The Ultimate Guide to Employee Opinion Surveys (+13 Questions)

An employee opinion survey is a questionnaire used to gather insights into employees’ views and attitudes about aspects of their workplace experience. Like job role satisfaction, company culture, leadership, communication, and benefits.

Does your company need employee opinion surveys?

That’s one of the questions the article answers. You will also learn how they differ from employee satisfaction and engagement surveys and the best practices for conducting them.

Most importantly, we cover 13 employee opinion survey questions from the Honestly template, explain what insights they offer, and how you can use them.

Employee opinion survey VS engagement survey VS satisfaction survey

When you run a Google search on employee opinion surveys, the results reveal articles on engagement and satisfaction surveys.

There’s some overlap between the 3 surveys but their focus and scope differ:

• The employee engagement survey measures the emotional and psychological connection between team members and their work and the organization.
• The employee satisfaction survey assesses employees’ contentment with aspects of their jobs and working conditions.
• The employee opinion survey has a more general and broader scope. Its aim is to gain a more in-depth understanding of how your employees feel about the company, its mission and values, leaders, and organizational culture.

Why is it important to collect employee opinion feedback

Opinion surveys are an essential part of a comprehensive employee listening strategy for a few reasons:

• The feedback obtained through surveys can help organizations identify areas for improvement, like communication, training, transparency, or management practices. For example, it can help you strengthen the organizational culture by pinpointing inconsistencies between daily practices and company values.
• Organizations can use surveys to gauge the effectiveness of new policies, programs, or initiatives by comparing employee feedback before and after their implementation.
• Survey results can be used to benchmark an organization’s performance against industry standards or competitors.
• Opinion surveys demonstrate that the organization values employee input and is willing to listen to their concerns, opinions, and suggestions.

Benefits of employee opinion surveys

• Increased job satisfaction: By addressing the concerns and suggestions of employees, you can create a more satisfying work environment.
• Better morale: When employees see that their feedback is taken seriously and leads to positive changes, it boosts their morale and fosters a sense of ownership and pride in their work.
• Enhanced productivity: Addressing issues raised in surveys can remove obstacles to productivity. Engaged and satisfied employees are typically more productive and perform better.
• Reduced staff turnover: Understanding and addressing the root causes of employee dissatisfaction can significantly reduce turnover rates. Retaining talent saves the organization the costs associated with recruiting and training new employees.
• Better alignment of organizational goals: Understanding employee perspectives helps ensure that organizational changes and initiatives are better aligned with employee expectations and goals.

Types of employee opinion survey questions

To obtain valid insights and increase survey inclusivity, use a mix of question types, like:

• Likert scale questions rate employee experience on a scale from 1 (least satisfied) to 10 (most satisfied). They are perfect for gauging intensity or the extent.

  Example: How likely are you to recommend the organization as a place of work?

• Emoji questions are a quick and intuitive way to capture how employees feel about a statement.

  Example: I feel fortunate that I am able to be a part of my organization.

• Star rating questions are also very intuitive and used to rate experiences.

  Example: How would you rate communication within your organization?

• Agree/Disagree questions are particularly effective for measuring attitudes or opinions.

  Example: Important decisions and developments are communicated within my organization.

• Open-ended questions give participants the freedom to provide detailed feedback in their own words and explain why they feel in a particular way.

  Example: What could your organization do to create a better place to work?

13 example employee opinion survey questions

At Honestly, we recognize how tricky it is to create the right questions for your employee opinion survey.

That’s why we’ve created an Employee Opinion Survey Template with 17 ready-to-use questions. Written by experts based on scientific insights. All you have to do is transfer them to your survey tool of choice.

Here are 13 of them, along with their rationale and ideas on how to use the insights.

1. “How happy are you with your current job position?”

• What it tests: Employee satisfaction with their current role.
• Why you care: Employees who are satisfied with their role are more engaged, productive, and less likely to seek opportunities elsewhere.
• How to use the insights: Enhance job position satisfaction by revisiting job descriptions, providing training or professional development opportunities, or enhancing recognition and incentive programs.

For example, at Zappos, employees are rewarded with bonuses. The twist is that it’s not the management but their colleagues who decide who gets one. As each coworker can give you $50 a month, it’s a true incentive to support as many of your mates as possible. Their success could be yours.

2. “I feel that I am making important contributions with my work in my organization.”

• What it tests: Sense of personal contribution and impact.
• Why you care: Feeling valued and a sense of purpose increases employee motivation and commitment, and drives innovation, retention, and staff well-being.
• How to use the insights: Make staff work feel valued and impactful by recognizing and celebrating individual contributions, aligning roles with organizational goals, and providing feedback on the impact of employees’ work.

For instance, at Honestly, we sometimes add Celebrations to meetings to recognize our little wins. Like the launch of a new survey or a personal milestone. This is to recognize their impact and show appreciation for their contributions.

3. “How proud are you of your organization’s reputation?”

• What it tests: Employee pride in the organization’s external reputation.
• Why you care: Employee pride in their organization can enhance employee morale and advocacy. Companies with poor reputations spend 10% more on recruitment. 69% of unemployed job-seekers are ready to reject an offer from a company with a bad rep.
• How to use the insights: Strengthen brand reputation through corporate social responsibility initiatives, positive public relations, and high business ethics standards.

For example, Patagonia, known for its commitment to environmental causes, launched the Worn Wear program to extend the life of its outdoor kit. It enables customers to trade in and buy used clothes so that they don’t end up in a landfill.

4. “I stand behind my organization’s values.”

• What it tests: Alignment with organizational values.
• Why you care: Value alignment is crucial for organizational cohesion, employee engagement, and retention. 46% of UK and US employees consider leaving their jobs because of poor alignment.
• How to use the insights: Clearly communicate organizational values and ensure they are consistently reflected in all business practices and employee behaviors.

An example? Piktochart communicates its values through the acronym HOPEFUL. It stands for Humble, Openness, Passionate, Excellence, Fun, User-focused, & Love. Employees are encouraged to embed them in their daily work and rewarded for it.

5. “I stand behind my organization’s strategy.”

• What it tests: Confidence in organizational strategy.
• Why you care: Confidence in strategy fosters trust and commitment to organizational goals. Employees aligned with the strategy are more focused, productive, and have a higher sense of purpose.
• How to use the insights: To increase staff buy-in, communicate your strategic goals transparently, and involve employees in the strategy development process.

For instance, at Honestly, the employees are involved in the OKR planning. This happens in person and at an offsite location so that everybody can give it undivided attention. We start with annual goals and gradually break them down into quarterly and weekly objectives.

6. “I believe that I am working for the future market leader.”

• What it tests: Perception of the organization’s market potential and perception of how well the organization is led.
• Why you care: Belief in the organization’s future success boosts morale and motivates employees to contribute to long-term goals.

How to use the insights: Boost confidence by sharing market analyses and future projections and celebrating milestones and achievements. For example, our friends at Factorial hold a weekly all-hands meeting where the CEO, Head of Product, or someone from the leadership team shares progress, learnings, and goals for the week to come.

7. “How would you rate communication within your organization?”

• What it tests: Overall effectiveness of communication.
• Why you care: Effective internal communication increases employee productivity and engagement, and fosters collaboration and teamwork. A company with 100 employees may waste as much as $525k worth of work time a year clarifying misunderstood messages.
• How to use the insights: Improve communication by leveraging technology, establishing clear communication channels and protocols, and providing training.

Take Slite as an example. The company drinks its own champagne and uses its knowledge base tool for information sharing across the organization.

8. “My organization has a fair wage policy.”

• What it tests: Perception of remuneration fairness.
• Why you care: Fair compensation is crucial for employee productivity and retention. Over 80% of surveyed employees believe they are more engaged and productive when they feel they’re paid fairly while nearly 60% decide to look for other opportunities because of pay.
• How to use the insights: Conduct regular salary reviews, adjust compensation to address pay gaps, and ensure transparency about pay structures.

Buffer is probably one of the best examples of pay transparency. On their website, you can find how much everybody earns. Salaries are adjusted to the role and location.

9. “My organization has a competitive benefit policy.”

• What it tests: Satisfaction with employee benefits.
• Why you care: Competitive benefits are a key factor in attracting and retaining top talent. MetLife data shows that benefits affect employee loyalty and how likely they are to recommend their company to others.
• How to use the insights: Make your benefit offerings more attractive by exceeding industry standards and ensuring they align with employee needs.

Like Hotjar’s holiday perks: 40 days a year of paid leave and €2,000 a year in holiday budget. The company actually boasts that it offers perks that employees want.

10. “Everyone in my organization is treated fairly.”

• What it tests: Perception of fairness and equality.
• Why you care: Fair treatment is essential for a positive work environment and employee trust. Employees who feel promotions are awarded fairly are 19% more likely to make an extra effort.
• How to use the insights: Enhance the perception of fairness by implementing and enforcing equality and inclusivity policies. Like clear pathways for promotion.

Verizon does it with its Talent GPS tool which shows employees how their roles fit into a wider career and how to improve their chances of promotion.

11. “My organization holds itself to high ethical and moral standards.”

• What it tests: Organizational ethics and integrity.
• Why you care: Ethical standards are closely linked with corporate reputation and employee trust. Poor ethical standards can influence the decision to quit for 40%of employees and 81% of job applicants consider workplace ethics when considering job offers.
• How to use the insights: Foster a workplace culture of ethics and integrity by ensuring decisions and processes are aligned with a clear code of ethics.

For instance, Salesforce does it via Consequence Scanning, a process during which employees assess the impact of the product and how to mitigate potential problems.

12. “What could your organization do to create a better place to work?”

• What it tests: Suggestions for workplace improvements.
• Why you care: Open-ended feedback provides valuable insights into specific areas for improvement that may not be covered by structured questions.
• How to use the insights: Analyze feedback for common themes and actionable suggestions and use the findings to inform policies that address employee concerns and improve their work environment.

13. “How likely are you to recommend your organization as a place to work?”

• What it tests: The Employee Net Promoter Score (eNPS).
• Why you care: Employee readiness to advocate for the company indicates strong satisfaction and loyalty. Companies with low eNPS have high turnover rates and find it harder to attract new talent.
• How to use the insights: Use eNPS scores to gauge overall employee sentiment, address areas of concern, and leverage positive feedback to enhance employer branding. And encourage promoters to take part in referral programs.

Tips for running an employee opinion survey

• Communicate openly: keep your employees informed about the purpose of the survey, the timeline, and how you keep their data secure and confidential.
• Keep it concise: The survey shouldn’t take more than 10-15 minutes. With 1 closed-ended and 1 open-ended follow-up question per minute, that’s roughly 15 questions.
• Use AI to analyze responses: Analyzing open-ended responses manually can be a chore and you can miss valuable insights. Fortunately, survey tools, including Honestly, offer AI-powered features to streamline the process.

• Write clear questions: Avoid ambiguous, leading, or double-barrelled questions.

• Follow up: Always acknowledge a survey submission with a thank you message. Let the respondents know when they can expect the results and see an action plan. Run pulse surveys to test the impact of implemented changes.

Employee opinion survey FAQ

What is the average cost of the employee opinion survey?

The cost of the survey depends on the survey software to use.

For example, the Honestly Business plan starts at €206 per month for 100 employees, so that’s just over €2 per employee and you can run multiple surveys.

Is it a lot? When you consider the time and effort saved administering the survey, analyzing the results, and monitoring the metrics, it sounds like a bargain.

How do I ask for employee feedback on a survey?

You can collect feedback on a survey either by including additional questions at the end. For example, when you’re piloting it. Examples of questions that can help you refine the survey include:

• “How clear were the questions in this survey?”
• “How relevant were the topics covered in this survey to your work experience?”
• “How long did it take you to complete this survey?”
• “How user-friendly was the format of this survey?”

Are opinion surveys really anonymous?

This depends on the company culture and its survey protocols. Ethical organizations communicate clearly how the survey data is stored and processed throughout the survey process. They also use external survey providers, like Honestly, which allow them to customize anonymity levels and ensure raw data is protected.