Employee survey questions: 150+ examples and templates

Virtually all companies, big or small, run employee surveys at least once a year. Employee surveys are a great way to check the health of your organization and how your employees are feeling about work. The data, when captured, analyzed, and acted on smartly, can improve satisfaction and engagement, reduce attrition, and attract top talent.

But running an employee survey is not as easy as it sounds. Nor is capturing the right data. Your foremost challenge when it comes to running an employee job satisfaction survey, engagement survey, or employee feedback survey lies in choosing the right employee survey questions.

Thanks to Google, there are a million questions available at the click of a button. But would a random mix and match of these survey questions really help you unearth the not-so-obvious issues affecting your work environment or culture?

We’re afraid not. If you need real, quality data that can drive change, then you have to get your hands dirty. Dirty enough to identify, choose or write the right employee survey questions. That is what this guide is for.

Why do the right employee survey questions matter?

The right questions decide whether a survey produces a decision or a spreadsheet. A question that measures two things at once, or nudges an employee toward an answer, returns a number you can neither act on nor defend in a review.

Whether you run your employee surveys in-house or have outsourced them to a third party who manages them for you, understanding the significance of asking the right employee survey questions will guide you on how to approach the entire process.

Let’s start with imagining a car.

Every passenger of a car experiences the journey differently - the driver might be more focused on control while a passenger in the backseat will most likely talk about comfort, and the owner of the car might be more interested in its mileage.

Now, ask the driver about comfort, the rear passenger about mileage, and the owner about control, and you’ll, in all likelihood, not get the insights that will actually help you improve comfort, control, or mileage.

Your organization is like a car.

To really gauge the experience of employees, you must be able to ask relevant questions about relevant topics to the relevant people.

Else, you’ll end up doing what you’ve probably been wanting to avoid in the first place - take wrong decisions based on even more wrong data.

Add to it the fact that there are so many different types of cars in this world and no two are exactly the same. This means you cannot pick up a bunch of survey questions that are working for some other organization and expect it to work for you too.

For instance, survey questions to gauge performance, safety, and wellbeing are different for remote employees and frontline workers. Or, questions about improving employee satisfaction would be vastly different for employees of a non-profit versus employees of a multinational tech company.

Read again: that suits your organization.

There is no one-size-fits-all when it comes to questions in an employee survey.

Engagement questions and feedback questions are not the same thing

It also helps to separate two kinds of question. Engagement questions measure how committed an employee feels to the organization and its goals, and whether they will go beyond what the job demands. Feedback questions ask about one specific thing, a recent change, a process, a project, and what would make it better.

Both belong in a survey programme. They answer different questions, so do not score them together. If you want the definitional groundwork first, start with what employee engagement means.

Run a survey with wrong questions or wrongly asked questions, and there’s no way for you to know that you are on the wrong track until it’s too late - when you observe that the actions you took based on the insights from the survey are yielding no result.

Which employee survey template should you use?

Pick the template that matches your objective: satisfaction for a quick read on mood, engagement for a full read across the drivers, culture for values and behaviours, wellbeing, manager effectiveness, or new hire experience. Each one is a starting point, so delete the questions that do not serve your objective before you send it.

Every template below is readable in full on this page, and each links through to employee survey templates you can load and edit directly.

Employee satisfaction survey

Employee satisfaction survey questions are a quick dip-stick to gauge how content your employees are at work. This employee survey will let you know the overall mood of the organization, that is, what percentage of employees are satisfied at work and how many are not.

The insights you derive from your employee satisfaction survey will help you understand if your employees are willing to wake up every morning and come to work and that they are not actively looking out for another job.

Pretty much scratching the surface of understanding an employee, we would say.

The last question below is eNPS. It uses a 0 to 10 scale rather than the 1 to 10 scale of the others, and it is scored separately from the engagement score that it never feeds into.

For something to read your result against, the median employee Net Promoter Score in CultureMonkey's eNPS benchmarks is +27 on the −100 to +100 scale, which sits in the good zone, and the top quartile starts at +44.

Sample Employee Satisfaction Survey Template

1. On a scale of 1-10, how happy are you to come to work?
2. On a scale of 1-10, how would you rate your company culture?
3. On a scale of 1-10, how satisfied are you with your working relationship with colleagues?
4. On a scale of 1-10, how happy are you with your direct manager?
5. On a scale of 1-10, how much do you like the work that you do here?
6. On a scale of 1-10, how satisfied are you with your work life balance?
7. On a scale of 0-10, how likely are you to recommend your workplace to friends or family? (eNPS)

Open the satisfaction template

Employee engagement survey

If you want to delve a little deeper into what is working and not working at your organization, then an employee engagement survey is your best bet.

Employee engagement survey questions usually touch upon all 15 drivers and unearth insights on how much an employee feels motivated to go above and beyond the call of duty at work. An engaged employee does not just do the work but is also constantly thinking of the organization as their own and looking for means to improve and enhance operations.

Actively engaged employees are the best an organization can ever ask for.

But to truly engage employees, you should constantly keep a tab on the 15 factors that directly impact engagement.

The first 25 are agreement statements on a five-point scale. The last two are rating-scale questions about retention intent, so score them separately rather than folding them into the same average.

Sample Employee Engagement Survey Template

1. I feel fairly rewarded for my contribution at work.
2. I find stress manageable at work.
3. I know what is expected of me at work.
4. I have the freedom to do my job well.
5. I feel like my work is creating an impact.
6. It is easy to get work done in this organization.
7. I have at least one person who I can call a friend at work.
8. I have been appreciated at least once in the last 30 days.
9. I believe that the leadership can take the organization to new heights.
10. I am encouraged to share new ideas in this organization.
11. My work environment helps me be productive.
12. I am able to balance my personal and professional commitments.
13. My organization regularly shares company updates with us.
14. I am happy with the relationship I share with my manager.
15. I am aware of how my work contributes to the company’s success.
16. I have access to resources to do my job well.
17. I find my job challenging.
18. I am satisfied with the opportunities to grow here.
19. I feel comfortable asking my colleagues for help.
20. My organization is concerned for my well-being.
21. I feel like a valued member of my team.
22. Someone has spoken to me about my career progression in the last 60 days.
23. The leadership is transparent in its internal communication.
24. I am involved in decisions that impact my work.
25. My manager trusts me to do good work without looking over my shoulder.
26. How likely are you to stay with the organization in the next 1-3 years?
27. How optimistic are you about your future with the organization?

Open the engagement template

Employee survey on culture

Culture is what makes you a dream company to work for.

A great culture attracts top talent like bees to nectar.

Workplace culture is the sum total of all the organizational values and beliefs that shape the attitude and behaviors of employees at an organization.

When you are looking to assess and improve the defining factors of your organizational culture is when you should run this survey. For a shorter, more focused version, see our workplace culture survey guide.

Note: roughly a third of this template overlaps with the engagement template above. Run one or the other, not both in the same cycle.

Sample Organizational Culture Survey Template

1. People from all backgrounds are treated fairly at my organization.
2. The work environment here helps me be more productive.
3. I know what behaviors are valued here.
4. I am provided with the tools and resources to do my work well.
5. I feel like a valued member of the organization.
6. The leadership is capable of taking the organization to success.
7. There is a strong emphasis on employee well-being.
8. My levels of stress feel manageable.
9. It is easy to get work done here.
10. My manager respects me as an individual.
11. I think my manager is the right fit for the role.
12. I’m fairly rewarded for my contribution at work.
13. We are regularly updated about the organization’s progress.
14. I don’t have to compromise on other things that are important to me to meet work deadlines.
15. I’m aware of the career growth opportunities in the organization.
16. People work well together in this organization.
17. Employee complaints are effectively handled.
18. Employees are encouraged to try new ideas to improve business.
19. Everyone here is mostly aware of what drives our success as an organization.
20. I feel confident that my organization can handle change effectively.
21. I know how my work adds value to the organization.
22. I am satisfied with the opportunities to share my opinions.
23. I am at ease when I’m around others at work, regardless of their title, position, or stature.
24. I’m satisfied with the career progression I get here.
25. I will recommend my company to my friends and family.
26. Do you feel comfortable expressing your opinions and ideas without fear of negative consequences?
27. Are you confident that mistakes are handled constructively and not held against you?

Open the culture template

Employee wellbeing survey

Employee wellbeing is now a standing item on most HR agendas.

Employee wellbeing is mainly about reducing work-related stress and instituting incentives for healthy living. The focus here is on the physical, psychological, and mental health of an employee.

Keep these questions about what the organization does, not about the employee’s own health. A survey that asks employees to rate their personal fitness measures the wrong party and creates a privacy problem you do not want.

Sample Wellbeing Survey Template

1. My organization is concerned about employee wellbeing.
2. I feel well supported by my manager at all times.
3. Our leaders consider the impact of their decisions on employees.
4. Senior leaders communicate with us often enough.
5. I feel confident that my team will support me through any crisis.
6. I am able to effectively manage both my personal and professional commitments.
7. I am aware of the wellbeing programs my organization offers.

Open the wellbeing template

Manager effectiveness survey

Managers are the microcosm of an organization.

Employees don’t often quit the organization, they quit their managers.

Therefore, managers’ effectiveness as people leaders is of utmost importance to organizations. If you are building a development programme off the back of it, pair this with our manager development guidance.

The last two are open text prompts, not scale items.

Manager Effectiveness Survey Template

1. I have been appreciated by my manager at least once in the last 30 days.
2. I feel like a valued member of the team.
3. My manager sets reasonable deadlines.
4. I have enough freedom to do my job well.
5. My manager proactively discusses my career goals.
6. My manager directs me to learning opportunities at work.
7. My manager communicates what is expected of me in this role.
8. My manager offers constructive feedback on my work.
9. My manager treats everyone on the team fairly.
10. My manager involves me in decisions that directly impact my work.
11. I know my manager has the expertise to lead the team.
12. I feel comfortable reaching out to my manager for help.
13. New ideas are welcomed by my manager.
14. I feel confident to take risks at work as I have my manager’s support.
15. My manager recognizes the importance of my personal and family life.
16. My workload is reasonable for my role.
17. My manager shares the organization’s larger goals with the team.
18. My manager sets clear goals for the team.
19. My manager should continue…
20. My manager should stop…

Open the manager effectiveness survey template

Employee experience survey

Unlike engagement, culture, or satisfaction surveys, employee experience surveys gauge an employee’s experience at a specific point in their journey.

The template below covers onboarding and the first 90 days only. It is a new hire survey, not a full lifecycle instrument. Exit and long-tenure questions are a separate piece of work.

For the wider set of touchpoints, from day 30 through to exit, see employee lifecycle surveys. For a deeper set of first-week questions, see our onboarding survey questions.

New Hire Experience Survey Template

1. The goals of my onboarding have been clear.
2. I have been informed about what is expected of me.
3. I understand this organization’s policies.
4. I have been provided with the resources needed to do my job.
5. My manager has been supportive throughout the onboarding journey.
6. My job responsibilities are what I expected them to be.
7. I understand this company’s values.
8. I feel comfortable reaching out to my coworkers for help.
9. The training I have received so far has been effective.

Open the new hire template

What mistakes should you avoid in employee survey questions?

Five wording mistakes account for most unusable survey data: jargon, leading questions, double-barreled questions, incomplete answer options, and too many open-ended questions. Each has a fix you can apply to a draft in minutes.

These are not house opinions. The Pew Research Center’s guidance on writing survey questions (Pew Research Center, accessed September 2026) names the same failure modes, including double-barreled questions, which it defines as questions that ask respondents to evaluate more than one concept at a time. The American Association for Public Opinion Research’s Best Practices for Survey Research (AAPOR, accessed September 2026) set the wider standard for question wording and survey design.

How do you put your employee survey questions to work?

The questions decide what you learn. The four weeks after the results land decide whether anyone answers honestly next time.

Your employee survey is only as good as the survey questions you ask. If you don’t get the start right, then the rest of your effort is bound to fall like a pack of cards.

But the questions are only half the job. Employees judge a survey programme by what happens after it, not by how well it was worded. A cycle that closes with a visible decision earns you the next round of honest answers. A cycle that closes in silence costs you the response rate you worked for.

So plan the four weeks after the results land before you send a single question. Decide who reads the results, which two or three driver scores you will act on, what you will tell employees you are changing, and when you will tell them. Our guide to reading employee survey results covers how to get from driver scores to a shortlist of actions.

And on the other hand, running an employee survey entirely on your own is tedious, to say the least. Imagine putting in all that manual effort to write questions, aggregate data, analyze the results, present the results to leadership, and then drive an action plan around it.