What to Ask in a Company Culture Survey

In HR circles, the term “employee engagement” is a hot topic of discussion, especially during this time when many people are making new choices about how and where they want to spend their working days. Finding a healthy work-life balance is more important than ever for employees.

Workers also want to know more about a company’s culture and management style before committing to employment. Thus, companies need ways to gauge employee satisfaction. One important tool is the company culture survey. When used properly, this tool helps measure employee engagement and can improve business performance.

Measuring employee engagement

Employee engagement, simply put, indicates the level of mental and emotional connection, enthusiasm, and dedication employees feel toward their company. It’s a marker of job satisfaction, and it’s clear that satisfied employees are more productive employees. Measuring the employee experience and evaluating organizational culture depends on collecting and honestly evaluating employee feedback. And capturing that means devising an intelligent workplace culture survey that employees feel comfortable answering.

Company culture survey questions to ask

Creating a positive work culture starts with asking employee survey questions that address all areas including training, compensation, benefits, employee wellbeing, and more.

Capturing useful, honest feedback from your employees through an employee survey is critical to a company’s bottom line. Dissatisfied employees are harder to retain. It’s harder to be productive and enthusiastic when the work environment is negative. Creating a positive work culture starts with asking employee survey questions that address all areas including training, compensation, benefits, employee wellbeing, and more. So, if you are tasked with creating your employee engagement survey, here are 16 statements your employees can use to rank their experience on a scale of your choosing. The answers will help you understand how employees perceive your organization’s culture.

Statements your employees can use to rank their experience

• I received the training I needed to do my job when I was hired.
• When given a task to complete, I feel I am given clear goals and instructions.
• I feel like our work environment is diverse and inclusive.
• I feel satisfied with my current role in the company.
• I feel that I have the tools, resources, and time to do my job effectively.
• I feel that I am fairly compensated for my position within the organization.
• I am satisfied with the benefits offered by the company.
• I feel that the company provides sufficient resources for employees struggling with mental health concerns.
• I feel like the company provides me with opportunities to develop and grow my skills.
• I feel appreciated for the work I do.
• I feel listened to when I share my ideas and concerns.
• I enjoy working with my coworkers.
• I feel like we have a positive work environment here.
• I feel like the positive culture supports the organization’s mission.
• The company’s leaders contribute to a better workplace.
• I’m able to fulfill my role while maintaining a healthy work-life balance.

You can format your work culture survey to collect ranking data on each of these statements or ask them in question format.

Analyzing data from workplace culture surveys

Now it’s time to evaluate your company’s culture by turning your employee surveys into metrics that help you gauge the state of your company’s culture. This gives you the tools to make changes for improvement. One useful tool for churning through this data is the Employee Net Promoter Score (eNPS). This measures how likely an employee would be to recommend your workplace to friends or family.

Furthermore, be sure employees understand that all of your company culture surveys — now and in the future — are completely anonymous. That’s the only way to collect confident, honest responses that will help you develop a strong company culture in line with your company’s values. You could try outsourcing your survey to a company that administers the links and collects the data. Each of these survey companies is an option you might consider:

• SurveyMonkey. They provide a free template that takes employees approximately 6 minutes to complete, on any device.
• Typeform. You can either use their standard template or sign up to customize a survey with your own questions.
• Talentlyft. Their employee engagement surveys enable you to ask for rankings as well as open-ended questions.
• Pingboard. Their employee engagement survey template explains the “why” of each question so that you know what sort of data you’re likely to receive.
• Qualtrics. If coming up with company culture survey questions is just too much for you right now, Qualtrics has a whole system that helps you monitor real-time employee engagement.

How often should I do company culture surveys?

Timing and frequency matter when it comes to running employee engagement surveys. For example, you might get some helpful responses right after a big project comes to completion. The process is still fresh in everyone’s minds, and you can collect some good data to improve on the next big project. Another possible time is when you’re updating the benefits packages available to employees.

You might also consider running these surveys quarterly — roughly every 3 months. This gives you time to learn from and implement changes that are indicated from each survey. That way, you can watch how any efforts to improve company culture change employee satisfaction and engagement over time. Armed with that knowledge, you can tweak or redirect efforts as needed to keep building a positive company culture.

You might also consider running these surveys quarterly — roughly every 3 months. This gives you time to learn from and implement changes that are indicated from each survey.

Does company culture reflect company values?

Gathering accurate, regular employee feedback through work culture surveys can help you understand the pulse of your organization’s culture better, and find more ways to improve performance by enhancing employee engagement and employee satisfaction. When employees feel seen and heard, productivity and culture improve. Subscribe to the Zenefits newsletter and register for more HR insight that can elevate your company culture today.