A Feedback Survey for Employees: One Pathway to High-Quality Employee Feedback

Using a feedback survey for employees is one way to encourage honest, open communication in the workplace. Businesses often focus more on the end result than on the creative process. However, if we want our companies to continue flourishing, we must remember that creativity and innovation are the driving forces for continued success.

As leaders, we must foster relationships with our employees and encourage their honest, quality feedback. Asking for and accepting employee feedback helps them feel like a valued team member, which keeps the creative juices flowing. When we receive quality feedback from our employees, we can avoid potential pitfalls while creating a culture that sparks creativity and productivity.

Use your one-on-one meetings to form and deepen the much-needed connection with each person. Encourage their growth, development, creativity, and productivity simply by encouraging communication.

Why Use a Feedback Survey for Employees?

Do you have that one employee who is excellent at their job but who tends to be shy about speaking up in meetings? How about the one who purposely chose the cubicle in the back of the room to be as far away from the line of coworker traffic as possible? Those employees, while definite assets to your team, are likely hesitant to share their thoughts on the company atmosphere with you. For them, verbal communication is difficult, if not downright scary.

How can you facilitate open communication with someone who seems afraid to communicate? That’s the kind of scenario that calls for a written feedback survey. The feedback survey for employees gives your employees time to think and construct their answers. While they may not be free with verbal communication, written feedback is a different story.

These employees may be holding valuable insights they are afraid to share verbally. They may be the type who never complains, but deep down, they want to say something about the music you play in the office daily. Giving them a written feedback survey for employees can help them find their voice.

When constructing the survey, ensure it is relevant to all employees, not just the shy ones. Create thought-provoking questions that illicit honest, open feedback. To help you, we’ve compiled 13 questions that are beneficial to use on a feedback survey for employees either in a one-on-one meeting or as a standalone communication guide.

1. Please list 5-10 must-have qualities you think are essential for enriching and diversifying our team’s culture.

Hiring the right candidate for the job can be challenging but finding the ideal candidate who offers a unique perspective is essential to team culture. Conventional hiring practices would have you hire someone with the same qualities as other team members to build cohesiveness. However, choosing someone with a fresh perspective increases diversity and measurable abilities within your team.

2. Have you noticed inefficiencies in our processes? What can we do to change that?

When you allow employees to comment on your processes, it encourages engagement and communication. That keeps the employee mindful of things that can be better for everyone. When you give them a voice, your employees might surprise you with solutions that you wouldn’t have otherwise considered.

3. Which company value do you identify with most?

Autonomous employees use organizational values to keep themselves on track. Asking them this question allows them room to take charge of their growth within the company. They will become more invested in and engaged with the values that mean most to them.

4. What tasks do you need help with?

Asking this question helps employees focus on current objectives while keeping an eye on the future. Have your employees choose small, measurable goals. They should focus on the immediate future but support long-term growth. Find out how you can support them in working toward their goals, and make sure you follow up to monitor progress.

5. Do you feel frustrated or delayed by any aspect of your work?

Sometimes something outside our actual tasks can greatly impact the ability to finish the task. Simple things like IT problems or excessive background noise in the office can detract from the ability to work. It could be something more serious like the company culture or relational atmosphere.

Employees may attempt to simply “deal” with the distraction rather than ask for assistance. Thinking they must handle issues alone eventually takes a toll on employee morale. However, when you ask for their feedback, you let them know you are available to help them with issues, which will create a more satisfactory work environment.

6. Is your role, responsibilities, and goals clear to you? Are there aspects that aren’t clear?

If you want your employees to feel engaged and invested, they need to be crystal clear on the scope of their responsibilities. Employees need to be able to answer what they are doing and why they are doing it for each task they have. They should also know how it relates to the company and team objectives. Always discuss this when there are any changes in roles or responsibilities.

7. Reflect on this week; is there anything that could have been better?

Reflecting on the week’s meetings, email communications, multitasking activities, and personal and professional fires can be frustratingly difficult tasks. However, having employees share feedback about their week gives you a picture of the challenges they faced. Using a work journal or other form of communication allows you to fully discuss the things that are holding your team back.

8. What is your inspiration for daily success?

This is an open-ended question that allows the employee to provide their own definition of success. Their response will give you insight into their motivation. You’ll learn more about your employee, and you can then assist them in seeking out opportunities that make them feel successful.

9. What part of your job do you find most meaningful?

According to research by Dan Fink, people are motivated by autonomy, purpose, mastery, or meaning. Asking this question encourages employees to focus on what they find meaningful, which then leads to greater motivation at work. Managers need this insight to effectively manage each individual.

10. Using a ten-point scale, tell me how hopeful you feel. Why do you think this way?

Make sure everyone understands a rough day occasionally is normal and we all face challenges. The important thing here is that the workforce feels confident in the future of the company and in your ability to manage them effectively. A hopeful team finds better solutions to problems, and their positivity builds a high-performance work culture with low turnover.

11. When do you find work to be the most fun?

When you ask this question, it reminds your team that they sometimes have a good time with each other at work. This is especially helpful if the week has been particularly stressful. However, if your employee says they never have a good time at work, you need to put more emphasis on downtime. Following up with the employee about their perceived barriers to enjoyment is crucial for understanding their perspective.

12. Have we recently had a meeting or discussion where you felt you were unable to voice your thoughts and opinions? Would you share them with me now?

Giving employees this question on a written survey allows them to fully express themselves without interruption. You could find some hidden gems in their answer when they feel they have enough time to fully respond. Incidentally, you should always be aware of how employees communicate during meetings. If you find that they are talking over each other, you need to interject into the conversation and allow everyone’s perspective to be heard.

13. Is there someone in the company you’d like to get to know better?

This question can help you the next time you need to form a committee or team for a project. Also, it lets your employee know that you understand that there’s more to a successful workday than sitting at your desk hyper focused on a task. Camaraderie and interpersonal relationships at work are essential to a successful team. Those who feel relaxed and included are also more productive and engaged.

Wrapping It Up

As a leader, you want to know as much about your team as possible to help them perform at their peak levels. Sometimes, employees don’t feel comfortable with verbal discussions. This is where a feedback survey for employees is a handy tool to have in your arsenal.

Well-crafted feedback questions help improve communication, but it goes further than that. The questions can be inspiring to both employees and managers, and they can be illuminating regarding the employee’s perception of the company dynamics. Take time to consider the questions you want to ask.

Crafting thought-provoking questions is a skill that not all managers possess. Unfortunately, only the right questions will provide the positive results managers expect when they create a feedback survey for employees. When the feedback survey for employees are done well, employees are inspired to think creatively and hone their problem-solving skills.