Conducting employee morale surveys has a direct impact on workplace culture, productivity levels, and its success rates.
By running morale surveys, employers can get an inside look into their employees. Are they satisfied? Do they feel valued? These are just a few areas of staff insight employers can learn by conducting these surveys.
Overall, employee morale surveys will help determine how business leaders can improve their workplace culture to produce thriving, passionate employees.
What Exactly Is an Employee Morale Survey?
An employee morale survey gathers staff sentiment about their work environment.
With 51% of employees feeling disengaged at work, running morale surveys can help combat this and promote higher employee engagement.
Typically, these surveys will address satisfaction, well-being, opportunities for growth, areas of improvement, and other related topics. Employee responses will help employers gauge how valued they feel, and highlight areas that need improvement.
By highlighting these improvement areas, employers can directly pinpoint what action needs to be taken and make data-driven decisions based on that.
Recommended Reading: What is Employee Perception and Why Does it Matter?
What Should You Include in an Employee Morale Survey?
Due to the topic, employee surveys can include a broad range of questions.
While determining what topics to focus on, employers should consider what's relevant to their specific workplace. For example, if they suspect engagement levels or productivity output is low, then that's a specific topic they can highlight in the survey.
Regardless of the specific topics highlighted in employee morale surveys, they typically include the following topics on some level:
- Employee satisfaction/engagement
- Company culture
- Opportunities for growth
- Worklife balance
- Productivity levels
- Benefits
Employee morale surveys may include additional topics as well. No matter what's asked, the goal is to include questions that provide a well-rounded look into the employee experience.
The Importance of Employee Morale
Measuring employee morale is crucial in understanding their overall wellbeing and how they function within a company.
For instance, employees who feel valued within a company are likely more productive because they enjoy their work.
This positive attitude impacts every aspect of a workplace, from the quality of work employees produce to their daily interactions on the job.
Furthermore, higher morale rates also impact employee retention rates. Happier employees are simply less likely to leave a position they feel satisfied in, thus leading to better retention. In fact, we suggest incorporating morale surveys into a company's employee retention strategy.
The Best Morale Survey Example Questions
Below, we've compiled examples of employee morale survey questions covering productivity, wellbeing, and growth opportunities within a company.
Employee Productivity Questions
- Are you satisfied with your workload?
- Do you have access to tools that assist with your job performance?
- Do you have a clear understanding of your job expectations?
- Do you feel your ideas/contributions are valued?
- Do you consider your work environment to be collaborative?
- How effective is your team's communication strategy?
- Do you receive adequate feedback from management?
- How often do you experience interruptions during the workday?
- Does your team use meeting times effectively?
- How often does your team meet?
Employee Wellbeing Questions
- How would you rate your current work-life balance?
- How would you rate your stress levels at work?
- Are you able to take breaks during the workday?
- Do you often feel enthusiastic about your work?
- Do you feel fulfilled in your role?
- How often does your work impact your personal life?
- Are well-being opportunities provided to you by your workplace?
- Are you satisfied with your coworker relationships?
- Does your workplace hold social events not related to work?
- Are there additional support opportunities you could benefit from?
Employee Growth Questions
- Are you satisfied with the career development opportunities at your workplace?
- Are there training opportunities provided to advance your career?
- Are you able to comfortably share career goals with your manager?
- Do you feel there are enough chances to advance within your company?
- Do you have access to mentorship/coaching programs?
- Are there opportunities to pursue various certifications relevant to your role?
- Do the available training programs align with your career goals?
- Do you receive constructive feedback?
- Are you given the chance to take on challenging projects?
- How effective are your performance reviews?
Employee Morale Survey Best Practices
As with any employee survey, there are a few key ingredients that go into making it successful no matter what subtopics are covered.
While these can be conducted in-house, we recommend partnering with a third-party team to run your employee surveys. This will ensure a smooth market research process and quality results.
Below, we've listed some of these key factors and why they make such an impact on the project as a whole.
Ensure Anonymity
Employees are far more likely to share honest responses if their anonymity is secure.
This mostly pertains to when employees want to share feedback that could be considered "negative." If they suspect answers may be traced back to them, they could hold back with this feedback out of fear of retaliation, etc. When this happens, the company loses out on learning important employee insights.
To prevent this, employers need to ensure that their staff's anonymity is secure so they can be as transparent as possible.
Keep It Concise
Part of the survey design process is ensuring it fits into the schedules of respondents (PS: this makes them more likely to take it).
This is especially important when those respondents are employees, as they're more likely to take a survey that won't take too much time from their work duties.
The survey questions included should get straight to the point, be clearly written, and feature relevant subject matter.
Use Different Question Types
Employee morale surveys should include a variety of question types.
This keeps the respondent more engaged throughout the survey process, leading to higher-quality responses. Aside from this, question variety also provides employers with more insightful data about the employee experience.
For example, a well-rounded employee morale survey can include question types from rating scales, to open-ended and closed-ended questions.
Communicate the Purpose
Employees should know the specifics of why the morale survey is being conducted.
Perhaps the employer wants to gauge how staff feel about their workplace.
Or, perhaps there was a specific issue that triggered them to begin running employee surveys.
Either way, employees should be aware a survey will be sent out, understand why it's being conducted, and ensure they will see results from the feedback provided.
Provide Easy Access
Access is key for getting the maximum amount of employee responses.
When conducting online surveys, employees will receive a link through their email. This will take them directly to the survey platform, where they will then be able to complete the survey.
In order to see the best results, it's ideal to send out email reminders to employees to complete the survey.
Follow Up With Results
It's important employees see action taken from the morale survey.
This means employers have carefully reviewed the responses (both the positive and negative ones) and have made changes based on them. Not only will this create a better work environment, but employees will feel their feedback is valued.
As a result, this creates a healthy workplace environment that demonstrates the power of communication.
Contact Our Employee Satisfaction Company
Is morale low at your workplace? Conducting employee surveys will reveal how to turn that around. Boasting years of combined experience, our research pros will partner with you to craft a morale survey based on the needs of your company.
Curious about the rest of our market research services? Get in touch with us today using any of the methods listed below.
- Message us on our website
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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.
