Are you struggling to devise great employee survey questions? Is your survey data genuinely helping to shape your HR strategy?
Ten Space works with a diverse range of HR teams that gather feedback for a variety of different reasons, whether that is for employee engagement, to track and improve onboarding or exit processes, assess training needs or even checking the team's understanding around health and safety. The questions they ask and the timing that feedback is requested often provides deep insights into employee experiences that help to shape HR strategy.
In this article we give you 10 practical examples of employee surveys that gather important data. This data will help you shape your HR strategy and build people initiatives that make a real difference.
1. Employee Engagement survey
Employee engagement surveys are vital tools for assessing workplace morale, motivation, and overall job satisfaction. They help organisations identify strengths, uncover challenges, and improve company culture. The best questions focus on job satisfaction, leadership effectiveness, growth opportunities, and workplace relationships. Examples include: Do you feel valued at work? and Does your role align with your career goals? Interpreting results requires analysing trends, comparing responses across departments, and acting on feedback. High engagement indicates a motivated workforce, while low engagement signals areas needing improvement. Regular surveys drive meaningful change and foster a positive work environment.
2. Employee Pulse survey
An employee pulse survey is a short, frequent check-in to gauge employee sentiment and engagement. Regularity matters because it tracks trends over time, allowing quick responses to emerging issues. Key questions include: How satisfied are you with your work this week? and Do you feel supported by your manager? Interpreting responses involves spotting patterns and acting on concerns promptly, ensuring a responsive and engaged workplace culture.
You can find out more about employee pulse surveys here.
3. Employee Performance survey
An employee performance survey evaluates how well an organisation supports employee productivity, efficiency, and goal achievement. It helps identify strengths, bottlenecks, and areas for improvement. Key questions include: Do you have the tools and resources needed to perform your job effectively? and Does leadership provide clear direction and expectations? The results highlight trends in workplace efficiency, communication gaps, and potential training needs. By analysing feedback, organisations can implement targeted improvements—such as refining workflows, enhancing leadership communication, or investing in employee development. Regular performance surveys ensure continuous progress, fostering a high-performing, motivated workforce that drives overall business success.
4. Employee Wellbeing survey
An employee wellbeing survey assesses employees' physical, mental, and emotional health, helping organisations create a supportive work environment. It’s essential because employee wellbeing directly impacts productivity, engagement, and retention. Questions like Do you feel your workload is manageable? and Does the company support a healthy work-life balance? reveal areas for improvement. Insights from the survey can steer initiatives like flexible work policies, wellness programs, and mental health support, fostering a happier, more resilient workforce.
5. Cultural Audit
A cultural survey or 'company cultural audit' evaluates the values, beliefs, and behaviors that define an organisation’s work environment. Company culture shapes employee engagement, retention, and overall business success. A strong culture fosters collaboration, innovation, and job satisfaction, while a weak culture can lead to disengagement and high turnover. The objective of a cultural audit is to assess alignment between company values and employee experiences, identifying areas for improvement.
Key survey questions include: Do you feel the company’s values are reflected in daily work? Is diversity and inclusion actively promoted? and Do you feel a sense of belonging in the workplace? Analysing responses helps leaders strengthen cultural alignment, improve communication, and ensure a positive, inclusive work environment that supports both employees and business goals.
You can get more ideas about how to understand and build culture in your organisation here.
6. Pre-employment surveys
Understand the hiring journey to optimise your hiring process and help new starters feel like they’ve made the right choice. A hiring process survey helps companies evaluate recruitment effectiveness, candidate experience, and hiring efficiency. It identifies strengths and areas for improvement, ensuring the process attracts top talent. Key questions include: Was the job description clear? Did the interview process feel fair? and How would you rate communication during hiring?
7. Employee onboarding surveys
An employee onboarding survey helps companies assess how effectively new employees integrate into their roles and the organisation. A smooth onboarding process boosts engagement, retention, and productivity. Key questions include: Did you receive the necessary training for your role? Was your onboarding experience welcoming and organised? and Do you understand your job expectations? Insights from the survey help refine onboarding programs, ensuring that employees feel supported, confident, and prepared for success.
Tied together with pre-employement surveys, this is a great way to help you track, understand and improve your workforce's early-employment experience. When you're having difficulties finding or retaining staff in their first years, these surveys can help you to identify those issues and help you to reduce recruitment costs.
8. Employee exit surveys / employee offboarding surveys
Exit surveys, or offboarding surveys, provide valuable insights into why employees leave, helping organisations improve retention and workplace culture. They uncover trends in job satisfaction, leadership effectiveness, career growth opportunities, and workplace issues. Key information includes reasons for departure, feedback on management, and suggestions for improvement.
By analysing exit interview data, companies can identify recurring problems, enhance employee experience, and reduce turnover. For example, if multiple employees cite lack of career development, leadership can invest in training programs. If toxic workplace culture is a concern, HR can implement changes to improve morale.
Ultimately, exit surveys help organisations make informed decisions, fostering a better work environment, increasing employee satisfaction, and strengthening overall business performance.
9. Employee event surveys
'Events' happen every day in every business. Significant business milestones might include an acquisiation or merger, but less significant ones might be company team-building and minor announcements. Understanding how your employees feel about these events and whether they have understood the impact of the event on their ability to do their job and feel part of the team is important. Employee event surveys provide a quick method to reach your entire organisation and ensure that they understood what is happening, ask questions and raise concerns. It's a fast way to determine whether new initiatives have landed well and whether your leadership team are making a positive impact.
10. Employee Journey surveys
All of your employees are on their own journey. Some spend a significant part of their life and their career with you and are completely loyal to your mission. Others come in and do a great job for a period of time and want to move on to better things quickly. The journey that each employee has can be viewed as a series of events; some of which relate to the company and some to the individual.
A great example of a personal journey could be where an employee becomes pregnant, goes on maternity leave and then returns to work. Their experience throughout this journey will provide clues about how to improve your processes and provide the best possible employee experience. It will also give them the opportunity to provide feedback about whether they have felt supported throughout this challenging personal time.
Put our employee surveys to the test!
Whilst many of these employee survey types can be done face-to-face or by using some of the great free tools out there, to get the best insight from your workforce can be a lot of work. Getting the best insight from your workforce means not just asking the right questions at the right time, but also doing so in a trusted way that preserves anonymity (see our employee promise and this blog for more), is accessible and reaches every part of your workforce in the way that works for them (see this blog for more), is simple and quick for your to understand the responses you get back (see this page for more)
At Ten Space, we're experts in employee surveys and our employee survey platform is built to give its users the flexibility to tailor surveys to meet the needs of every organisation, no matter how complex. Why not contact us for a friendly and free chat about employee surveys.
