).
Not to mention, we’re the best online survey company because of the way we run our surveys. We’ll manage it completely for you and be your consultants available to you 24/7.
We’ve got the process from kicking off your project by figuring out goals to completing the project with you by going over and reporting on your data. We’re committed to keeping your data as high quality as possible, private, and covering it completely during the data analysis stage.
If you’re interested in how we as a third party survey company can help you, contact us today for a free quote.
Contact Our Employee Benefits Survey Company
Discover how your employees feel about their current benefits and what you can do to improve them!
Drive Research is a national market research company based in New York. Our team will work with yours to create a benefits survey designed to gather quality data, improving your employee engagement initiatives.
Want to learn more about our market research services? Get in touch with us today!
- Message us on our website
- Email us at [email protected]
- Call us at 888-725-DATA
- Text us at 315-303-2040
Lark Allen
As a Content Marketing Specialist, Lark has a strong background and passion for creative, professional, and journalistic writing. She is also a self-proclaimed music freak and 90s enthusiast.
Learn more about Lark, here.
