Your employees are your greatest asset, and you can learn a lot when you ask for their opinions. But too often, organizations do not provide enough opportunities for employees to share their feedback. Employee sentiment is measured too sporadically, or the insights that your employees provide are not utilized into actionable change. By using a variety of employee engagement surveys, leaders can gather data on the satisfaction of their teams and identify trends to create benchmarks for future reference.
Below we break down exactly what these surveys are, why your company should use them, and some of the common types of employee engagement surveys. We’ll also tell you how organizations can utilize ClearCompany’s survey templates better to understand the well-being and engagement levels of their employees.
Organizations should ask teams for #feedback frequently. @ClearCompany’s employee #engagement surveys make it easy to ask employees how they feel:Why Should You Use Engagement Surveys?
Employee engagement surveys are critical to your company’s success. Surveys offer employers a way to gain insight into employee sentiment and offer employees a chance to speak freely. Different types of employee surveys enable leaders to identify trends, highlight problem areas, and understand key issues their teams face. They also help organizations understand their own workplace culture and if it’s true to their mission, vision, and values.
In light of the many workplace changes we’ve faced over the last few years, it has never been more important to survey your teams. Retaining your A-players not only saves you the stress of filling open positions, but also protects your bottom line. When they feel heard at work, employees are 4.6x more satisfied and engaged, which improves employee retention.
Simply put, surveying employee sentiment matters, and we are here to help.
When Should You Use Engagement Surveys?
We’ve made the case for why your organization should be using engagement surveys. So, when should your company be sending out these surveys?
Organizations should be asking for employee feedback regularly — and frequently. Using an annual survey helps you track year-to-year trends, but these surveys should be supplemented with frequent pulse surveys. Pulse surveys are quick, easy surveys that employers can send out throughout the year to gather feedback. These surveys differ from long, in-depth annual surveys and can be used to gather insight into specific trends and topics.
Bear in mind that surveys perform their best when feedback is actionable and timely. When you are surveying your team, make sure that leadership has a plan to quickly take action after receiving the survey results. Once you gather the data, focus on what changes you can implement to better support your employees.
6 Types of Employee Engagement Surveys
There are tons of surveys you can send, including employee experience surveys, company culture surveys, and overall engagement surveys. The type of survey you choose depends on your goal and what you hope to learn or accomplish as a result of the survey. For example, you can ask for feedback about recent policy changes or take a pulse check before the change takes place. You can survey new hires about their onboarding experience or ask longtime employees what keeps them loyal.
If you use employee engagement software, it’s simple to create, send, and analyze employee surveys. Many software solutions come with employee engagement survey questions built into the platform, while others allow you to build custom surveys. With the best employee engagement software, you can do both.
Here are just six of the many different kinds of employee surveys you can send.
1. Remote/Work From Home
Today, there are around 4x the number of remote workers as there were before the pandemic. Many companies quickly transitioned to remote or hybrid work, and lots have continued to support the arrangement. And, it’s not going anywhere — Gallup predicts that 53% of U.S. employees will work on a hybrid schedule in the coming years.
With ClearCompany’s remote work survey, you can accurately track employee sentiment. Leaders can quickly find out whether employees feel supported while working remotely. In addition, you can easily measure your employees’ preferences for remote, in-office, or hybrid work locations.
2. Employee Engagement
With employee engagement surveys, you can gather data on job satisfaction and get a feel for how engaged your employees are overall and which factors help or hurt engagement. Your engagement survey can ask employees if they agree with statements like:
- The executive team contributes to a positive work culture.
- I find the work I do challenging and engaging.
- I would recommend this company to others as a great place to work.
The responses can point you toward effective ways to encourage high engagement. For example, if employees don’t feel challenged by their work, managers can make a point to give their teams more opportunities for growth. These surveys can also assist with the performance review process and help to reduce turnover in your departments.
ClearCompany’s employee engagement surveys enable leaders to measure the satisfaction of their workforce. The 10-question survey template covers the main contributors to employee engagement to help you understand what’s working and what isn’t at your organization.
@ClearCompany says employee #sentiment is important to measure. Using their employee #engagement surveys, you can accurately measure the satisfaction and well-being of your employees:3. Onboarding Experience/New Hire Survey
The candidate experience doesn’t end once an applicant has been hired — it continues throughout the entire onboarding process. Measure your new hire’s satisfaction with your company’s onboarding process, and see whether they feel prepared and welcomed into your organization with onboarding experience surveys. Using these results, hiring managers can identify if the candidate experience needs improvement.
In ClearCompany’s onboarding survey, new hires are asked to indicate their level of agreement with 10 statements, including:
- I was provided accurate information about the company and position during the recruitment process.
- On my first day, I had everything I needed to start working.
- Overall, my onboarding and training experience prepared me for my role.
4. Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, & Belonging (DEIB) Survey
Diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging (DEIB) in the workplace have a significant influence on employee satisfaction in the workplace. 76% of workers and job seekers say diversity at work is important to them. It also leads to more creative, innovative, productive, and profitable teams and improved work culture.
Many organizations feel their current efforts are adequate — but do your employees agree? You can find out by sending a DEIB employee survey.
ClearCompany’s Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging survey was developed in partnership with Change Cadet, a DEIB firm. With this survey, your leaders can see how employees feel about your company’s commitment to DEIB and identify trends. These are some of the statements employees rate in our survey:
- The Leadership Team has a clear, equitable, and inclusive process to address discrimination, harassment, and unfair practices in the workplace.
- At work, I am accepted for who I am, and not judged based on my race/ethnicity, gender, religion, sexual orientation, or disability status.
5. Emotional Well-being & Mental Health Employee Survey
Employee mental health and emotional well-being are critical to the success of your organization. With employee well-being surveys, companies can provide employees with a safe and anonymous way to share their mental and emotional health concerns.
ClearCompany’s survey templates offer insight into employee stress levels, the potential for anxiety and depression in your employees, and the overall perception of your company’s work-life balance. By implementing these surveys, leaders can demonstrate their compassion and can quickly identify problem areas that need to be addressed.
6. Custom Surveys
Need to survey employees about another topic altogether? Create your own custom employee survey to get their feedback on what’s happening at your organization, like a recent switch to a new benefits provider or their feelings about its referral program.
With ClearCompany’s custom surveys, employers can create their own survey that is relevant to their business and employees. These tailored surveys provide you with highly specific and actionable data.
Get custom surveys, the templates included in this post, and even more with ClearCompany. Our new Employee Engagement Suite equips leaders with the tools they need to accurately and efficiently survey employee satisfaction, including templates, automation tools, and an analytics dashboard. By integrating our survey tools with our full Performance Management System, HR leaders can track the performance, engagement levels, and goal progress of employees.
To learn more about how ClearCompany’s Performance & Engagement Systems can transform the productivity of your organization, schedule a demo today with one of our experts.
