50+ Employee Engagement Survey Questions to Boost Retention & Trust

Keeping employees engaged isn’t rocket science—until it feels like it is. You roll out perks, town halls, and “Fun Fridays,” yet turnover creeps up and morale dips.

Here’s the hard truth: guessing what your team wants doesn’t work. The only reliable way? Ask them.

Employee engagement surveys let you peek under the hood of your culture, catch frustrations early, and prove you actually listen. But if you ask clumsy or irrelevant questions, you’ll only fuel more eye-rolls.

That’s why this guide gives you 50+ employee engagement survey questions—plus the know-how to turn answers into action. No fluff, no jargon—just practical questions that keep your team engaged and your business moving forward.

50+ Employee Engagement Survey Questions (By Category)

When people Google “employee engagement survey questions,” they don’t want theory—they want actual questions they can drop into a survey today. So let’s start there.

Below you’ll find 50+ employee engagement survey questions, organized into themes like job satisfaction, leadership, culture, growth, and even remote work. Think of this as your ready-to-go question bank. Skim, borrow, customize.

Job Satisfaction Questions

If people don’t like their jobs, nothing else clicks. These employee engagement survey questions help you see if employees actually enjoy what they do and plan to stay.

1. On a scale of 0–10, how satisfied are you with your current role? 

(A simple score that shows overall happiness.)

2. Do you feel your work is meaningful and contributes to the company’s goals? 

(Tells you if employees feel connected to the bigger picture.)

3. Does your role make good use of your skills and talents?

(Shows if people feel underused or challenged.)

4. Do you see yourself working here in the next two years?

(A good way to spot early signs of turnover.)

5. How often do you think about exploring opportunities outside the company?

(Reveals whether employees are loyal or looking elsewhere.)

For easy creation, you can use this employee job satisfaction survey template:

Leadership & Management Questions

Managers and leaders shape how people feel day to day. These questions show whether employees trust their leaders and feel supported by them.

6. Does your manager clearly communicate expectations? 

(Shows if employees know what’s expected of them.)

7. Do you feel comfortable giving feedback to your manager? 

(Reveals if trust and openness exist in the relationship.)

8. Does your manager support your professional growth? 

(Checks if leaders invest in employee development.)

9. How often do you receive useful feedback from your manager? 

(Highlights whether guidance is regular and constructive.)

10. Do you trust leadership to make good decisions for the company?

(Gauges overall confidence in top management.)

Create a management survey with this no-brainer manager/supervisor evaluation template:

Company Culture & Inclusion Questions

Culture is what people feel when no one is watching. These questions dig into belonging, values, and whether diversity is more than a slogan.

11. Do you feel comfortable sharing your opinions at work? 

(Reveals whether people feel safe to speak up.)

12. Do the company’s values align with your personal values? 

(Shows if employees connect with the mission.)

13. Do you feel respected by your colleagues? 

(A quick test of day-to-day workplace culture.)

14. Do you believe diversity and inclusion are priorities here? 

(Checks if employees see the company walking the talk.)

15. On a scale of 0–10, how would you rate the overall culture? 

(A broad measure of company atmosphere.)

You can use & tweak this template to create your own workplace culture survey:

Growth & Development Questions

Most people don’t quit jobs—they quit when they stop growing. These questions show if employees see a future worth building with you.

16. Does your current role offer opportunities for learning new skills? 

(Shows if employees feel they’re growing.)

17. Are you satisfied with the training programs provided? 

(Checks whether development resources meet expectations.)

18. Do you feel the company supports your long-term career goals? 

(Reveals if people see a future path here.)

19. Have you been encouraged to take on new responsibilities? 

(Highlights whether growth opportunities exist in practice.)

20. Do you receive mentoring or coaching to help your development? 

(Shows how invested the company is in individual growth.)

Use this employee opportunity & motivation survey template for easy creation:

Work-Life Balance & Well-Being Questions

Engagement tanks when work takes over life. These questions uncover whether people feel balanced, healthy, and supported.

21. Are you satisfied with your work hours? 

(Shows if schedules feel fair and manageable.)

22. Can you usually leave work on time to handle personal needs? 

(Reveals flexibility for life outside the office.)

23. Have you ever missed an important personal event because of work? 

(Highlights where work is intruding on life.)

24. Do you feel the company supports your mental health and well-being? 

(Shows whether employees see real care, not just lip service.)

25. Can you manage your workload within regular working hours? 

(Exposes overload before it leads to burnout.)

Leverage this work-life balance survey template for your employees:

Remote & Hybrid Team Questions

Remote and hybrid setups test fairness and communication. These questions reveal if distance is making employees feel left out.

26. Do you feel as included in the team as in-office employees? 

(Checks for fairness across locations.)

27. Do you have the tools and resources to work effectively from home? 

(Shows if remote setups are enabling productivity.)

28. Is communication clear and consistent across remote and in-office staff? 

(Reveals if distance is creating silos.)

29. Do you feel visible and recognized for your contributions? 

(Highlights whether remote employees feel overlooked.)

30. How would you rate collaboration with your team in a remote setting? 

(Measures the quality of teamwork outside the office.)

For remote and hybrid employees, you can do pulse checks with microsurveys. Here’s an example:

Feedback & Recognition Questions

A paycheck isn’t enough; people want to know their work matters. These questions uncover whether recognition and feedback flow regularly.

31. Do you feel your contributions are valued at work? 

(Shows whether recognition is consistent and meaningful.)

32. How often do you receive recognition for good work? 

(Reveals if appreciation is frequent enough to motivate.)

33. Do you get constructive feedback that helps you improve? 

(Checks if feedback is actionable, not vague.)

34. Do you feel comfortable giving feedback to peers and managers? 

(Tests openness across the board, not just top-down.)

35. Do you believe good performance is rewarded fairly here? 

(Shows if recognition ties back to tangible rewards.)

Try out this employee recognition survey template:

Compensation & Benefits Questions

Pay and perks don’t drive engagement alone—but if people feel underpaid or undervalued, no culture initiative can save you. These questions cut straight to fairness and satisfaction.

36. Are you satisfied with your overall compensation? 

(Shows if pay matches expectations.)

37. Do you believe your compensation is fair compared to industry standards? 

(Reveals whether employees think they’re competitive.)

38. Are the benefits provided by the company meeting your needs? 

(Checks if perks feel relevant, not wasted.)

39. Do you feel pay and benefits are tied fairly to performance? 

(Shows whether rewards feel earned.)

40. Would better benefits make you more likely to stay longer? 

(Reveals whether benefits impact retention decisions.)

You can use and customize this employee benefits survey template:

Communication Questions

Engagement crumbles when people feel out of the loop. These questions check if employees feel informed, heard, and part of the conversation.

41. Do you feel well-informed about company updates and changes? 

(Checks whether communication is timely and clear.)

42. Is there open and transparent communication within your team? 

(Shows if teams actually share information.)

43. Do you feel comfortable sharing ideas with your colleagues? 

(Reveals if collaboration is encouraged.)

44. Do you think leadership communicates honestly and transparently? 

(Measures trust in top-down messages.)

45. How would you rate the quality of communication across departments? 

(Shows whether silos are hurting engagement.)

Open-Ended Questions

Sometimes the best insights don’t fit a scale. Open-ended questions give employees room to say what matters most in their own words.

46. What is one thing the company could do to improve your work experience? 

(Uncovers actionable, specific ideas.)

47. What do you enjoy most about working here? 

(Highlights strengths you should double down on.)

48. What’s the biggest challenge you face in your role right now? 

(Exposes roadblocks leadership may not see.)

49. If you could change one thing about your job, what would it be?

(Reveals priorities straight from employees.)

50. Do you have any feedback for leadership that wasn’t covered in this survey? 

(Gives employees a final open channel.)

Bonus Questions to Round Out the Set

51. Do you feel your workload is distributed fairly compared to your peers? 

(Shows if employees sense inequity in responsibilities.)

52. How confident are you in the company’s future direction? 

(Checks if employees believe in leadership’s long-term vision.)

53. Do you feel the company listens and acts on employee feedback? 

(The ultimate engagement litmus test—does feedback turn into change?)

How to Run Employee Engagement Surveys That Work

Asking the right questions is only half the job. The other half is running the survey in a way that earns trust and gets honest answers. Here’s the step-by-step playbook I recommend:

Step 1: Define Your Goals

Decide exactly what you’re trying to learn—whether it’s reducing turnover, testing trust in leadership, or checking remote team morale. Write these goals down and tie them to 2–3 metrics (like eNPS, retention, or productivity). This keeps the survey focused and gives you data you can track over time.

Step 2: Decide Audience & Anonymity Rules

Not every survey needs to go to everyone. Maybe you want to test leadership only in one department or pulse-check just your remote team. Also, set rules for anonymity—like “We only share results if 5+ people respond.” This reassures employees that their answers are safe and encourages honesty.

Step 3: Choose & Trim Your Questions

From the 50+ examples above, pick 15–20 that align with your goals. Mix rating scale questions for benchmarking with a few open-ended ones for context. Always include an eNPS question (“How likely are you to recommend this company as a great place to work?”) plus a follow-up “Why?” to understand the score. Keeping it short respects employees’ time and boosts completion rates.

Step 4: Build With the Right Tool

Skip the manual spreadsheets. Use ProProfs Survey Maker for structured surveys like annual engagement checks or quarterly pulses. Its templates and AI builder let you customize easily, while analytics handle the heavy lifting. 

Here’s a quick video for you to learn how to create a survey from scratch:

For lightweight, ongoing listening, use Qualaroo’s microsurveys directly inside Slack or whichever tool your team uses daily. These quick 1–2 question checks help you track morale without causing survey fatigue. Creating nudges on Qualaroo is pretty easy. Here’s how you can create microsurveys for regular pulse checks:

Step 5: Time It Right

Avoid running surveys during stressful periods like end-of-quarter deadlines. A good rhythm is one big survey each year, supported by quarterly pulses. Keep surveys open for a week, send two reminders, and close them promptly—dragging it out lowers urgency and response quality.

Step 6: Distribute Smartly

Don’t rely on email alone. Share the survey link in Slack, bring it up in team meetings, and ask managers to remind their teams. And always make surveys mobile-friendly—most people will fill them out on their phones. Meeting employees where they are is half the battle.

Step 7: Test Before Launch

Before going wide, run the survey with 5–10 employees. Ask them if the wording is clear, if any question feels awkward, and if the logic flows. Fixing these small snags early saves you from messy data and frustrated employees later.

Strategies for Creating Employee Engagement Surveys

Running a survey is the easy part. Getting people to actually care enough to answer—that’s where most companies stumble. Here are some strategies I’ve seen separate the surveys people rush through from the ones they take seriously.

Strategy 1: Mix Fast Clicks With Real Talk

Use a blend of rating scales (for quick benchmarking) and open-ended prompts (for context). For example: follow a 1–10 satisfaction score with “What’s the main reason you gave that score?” This balance gives you numbers and the story behind them.

Strategy 2: Respect the Clock

Cap surveys at 10–15 minutes. If you need more detail, split it across multiple pulses instead of dumping 50 questions in one go. Shorter surveys show respect for employees’ time and reduce survey fatigue.

Strategy 3: Get the Rhythm Right

A solid rhythm is one annual deep-dive survey, quarterly pulse surveys, and occasional microsurveys. For ongoing feedback, drop Qualaroo microsurveys into Slack or Teams with one or two timely questions. Gauge your employee’s emotions with AI sentiment analysis.

Use Survey Maker for structured annual and quarterly runs.

Strategy 4: Make Trust Non-Negotiable

Employees won’t be honest if they fear exposure. Be upfront about anonymity rules (“We only share results if 5+ people respond”), don’t ask for overly detailed demographics, and follow data privacy standards. This isn’t just good practice—it’s a legal must in many regions.

Strategy 5: Drive Up Response Rates

Good surveys get at least 60–70% completion, great ones hit 80%+. To get there: announce the survey early, send two reminders, and ask managers to nudge their teams in meetings. Incentives help too—sometimes recognition or a small perk is enough to push participation.

Strategy 6: Spend Smart, Not Big

Surveys can eat budget fast if you’re cobbling tools together and analyzing data manually. Automate the process with ProProfs Survey Maker—templates, AI-assisted analysis, and reporting save hours of admin. The hidden ROI? HR spends time fixing problems, not wrangling spreadsheets.

Strategy 7: Always Close the Loop

Never let a survey end in silence. Share the results openly, explain what actions you’re prioritizing, and give progress updates. Even small, visible changes—like adding monthly manager check-ins if feedback scores are low—show employees their input matters. That’s how you turn surveys from “just another HR task” into culture-shaping tools.

Common Pitfalls That Kill Engagement Surveys

Even with the right questions and strategy, plenty of surveys flop. Here are the mistakes I’ve seen companies make, and how to sidestep them.

Takeaway: Engagement surveys don’t fail because of bad questions but because of bad follow-through. Avoid these traps, and your surveys become tools for action, not just data collection.

How to Analyze and Act on Survey Results

Collecting survey responses is only half the job. What employees really care about is what you do with their feedback. Here’s how to move from raw data to real change:

Step 1: Organize the Data

Start by grouping results into clear buckets—job satisfaction, leadership, culture, etc. Tools like ProProfs Survey Maker will chart this for you automatically, so you’re not stuck in spreadsheets.

Step 2: Look Beyond the Averages

Don’t stop at overall scores. Segment results by team, location, or role. Often, one department is thriving while another is drowning—and you’ll miss it if you only look at company-wide numbers.

Step 3: Spot the Patterns

Look for recurring themes in open-ended answers. Qualaroo’s sentiment analysis and word clouds make this easier by surfacing common concerns or emotions without hours of manual reading.

Step 4: Prioritize What Matters Most

You can’t fix everything at once. Pick two or three themes that have the biggest impact on engagement—like recognition, workload balance, or manager trust—and focus on those first.

Step 5: Share the Results Openly

Even if the data stings, transparency builds trust. Summarize key findings, explain what’s being done about them, and thank employees for their input. Silence after a survey is the fastest way to kill participation.

Step 6: Turn Insights Into Action

Assign owners for each initiative, set timelines, and communicate progress. For example, if “lack of feedback” scores low, managers should commit to monthly check-ins. Small, visible changes prove you’re listening.

Step 7: Track Progress Over Time

Run quarterly pulse checks to see if changes are working. Use the same core questions (like eNPS) so you can measure improvement. Consistency makes progress measurable and credible. Here’s an eNPS template for you to use:

Engagement Surveys Only Matter if You Act

Employee engagement surveys aren’t just about questions—they’re about trust, action, and follow-through. When you ask the right things, run surveys with care, and actually act on the feedback, you don’t just collect data—you build a workplace people want to stay in.

The good news? You don’t need to reinvent the wheel. Use ProProfs Survey Maker to launch structured surveys with ready-to-use templates, automate analysis, and share results without the manual grind. And for those quick, timely pulse checks, drop a Qualaroo microsurvey into Slack or Teams to keep your finger on the culture between the big surveys.

Do it consistently, and your surveys stop being an HR formality and start becoming one of your sharpest growth tools.

 Frequently Asked Questions

What are the 5 C’s of employee engagement?

The 5 C’s are Care, Connect, Coach, Contribute, and Congratulate. In plain terms: show employees you care, build connections, give coaching, let them contribute meaningfully, and celebrate wins.

What are the 4 P’s of employee engagement?

The 4 P’s are People, Purpose, Progress, and Performance. Engagement grows when you hire the right people, connect them to a purpose, show progress, and reward performance fairly.

How is eNPS used in employee surveys?

Employee Net Promoter Score (eNPS) asks one key question: “How likely are you to recommend this company as a great place to work?” It’s a quick pulse on loyalty, and tracking it over time shows whether engagement strategies are working.

What’s the purpose of an employee exit survey?

Exit surveys capture feedback from employees who are leaving. They highlight recurring issues—like workload, management style, or compensation—that may be driving turnover. Automating them with tools like ProProfs Survey Maker saves time and ensures no insights slip through.

What is a candidate experience survey?

A candidate experience survey gathers feedback from people who interviewed with your company, even if they weren’t hired. It helps refine the recruitment process, improve employer branding, and reduce candidate drop-offs.