Asking for employee feedback is an essential way to understand engagement across your organisation. It helps you find engagement issues, retention risks and areas where performance is below expectation.
No two organisations are the same, so no two communication plans should be either. Use this plan as a guide to how best to tell people about your survey, so that as many as possible take part.
When we work with clients, we break communication into three stages: before, during and after the survey. Each one matters, so bring all three into your plan. For each stage, there are ideas for how and when to communicate, and examples you can adapt to fit your organisation.
As with all communication, the best way to get the most people taking part is to communicate more.
When you're tired of saying it, they're only just starting to hear it.
To get the most people taking part, and the most honest feedback, prepare your employees for what to expect. Some may be wary of taking part, so building trust is critical.
These are the questions we hear most often:
Answer them as well as you can, as often as you can, and share the answers with everyone in the organisation, whatever their role. It puts people's minds at ease and helps you gather better data.
What you say about anonymity must match how your survey is set up. With the ethics filter enabled (our most common setup), results are only shown for groups of six or more. Each survey is set to one of three: fully anonymous; filtered, with the ethics filter applied; or identified, where authorised users can see which individual answered. It is set for each survey, whatever channel people answer by.
Timings vary a lot between organisations, but we normally recommend that you start telling your people about your survey two to three weeks before it opens. Try to brief your leaders and managers before that, three to four weeks ahead.
Before your survey opens, share what it is and what to expect, so that you get the most support from everyone involved.
3–4 weeks before the survey opens
Bring your leaders with you. They need to make sure your employees:
Every organisation briefs its managers differently, so do it in the way that suits yours: in emails to managers only, at regular management meetings, or however works best for your team.
Remember: your leaders are the first point of contact for employees, and they will make a big difference to your response rate. They need to see the value.
1–3 weeks before the survey opens
Once your leaders know about the survey and see its value, it's time to start preparing everyone else. Every organisation is different, but try to do as many of these as you can.
1–3 days after the survey opens
Once the survey is open, people can take part.
Invited surveys send their own reminders. If your survey is an invited survey, where the people taking part are known in advance, rather than an open-access one, Ten Space sends regular automatic reminders to everyone invited, by email, WhatsApp or SMS. People who have already answered aren't chased. So we don't advise sending many extra reminder emails of your own while the survey is open.
1–2 days after the survey closes
Once the survey has closed, follow up with everyone involved, so they know what to expect.
Set the right expectations. If you don't plan to share the findings, don't suggest that you will. We do advise some communication after the survey, so that people know their time was well spent and that they have been listened to.
These example emails take your people from the first announcement to the thank-you once the survey closes. They are written to come from the HR team. Adapt them to fit your organisation, and send the ones that suit you.
Before you use them:
Before the survey
While the survey is open
After the survey closes
Subject: Employee engagement survey: how your feedback can help us build a better workplace
Dear [first name],
As part of our commitment to building an incredible workplace culture, we're delighted to be launching our [quarterly] employee engagement survey in [month].
The survey is to understand how you really feel about working at [organisation name], and what we can do to make it a better place to work. We're working with Ten Space, whose platform we're using to collect your feedback.
[Keep the sentence that matches how your survey is set up]
You'll receive the survey by email on [survey launch date]. Just click the link to take part on your computer or your phone.
The survey has around [number] questions and should take no more than [number] minutes. Most ask you to choose an answer, and there's room to write your own comments too. The survey is open until [survey closing date], but please take part as soon as you can.
We really value your feedback. It's your chance to have your say and influence the workplace culture at [organisation name]. Once the results are in, we'll share what we've found.
If you have any questions before the survey goes out, email us at [HR team email address] and we'll get back to you. Emails to the HR team aren't anonymous, because they come straight to us.
We look forward to hearing from you.
Best wishes,
The HR team
Subject: Employee engagement survey: help us improve your employee experience
Dear [first name],
Last week we wrote to you about our new [quarterly] employee engagement survey, for everyone at [organisation name]. It's part of our commitment to building an incredible workplace culture, and we're really excited to be launching it.
Before the survey opens, here's a reminder of the main points:
[Keep the sentence that matches how your survey is set up]
If you have any questions before the survey goes out, email us at [HR team email address] and we'll get back to you. Emails to the HR team aren't anonymous, because they come straight to us.
We look forward to hearing from you.
Best wishes,
The HR team
Subject: Engagement survey launches in one week
Dear [first name],
There's only one week to go until we launch the [organisation name] employee engagement survey. It will arrive in your work email inbox on [survey launch date] at around [time].
The survey has around [number] questions and takes no more than [number] minutes.
[Keep the sentence that matches how your survey is set up]
The survey is part of our commitment to building an incredible workplace culture. It's your chance to be absolutely honest about what we can do to improve your experience.
If you have any questions before the survey goes out, email us at [HR team email address] and we'll get back to you.
Best wishes,
The HR team
Subject: Engagement survey launches tomorrow
Dear [first name],
There are only 24 hours to go until we launch the [organisation name] employee engagement survey. It will arrive in your work email inbox tomorrow at around [time].
This is an important survey for everyone at [organisation name], and your chance to share what you think.
[Keep the sentence that matches how your survey is set up]
Please take part as soon as you can, and be open and honest in your answers.
If you have any problems while the survey is open, contact [HR team email address] and we'll get back to you quickly.
Best wishes,
The HR team
Subject: Employee engagement survey has launched!
Dear [first name],
Yesterday we launched our employee engagement survey. We're delighted that some of you have already taken part, and we're looking forward to reading your feedback once it's in.
A reminder about how your answers are treated:
[Keep the sentence that matches how your survey is set up]
Please be open and honest in your answers.
If you haven't received the survey in your work email, contact [HR team email address] and we'll get back to you as soon as possible.
Best wishes,
The HR team
Subject: Employee engagement survey closes tomorrow
Dear [first name],
There are only 24 hours left before our employee engagement survey closes.
If you haven't taken part yet, check your email, click the link and have your say on how things can be improved across [organisation name].
A reminder about how your answers are treated:
[Keep the sentence that matches how your survey is set up]
Please be open and honest in your answers.
If you haven't received the survey in your work email, contact [HR team email address] and we'll get back to you as soon as possible.
Best wishes,
The HR team
Subject: Employee engagement survey has closed!
Dear [first name],
Thank you so much for your feedback in our [quarterly] employee engagement survey. Your feedback is your chance to have your say and influence the workplace culture at [organisation name].
Over the next [number] weeks, we'll be looking at what you told us to understand the main themes, and then we'll report back to you with our main findings.
We're looking forward to sharing what we've found, and our plans to build a better workplace culture.
Best wishes,
The HR team
Example posters to adapt for your own use, in shared spaces or on digital screens. Replace the words in square brackets, and keep the sentence about anonymity that matches how your survey is set up. Poster 3 assumes invitations go by email: change it if yours go by WhatsApp or SMS.
To introduce the survey before it opens, and say how anonymity is set up.
Your workplace survey
We want your feedback!
On [survey launch date] we're launching our first ever workplace survey. Powered by Ten Space, it will gather feedback from you and all your colleagues, so we can improve life across [organisation name].
[Keep the sentence that matches how your survey is set up]
To read Ten Space's promise to employees, scan here.
For a survey people can take without an invitation, by scanning a QR code or following a link.
Your workplace survey
Make your views count!
The workplace survey is now open! Between now and [survey closing date], this is your chance to tell us how we can improve things for you.
[Keep the sentence that matches how your survey is set up]
Take part right now: scan the QR code and complete the survey. It takes [number] minutes, and you could help make your job better today!
For a survey that is by invitation only.
Your workplace survey
Make your views count!
The workplace survey is now open! Between now and [survey closing date], this is your chance to tell us how we can improve things for you.
[Keep the sentence that matches how your survey is set up]
Take part right now! Check your email for your personal invitation link, and tell us what you think. It only takes [number] minutes!
Timings vary between organisations, but we normally recommend starting to tell your people two to three weeks before the survey opens. Try to brief leaders and managers before that, three to four weeks ahead.
For an invited survey, not often. Ten Space sends regular automatic reminders to everyone invited, by email, WhatsApp or SMS, and people who have already answered aren't chased. Whatever kind of survey you run, reminders from team managers and a message from a senior sponsor can carry a lot of weight.
Whatever you say must match how your survey is set up. With the ethics filter enabled (the most common setup), results are only shown for groups of six or more. Each survey is set to one of three: fully anonymous; filtered, with the ethics filter applied; or identified, where authorised users can see which individual answered.
We work with you on what to ask, who to ask, how to tell your people and what the results mean.
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