An image of Inspirus Connects' Employee Voice survey, a pulse survey

Conducting Employee Surveys for Maximum Impact

January 14, 2025

Conduct effective employee surveys with clear objectives, engaging design, and actionable steps. Find out how to in this blog.

In any kind of personal or professional relationship, it can be challenging to know exactly what the other person is thinking. Are they happy? Is there something you could be doing better? What are they worried about right now? The advice is the same no matter what kind of relationship you’re navigating: ask them! 

In any kind of personal or professional relationship, it can be challenging to know exactly what the other person is thinking. Are they happy? Is there something you could be doing better? What are they worried about right now? The advice is the same no matter what kind of relationship you’re navigating: ask them! 

Whether you’re gauging overall employee satisfaction or diving into specific topics like work-life balance or company culture, the insights you gather with the right employee surveys can be incredibly powerful. When conducted correctly, these surveys become the backbone of an engaged and motivated workforce that retains top employees, powers productivity and drives business outcomes. 

Why Employee Surveys Matter

It should come as no surprise that keeping tabs on employees’ well-being should be a priority. And if you’re not conducting some kind of employee survey, you’re falling behind. A study from Top Workplaces Research Lab found that 84% of organizations survey their employees at least once a year, but many do so even more regularly. 

Of course, it’s not just about how often you ask questions – it’s about what kind of questions you ask, how you listen and if you take meaningful action. That said, an effective employee engagement survey can give you insight to:

  • Boost engagement: Gallup research shows that engaged employees are 10% more productive and contribute to 18% higher sales.
  • Retain top talent: Employees who feel heard are almost five times more likely to feel empowered to perform their best work.
  • Shape company culture: Surveys provide insights needed to align your workplace with the values and environment employees want.

Here’s how to craft, conduct and act on employee engagement surveys in ways that truly make an impact.

Designing the Survey 

How you design your survey can make or break its success. Employees are more likely to complete concise surveys and – as mentioned above – have a clear objective. At the same time, it’s important to ask questions that prompt detailed enough responses to be actional, combining clarity and depth. 

Mix question types to balance quantitative and qualitative insights. 

  • Start with engaging questions: Begin with easy-to-answer questions to make employees comfortable, then move to more in-depth topics.
  • Use a mix of question types: Combine multiple-choice questions, Likert scales (e.g., “Rate your job satisfaction from 1-10”), and open-ended prompts for qualitative feedback.
  • Avoid jargon: Use straightforward, unbiased language to ensure everyone understands the questions.

Employee Survey Tip #1

Creating a survey manually or through Google Sheets is unnecessarily time-consuming and complicated. Instead, use an employee engagement platform like Inspirus that has integrated digital survey tools. In partnership with The Happiness Index, you can access 20+ neuroscience-based pre-built surveys that measure how your people think, feel and behave across the full employee experience.

Setting Clear Objectives

First off, why are you conducting this survey? You should be able to clearly articulate your goals before crafting your first question. Surveys that lack focus yield generic results, making it harder to affect impact. Setting specific, measurable goals makes sure every question serves a purpose and aligns with your organization’s broader priorities. 

For example, if your goal is to measure overall employee engagement, then focus on identifying pain points that are hindering your efforts – like challenges with remote work setups or the effectiveness of a new incentive program. 

Employee Survey Tip #2 

Align your survey goals with business outcomes, like improving employee retention, job satisfaction or productivity levels.

Ensuring Anonymity and Confidentiality 

Often, employees are more likely to open up if they know their responses are confidential and won’t be tied back to them. Keeping answers anonymous encourages more honest employee feedback without fear (unfounded or not) or reprisals. 

With tools like Inspirus, employees are empowered to share their feedback anonymously any time, day or night.

Employee Survey Tip #3

Anonymity builds trust, but transparency builds credibility. Let employees know how their feedback will be used and commit to following through on the results.

Timing and Frequency of Surveys

Launching surveys at the right moments helps ensure you capture meaningful feedback while avoiding survey fatigue. Trying to garner participation during a particularly busy crunch week of company deadlines or during a holiday period when many people are out of the office likely won’t garner the results you’re hoping for. 

As a general rule of thumb on when to conduct surveys:

  • Onboarding surveys: Gauge the experience of new hires after their first 30, 60 or 90 days.
  • Pulse surveys: These short, frequent surveys track ongoing engagement and typically run on a monthly or quarterly basis. 
  • Annual employee experience surveys: Conduct a comprehensive assessment to dive deeper into employee sentiment and satisfaction at least once a year. 

Employee Survey Tip #4 

Don’t overlook the power of exit surveys! Conducting a survey when employees leave the organization can yield invaluable insights into why they’re departing and highlight areas to improve culture and retention. 

Analyzing Survey Results 

The real power of employee surveys lies in what happens after the responses come in. Digging into the survey responses allows you to better understand your strengths, pinpoint areas for improvement and drive change. 

Use an integrated platform like Inspirus to streamline the entire process of collecting and analyzing feedback. With the centralized survey dashboard, administrators can see all survey insights in one place including cross-themed analysis, heatmaps, sentiment analysis and key driver analysis. This detailed level of visibility helps you quickly identify trends and prioritize areas that need immediate attention. Additionally, platforms like these are able to analyze results and provide actionable insights for next steps.

Employee Survey Tip #5 

One way to make sense of the survey data is to start off by organizing the surveys themselves around specific topics, such as workplace culture, diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI), well-being and mental health or vision and values. This keeps surveys focused while also making it easier to interpret and act on the results.

Taking Action Based on Feedback 

Nothing disengages employees faster than surveys that lead to zero action. Show employees their feedback matters by implementing changes, both big and small. 

For example, if employees highlight challenges with meeting overload, consider introducing no-meeting days or implementing other best practices to streamline schedules. If feedback shows a lack of career growth opportunities, invest in mentorship programs, skill-building workshops and other clear career progression paths. 

  • Prioritize urgent issues: Address critical pain points first, such as workload concerns or lack of recognition.
  • Go for quick wins: Implement small changes – like shout-outs in team meetings – to show immediate responsiveness.
  • Focus on long-term planning: Use insights to shape strategic goals, like enhancing leadership training or launching wellness programs.

Employee Survey Tip #6 

Share updates regularly to keep employees informed about the progress being made. For instance, create a "You Spoke, We Listened" campaign to highlight changes implemented based on feedback. 

Communicating Survey Findings 

Sharing survey findings effectively is as important as conducting surveys themselves. When employees feel heard, employee engagement levels and employee satisfaction improve, creating a stronger connection to the organization.

Visual tools help employees quickly grasp key insights from the survey process, like trends over time in employee satisfaction surveys or feedback on specific initiatives. Share clear, actionable plans based on the feedback and update employees regularly to reinforce that their input drives meaningful change.

And, of course, a crucial part of communicating survey findings is explaining what will happen next.

Employee Survey Tip #7

Use multiple communication channels to make sure everyone hears the message. From email updates and internal newsletters to social platforms or dashboards, keeping the findings accessible so no one feels left out of the loop.

Continuous Improvement Through Employee Surveys

Employee priorities evolve, and your survey process should adapt accordingly. What worked in previous surveys may need adjustments to stay aligned with employee needs.

Regularly update survey questions to reflect new workplace dynamics, such as hybrid work arrangements, DEI initiatives, or mental health priorities. This helps keep your surveys relevant and captures the most pressing concerns impacting employee engagement levels.

Want to turn feedback into action? Speak with an Inspirus specialist to discover how our survey solutions can drive real change in your organization.

Give Your Employee a Voice with Inspirus. Measure how your people think, feel, and behave with 20+ neuroscience-based surveys. Get the insights you need to turn data into action. Get Your Employee Surveys.