How to Develop an Employee Questionnaire
Surveys and questionnaires are excellent ways to measure the level of satisfaction your employees have with their employer.
By asking your employees what is important to them, how they feel about their workplace, and what changes they would like to see implemented, organizations are better positioned to maximize the opportunities and change areas identified as problematic.
Designing and implementing a survey or questionnaire does not have to be difficult, but there are a number of considerations that need to be explored.
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Instructions
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Survey design
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Decide why you are gathering information from your employees. Are you attempting to determine why staffers are departing, considering a new compensation plan or simply curious about the state of mind of your employees?
There are many reasons why your organization may want to survey the staff, but articulate your goals and objectives before developing the survey questions.
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Decide how to deliver the survey. Will it be anonymous or will employees identify themselves? Will it be completed online or using a paper document?
Your goals will dictate the delivery method. While low morale, office politics and fear of speaking out may muzzle some employees, knowing who made specific suggestions may let you discuss the ideas in more detail and to greater effect.
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Write the survey using unbiased language. If possible, ask a non-employee to read a draft of the questionnaire to ensure the corporate position on topics is not influencing the language.
Consider using quantitative (yes/no, rate from 1 to 5, true/false, etc.) along with qualitative ("How do you feel?" "What would you like to change?") questions. The quantitative questions can be complied into a score, while the qualitative responses will provide you with more details.
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If you determine that an online survey works best for your company, there are several survey tools available.
Some of the newer ones, such as Surveygizmo, QuestionPro or SurveyMonkey, are simple to use and automatically tabulate many of the results for you.
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Reward the employees for their input. Chubb Insurance regularly delivers their survey with a treat, such as a fresh-baked cookie. The company reports that it has dramatically improved the response rate to the surveys.
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Collate the responses and write a summary. Too often, companies receive a stack of completed surveys and simply file them away. The report should tackle each one of the objectives of the survey and record the result.
Use the responses from the quantitative questions as a benchmark to track changing attitudes over time.
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Tips & Warnings
Offer a reward for contributing
Avoid language that may inflame bad situations
