This is a practical guide to making a great employee engagement survey with Typeform. We'll walk you through how to build and brand your engagement survey. Then learn how to share and analyze your survey results.
To make this as simple as possible, we've provided a categorized list of questions that you might want to ask your employees, at the end of this article. You can send one long survey annually, or choose certain categories and share them at a regular cadence throughout the year.
Build your engagement survey
To get started, log in to your Typeform account, and click + Create a new form:
We're going to choose Start from scratch for this guide, so click that next:
You can also use this prepared template, and then edit it to suit your needs.
Choose your questions
Now, you have to decide which categories of questions you want to ask, from the list at the end of this article. We are going to import them one by one, and organize them as Question Groups in the form. Highlight and copy the questions from the first category you want to include. Starting with general engagement questions is a good idea, so we'll do that.
1. Click +Add content:
2. Choose Import questions in the window that appears, and paste in the list of questions you just copied. Then click the Import questions button on the bottom right:
3. Now that your questions have been imported, you'll see this:
Next, we want to change the question types on the questions we’ve just imported. Make sure to select the question type that best matches the type question you’re asking.
First, change the question about recommending your company, to the NPS question type.
Click on the question in the left panel, then open the Answer dropdown on the right panel, and choose NPS:
Now do the same for the other questions, but in this case we'll change them to the Rating question type, and add a description text to the question, explaining the rating:
4. To keep things organized, we're going to put these questions together in a Question group. Click on + Add content, navigate to the Add form elements tab, and choose Question Group:
Now you can drag and drop your questions in the left panel, into the Question Group:
5. Next, click on the empty grey question at the top of the group. You can edit this to explain to your employees what these questions are about, in this case something like "what do you think about COMPANY NAME in general".
6. Repeat steps 2 to 5 for as many engagement question categories as you want to use. Remember to change the question types to "rating", and to edit the question texts so they are appropriate for your company!
7. It's a great idea to finish your survey with some open ended questions to get qualitative data for your survey. Copy the "comments" questions from the list below, and add them into your form using the Import tool, as above. Now you'll see this:
To encourage really useful feedback, we're going to change the question types on the "What do we do well..." and "Is there anything we could do better..." questions to Clarify with AI. This means that when your employees answer, they'll be asked related follow up questions to really dive into the feedback and give you deeper knowledge.
8. Change the last open-ended feedback question to a Video type, and turn on ‘Allow text answer’ in the right panel. This will allow your employees to give you really personal feedback in whatever way they feel comfortable - sending you a quick video, or writing text. You'll be able to get quick sentiment analysis from Smart insights when you've collected answers to this question.
9. Somewhere in your form, you may want to collect which department your respondents are in, so you can measure engagement by department as well as company wide. Click + Add content, and choose Dropdown. Edit the text to ask about departments or teams:
Then click Add choices, and put in a list of your company's departments.
Drag and drop the question either to the start or end of your form.
Add design and branding
1. Add some color and design to your form! We recommend using your company's brand kit, or setting one up. Here's how to do that. Or create a new theme for your form.
2. Now you have all the questions set up, click +Add content again, and add a Welcome Screen. Edit the text and button to suit your organization! Here we have also added an image with the survey name.
3. Click on the Ending in the bottom left panel:
Then edit the text, buttons and add an image as needed:
For this kind of form, we recommend toggling off the Social share icons. Find that button in the right panel.
Sharing your survey
Once you're happy with the content and design, it's time to share your survey.
To encourage participation, set a time limit on completion. You can set up an automatic close date using Access & Scheduling.
Analyze and share your results
Once your results are in, you can easily analyze and share them:
Analyze your results with Smart insights - get AI answers to your questions about the results. Compare results between departments, see trends and more.
Create a report to share with your team.
List of suggested Engagement Survey questions and categories
Survey results actions
I've been able to see and discuss engagement survey results
My team has set clear actions based on survey results
Positive change has come about as a result of employee surveys
I believe action will be taken as a result of this survey
Alignment & Involvement
My leaders keep me involved in decisions that affect my work
I'm happy with my current role
My total compensation is fair
I understand how my work contributes to our goals
I know what I need to do to my job well
Communication
Communication is open and honest at COMPANY NAME
My colleagues make a good effort to consult others where appropriate
Other teams collaborate well with us when needed
Comments (open ended questions)
What do we do well at COMPANY NAME?
Is there anything we could do better?
Do you have any other feedback about working here?
Confidence
Do you think our products and services are as good as, or better than, our main competitors?
Do we effectively direct resources towards company goals?
Do you think we're in the right place to succeed over the next two years?
Employee enablement
I have all the tools I need to do my job well
It's easy to get any information I need to do my job well
I feel I have enough autonomy in my role
Our processes and tools help me to work effectively
Engagement (general)
Would you recommend COMPANY NAME to your friends as a great place to work?
Do we motivate you to go beyond what you would in a similar role elsewhere
Are you proud to work here?
Do you ever think about working somewhere else?
Do you see yourself working here in two years' time
Feedback
I receive appropriate recognition for my effort
My performance is evaluated fairly
When it's clear someone is not delivering, we do something about it
We reward and celebrate the right people
Innovation
We have a culture where innovation and learning from failure is encouraged
We implement successful experiments or innovations
Leadership and mission
I have confidence in our leadership
Our leadership keeps us informed about what is happening
Our leadership demonstrates people are important to the company
Our leadership has communicated a vision that motivates me
Learning and development
I am able and empowered to develop skills relevant to my interests
I can see and understand the path to career development here
I have the tools and resources to learn and develop my skills
My manager shows genuine interest in my development
COMPANY NAME is a great place to develop my career
Management
My manager genuinely cares about my wellbeing
My manager gives me useful feedback on how well I am performing
My manager is a great role model for employees
My manager keeps me informed about what is happening in the company
Team
I feel I am part of a team
We hold ourselves accountable for results
Workloads are divided fairly in my team
Work/life balance
I feel supported if I want to take advantage of flexible working arrangements
I believe my workload is reasonable
I feel supported to take vacation and other time off from work when I need to