Internal communication surveys: they’re one of the most effective ways to learn more about what your employees think and how you can help improve productivity and employee satisfaction throughout your business. In fact, 89% of HR professionals agree that employee check-ins are key to successful outcomes. At the same time, you want to be sure that you aren’t asking too many questions, especially without taking that feedback into consideration throughout your business: employees can quickly become frustrated or decide that they no longer want to offer feedback, especially if they feel that you aren’t listening to them. So how do you shape employee survey questions that will help grow your business, support consistent communication, and improve employee appreciation?

Check out some of the following examples for the employee survey questions. 

1. How would you rate your understanding of the business’s goals and priorities? 

In order to create an effective working environment, it’s critical that your employees understand the business’s primary goals and how they have the potential to impact the decisions they make every day. Is the company effectively communicating its goals, or do your employees struggle to fully understand how the company operates or what it prioritizes? An employee who knows what is most important to the company can base many of their decisions on that understanding, while an employee who fails to understand those important priorities might not know how to prioritize their personal work obligations or how to answer questions for clients. 

When you craft this question, ask employees to rate their understanding on a scale of 1-5 or 1-10, based on how much detail you want in their responses. You should also provide a section for employees to describe what they would like to know about the business’s goals and priorities, including what questions they still have about the company’s operations. 

2. How would you rate your knowledge of the company now based on your knowledge of the company a year ago?

Encourage employees to respond, “I know much more about the company now than I did a year ago,” “I know a little more about the company now than I did a year ago,” etc. You can also rate their understanding on a numeric scale: 5 for a much better understanding down to 1 for significantly less understanding than they had a year ago. This question is a great way to track the progression of employee communication over time, giving you a better understanding of what you’re getting right versus what you’re getting wrong. Then, you can shape future communications based on that feedback.

3. How confident do you feel about the process for addressing a problem with your manager?

When employees have problems, do they feel confident that they can talk to their managers about those problems–and that they know the procedure for addressing a problem? Each company usually has unique methods for reporting specific problems and challenges. You want to be sure that when challenges arise, your employees know where to bring their struggles and their problems. Provide them with a sliding scale to rate their understanding of how to report problems, and make sure to provide extra feedback space for any questions. When you know where your employees struggle to understand communication within the workplace, you can address those challenges more effectively. 

4. How well do you feel that the company listens to your concerns?

“5: I feel that the company listens to and addresses my concerns very well.” “4: I feel that the company listens to my concerns fairly well, but there are some areas for improvement.” “1: I feel as though my concerns are being ignored completely.” Employees are looking for companies that genuinely care about them and about the things that are important to them. They want to know that their opinions and their needs are heard–and it’s critical that you set measures in place to accomplish exactly that. While you can’t make everyone happy all the time, it’s important for your company to get a general idea of how your employees feel about your communication efforts and how well they feel that you are addressing any problems along the way. 

5. How do you prefer to get information from the company?

It’s not just about what information your employees are getting. It’s also important to ensure that you are delivering information in the way that’s most effective for the majority of your employees. Do they prefer to get information through email? Internal communication software? Paper memos and newsletters? For that matter, are employees even reading those newspapers? Take a hard look at how your employees prefer to receive internal communications to help you better shape your communication efforts. 

6. Do you feel that you can easily find the information you’re seeking about the company?

Whether it’s information about a specific procedure or information about how to contact a specific individual within the company, can employees easily find that information? What do they feel would make it easier and more intuitive to access that vital information? By asking key questions about how employees access information, you can reshape the way you store and provide search options for information that could make it easier for employees to perform their jobs every day. 

7. How much do you care about the future of your organization?

If you post anonymous employee surveys–and they should be truly anonymous, if you want accurate responses–you can also ask how much employees care about the future of your organization. Typically, employees care about companies that care about them and about the things they care about. They’re more likely to respond highly when they genuinely care about the organization–and if they don’t, you can shift your communication efforts to allow you to more effectively communicate the organization’s goals and, in many cases, improve the way employees view the company as a whole.

Employee survey questions are the gateway to opening doors to better communication

Are you ready to start improving employee communications within your workplace? Make sure that you understand your employees’ needs more fully by adding these key questions to your next employee survey questions. Need more help with your internal communication efforts? Schedule a 15-minute call today to learn more about how we can help.