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FREE Employee Satisfaction Survey

Template & 2023 Guide
Posted by Nadine von Moltke

Do your employees find fulfillment and contentment in their work? The importance of
employee satisfaction cannot be overstated for HR professionals who are tasked with
maximising employee engagement and loyalty, but how can leadership teams know
what employees are really thinking and feeling? 

To gauge employee satisfaction, employers often rely on employee satisfaction

surveys or questionnaires. These assessments can include questions about the
feasibility of their deadlines, their rapport with co-workers, and their ability to
maintain a healthy work life balance. In this article, we provide a FREE employee
satisfaction template (Word download), employee satisfaction survey question
examples to help develop your own, and steps to help you craft your next employee
satisfaction survey.

Contents
What is an employee satisfaction survey?
Why should you measure employee satisfaction?
8 benefits of employee satisfaction surveys
Checklist: Conducting an employee satisfaction survey
Crafting your employee satisfaction survey questions
Free employee sample satisfaction survey template
How to conduct employee satisfaction surveys
Employee satisfaction survey tools

What is an employee satisfaction survey? 

Gone are the days when people were simply happy to have a job – as they should be.
In every organization across industries and sectors, people are the driving force
behind productivity and innovation. They are a key differentiator for competitive
companies. And they should be treated as such. High levels of employee satisfaction
are typically linked to increased productivity, better employee morale, lower turnover
rates, and greater business success.
Employee satisfaction, also referred to as job satisfaction, is a measure of how content
and happy employees are with their jobs and their workplace environment. It can be
influenced by several factors, including the nature of the work itself, compensation,
work-life balance, relationships with colleagues and superiors, opportunities for
career advancement, and the overall culture and values of the organization.

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An employee satisfaction survey is a tool used by organizations to measure and

understand the attitudes, opinions, and level of satisfaction amongst their employees.
It typically includes a range of questions about various aspects of the workplace
experience, including work environment, job duties, managerial effectiveness, and
opportunities for professional growth. The results from the survey can offer valuable
insights to identify areas of improvement, enhance productivity, and retain talent by
addressing their needs and expectations.

What is employee engagement?

While both employee satisfaction and engagement are crucial for a successful
organization, they do not mean the same thing:

 Employee satisfaction is about how content an employee is with their job and work
environment. It primarily focuses on the employee’s well-being and whether their needs and
expectations are being met.
 Employee engagement goes a step further. It is an emotional commitment from the
employee to the organization and its goals.

HR tip

Engaged employees are not just satisfied with their jobs. They are
enthusiastic about their work, take pride in the company, and are
willing to put in extra effort to contribute to the organization’s success.

Why should you measure employee satisfaction?

Gallup’s Exceptional Workplace Award winners averaged 72% employee
engagement even during highly disruptive times. They also have an 18-to-1 average
ratio of engaged to actively disengaged employees.

Why does this matter? For starters, according to Gallup’s State of the Global
Workplace Report, employees who are not engaged or who are actively disengaged
cost the world $7.8 trillion in lost productivity (11% of global GDP) in 2022. Gallup
also reveals that decades of research on organizational performance all points to the
same thing – that organizations dedicated to prioritizing employee engagement and
wellbeing and building a strong workplace culture reap the rewards of better
productivity, profitability and customer growth. Most especially, they outperform
their less engaged competitors.

If employee satisfaction directly impacts how engaged an employee is, it stands to

reason that measuring employee satisfaction is therefore critical. Here are a few
additional reasons why:

 Increase profitability: All of the above factors can contribute to an increase in company
profitability. When employees are satisfied and productive, and turnover is low, companies
can operate more effectively and efficiently, driving up profits.
 Improve productivity: Satisfied employees are typically more productive. They are more
likely to stay focused, motivated, and engaged in their work, which can drive up overall
productivity levels.
 Reduce turnover: A happy employee is more likely to stay with a company longer, reducing
staff churn and the costs associated with hiring and training new employees. With 84% of
organizations reporting labor shortage challenges, HR professionals are looking for ways to
retain employees for longer.
 Enhance customer satisfaction: Satisfied employees are more likely to believe in the
organization’s purpose and will want to provide better customer service, leading to higher
customer satisfaction and loyalty.

8 Benefits of employee satisfaction surveys

Before you design and implement an employee satisfaction survey or draft employee
satisfaction questions, keep these 8 benefits top of mind to ensure you are creating a
successful program.

1. Increase employee engagement: This is the most obvious result of understanding how your
employees are feeling and one that we have touched on in this guide. Over and above the
data and insights you will gather as an HR professional, employee satisfaction surveys give
employees a voice, making them feel valued and involved in the decision-making process.
Employees who feel heard are more likely to be engaged, motivated, and committed to their
organization. And as we’ve pointed out, increased engagement leads to better productivity
and reduced turnover rates.
2. Identify areas of improvement: Surveys provide a platform for employees to express their
concerns, criticisms, and suggestions for improvements, enabling your organization to
identify the areas that require attention. Understanding employees’ perspectives can help
address potential problems in workflows, working conditions, organizational structure, or
policy.
3. Enhance communication and collaboration: Conducting these surveys emphasizes open and
transparent communication between employees and management. It can encourage a
culture of feedback and collaboration, where everyone feels comfortable sharing their ideas
and concerns. This can lead to improved team dynamics, problem-solving, and innovation.
4. Improve leadership and management: Through these surveys, HR professionals can gain
valuable insights into how management’s actions and decisions are perceived by employees.
You can use these insights to understand where the business needs to improve, be it in
communication, decision-making, recognition, or support. This feedback can inform
 strategies to provide better support and create a leadership style that resonates with the
team.
5. Foster a positive work environment: Employee satisfaction surveys take away the guess
work and are extremely useful in identifying elements that contribute to a positive work
environment. This could be anything from recognition to flexibility, team culture, or career
development opportunities. Implementing changes based on this feedback can help foster a
supportive, inclusive, and positive work environment, leading to happier, more productive
employees.
6. Identify training needs: Do you know where employees feel they lack skills or knowledge?
Surveys can arm you with the knowledge you need to design and implement targeted
training programs. This not only helps individual employees but also benefits the
organization by improving overall skill levels and performance.
7. Understand employee motivation: It is critical to understand what motivates employees,
whether it’s financial incentives, recognition, opportunities for growth, work-life balance, or
anything else. HR professionals tasked with developing strategies to keep employees
motivated and engaged will need this data on hand.
8. Boost innovation: Employees are often a rich source of ideas for improving products,
processes, and the overall business. Satisfaction surveys can encourage employees to share
these ideas, boosting innovation within your organization.

HR tip

It’s important that you view employee satisfaction surveys not just as a
tool for gathering data, but as an opportunity for active and continual
improvement across multiple aspects of the organization. They are a
great opportunity to engage with employees across the business.

Checklist: Conducting an employee satisfaction

survey
To ensure you get the most from your employee satisfaction survey program, keep
this checklist top of mind and align your questions and strategies to your
organization’s overall objectives. 

Ask yourself Why consider this Yes/No

Are you seeking to understand overall job
satisfaction, or are you looking to
improve specific areas such as
communication, management, or work-life
Do you have clear balance? Defining your goals at the outset
and focused helps to focus the survey and ensures that
objectives? the results are actionable. A clear
purpose also helps when communicating the
reasons for the survey to employees,
making them more likely to participate and
give meaningful responses.
Have you created Questions should be clear, unbiased, and
well-crafted survey relevant to the objectives of the survey.
questions? They should also be varied – use a
mixture of rating scale questions,
 multiple choice, and open-ended questions
to gather a rich variety of data. Be
cautious not to make the survey too long
as it can lead to survey fatigue,
resulting in less reliable responses.
Employees should feel safe to express
their opinions without fear of
retribution. Assuring participants of the
anonymity and confidentiality of their
Are you respecting responses encourages honesty and openness.
confidentiality and This involves not just promising
anonymity? confidentiality, but also demonstrating it
through actions – such as not collecting
unnecessary identifying information and
using a trusted third-party to conduct the
survey.
Employee satisfaction is not a one-time
metric; it’s a dynamic aspect that
changes over time. Regular surveys
(annual, biannual, or even quarterly
depending on the organization’s size and
Do you conduct
needs) allow for tracking changes,
timely and regular
identifying trends, and assessing the
surveys?
impact of any interventions made. Regular
feedback also demonstrates to employees
that their opinions are valued
consistently, not just when a major
decision is being made.
The real value of an employee satisfaction
survey lies in the actions that follow.
Analyzing the data effectively helps you
understand the current state of
satisfaction, identify areas of concern,
Are you effectively and guide changes. Analysis should be
using the data you thorough, looking for patterns and
capture and analyze? relationships in the data. Importantly,
the results should be communicated back to
the employees, along with any actions
planned in response to their feedback.
This transparency builds trust and
encourages future participation in surveys

Crafting your employee satisfaction survey

questions
So, how do you ensure your questions strike the perfect balance between encouraging
employees to share valuable insights while keeping the entire survey under 20
minutes? Here are a few tips to get you started.
 1. Keep it simple. Use straightforward, simple language that everyone can understand and
avoid industry jargon or overly technical terms. People should be answering questions, not
wondering what you are asking them.
2. Be specific. Broad questions can lead to ambiguous responses. Try to make your questions as
specific as possible.
3. Avoid leading questions. Don’t influence the answer with the way you word your question.
For example, rather than asking “Do you think our management is doing a great job?” ask
“How would you rate the performance of our management?”
4. Use a mix of closed and open-ended questions. Closed questions (with a specific set of
response options) are easier to analyze, while open-ended questions can provide richer,
more detailed data, so make sure you include both.
5. Ensure relevance. Only ask questions that are relevant to all employees. If a question applies
only to a specific group, make sure it’s only asked to that group.
6. Use a consistent scale. If you’re using a rating scale, keep it consistent throughout the
survey. This makes it easier for employees to respond and simplifies analysis.

HR tip

Ask about specific issues and potential solutions. For example, rather
than asking “Are you satisfied with communication?” you might ask
“How could we improve our team meetings?”

Employee survey questions

The questions for the employee satisfaction survey below serve as a general guide.
Customize your questions according to your organizational culture and context. Also,
involve stakeholders to understand and determine the specific issues and concerns you
are looking to address.

Additionally, use a mix of question types to capture different aspects of employee

experiences and opinions. Include Likert scale questions to gauge satisfaction levels,
multiple-choice questions to assess preferences, open-ended questions to gather
qualitative feedback, and demographic questions to understand differences based on
employee characteristics.

Question Explanation
This question assesses overall job satisfaction
and provides insights into how content
How satisfied are you
employees are with their current position. It
with your current
helps gauge if employees find their work
role?
fulfilling and if there are any potential areas
of improvement.
Measures employee Net Promoter Score (eNPS) and
On a scale of 1 to reflects their willingness to recommend the
10, how likely are company as a place to work. A higher score
you to recommend this suggests a higher likelihood of employee
company? advocacy, while a lower score indicates
potential issues that need to be addressed.
 Evaluates the extent to which employees feel
appreciated and acknowledged for their efforts.
Do you feel valued
It helps determine if employees perceive their
and recognized for
work as meaningful and if they receive the
your contributions?
recognition they desire, which can impact
overall engagement and motivation.
This question assesses the effectiveness of
internal communication channels and strategies.
Are you satisfied
It provides insights into whether employees
with the
feel well-informed about company updates,
communication within
goals, and important information. It can
the company?
identify areas for improvement in internal
communication practices.
This question measures employees’ perception
of work-life balance, which directly affects
How would you rate their well-being and job satisfaction. It helps
your work-life identify potential work-related stressors and
balance? whether employees have the necessary support
and flexibility to maintain a healthy work-life
equilibrium.
Examines whether employees have access to the
Do you have the necessary resources, equipment, and tools
resources and tools required to effectively carry out their job
needed to perform responsibilities. It helps identify any gaps or
your job well? obstacles that hinder productivity and
performance.
Gauges employees’ satisfaction with the
potential for career advancement within the
How satisfied are you
organization. It helps assess if employees
with the
perceive a clear path for growth and
opportunities for
development, and if they feel supported in
career growth?
their career aspirations, which can impact
retention and engagement.
Assesses the employee-manager relationship,
which plays a crucial role in job satisfaction
How would you rate
and engagement. It helps identify areas where
the quality of your
managers can improve in terms of support,
relationship with
communication, coaching, and building strong
your manager?
working relationships with their direct
reports.
Evaluates if employees believe their input and
ideas are respected and considered by the
Do you feel your
organization. It helps identify if there is a
ideas and suggestions
culture of open communication and if employees
are valued and taken
feel empowered to contribute, which can foster
seriously?
innovation, engagement, and a sense of
ownership.
How likely are you to Measures employee intent to stay, indicating
stay with the company their loyalty and commitment to the
in the next 12 organization. It helps identify retention risks
 and provides an overall assessment of employee
months? satisfaction and engagement levels. It can also
highlight potential areas of

Free employee sample satisfaction

survey example
The goal of an employee satisfaction survey is not to give leadership and management
teams the opportunity to pat each other on the back. If all you want to hear are empty
platitudes, rather skip this valuable exercise. However, as an HR professional, if your
goal is to illicit honest and insightful responses from the employees in your
organization that you can use to enhance employee satisfaction and engagement, this
survey example is an excellent starting point that you can use to create your own
template.

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You can download our interactive and printable employee satisfaction survey
template (Word doc) to adapt according to your organization’s needs:

FREE Employee Satisfaction Survey Template

How to conduct employee satisfaction surveys

The goal of an employee satisfaction survey is not just to measure satisfaction, but
also to enhance it. Maximizing engagement and participation is therefore critical for a
successful employee satisfaction survey. Following these best practices will help
ensure that your survey is a positive experience for everyone involved and leads to
meaningful improvements in your workplace.

1. Clear communication and transparency

It’s crucial to clearly communicate the purpose, process, and importance of the survey
to employees. This involves explaining how the data will be used, ensuring them of
their anonymity and confidentiality, and sharing the timeline for the survey and
follow-up actions. Transparency fosters trust, which can significantly boost response
rates.
2. Encouraging honest feedback

Create a safe and supportive environment where employees feel comfortable sharing
their honest views. Reassure them of the confidentiality of their responses and the
value you place on their feedback. You should also remind employees that
constructive criticism is a powerful tool for improvement and growth.

3. Taking prompt action on feedback

Show employees that their feedback doesn’t fall on deaf ears. Once the survey is
complete, quickly analyze the data, identify key action points, and begin
implementing changes. The faster you can act on feedback, the more employees will
feel that their opinions are respected and valued.

4. Analysis of survey data

Once the data from the employee satisfaction survey is gathered, the task is far from
over. Now begins the process of interpreting and understanding the feedback. As an
HR professional, there are a number of steps you should now take.

First, identify patterns, trends, and correlations within the data. Tools like data
visualization can be helpful here. You should also compare the results with past
surveys or benchmark data to track progress and measure effectiveness of past
interventions.

Next, look for both positive and negative trends in the data. What aspects of the
workplace do employees appreciate? Where are the main areas of dissatisfaction? Are
there any significant discrepancies in the data, such as differences between
departments, teams, or demographic groups?

Finally, based on this analysis, determine which issues need to be addressed

immediately and which can be tackled in the long term. Prioritize actions that will
have the most significant impact on employee satisfaction and engagement.

5. Sharing survey results and insights

Once you’ve analyzed the data, share the insights with your team. This shows
transparency and can help employees feel more invested in the process. When sharing
results, focus on what you’ve learned, the changes you plan to make, and how those
changes will benefit the team. This not only keeps employees in the loop but also
helps to build anticipation for the next survey.

HR tip

Use the results of each survey as a stepping-stone to the next one.

Review what worked and what didn’t and tweak your process
accordingly.
HR’s next steps for improving employee
satisfaction
 Develop action plans: Formulate action plans to address key identified issues. This might
involve improving communication, providing additional training or resources, changing
policies, or addressing leadership concerns.
 Share results and action plans: Transparency is crucial. Share a summary of the survey
results with employees, along with your planned actions. This not only demonstrates that
you value their feedback, but also gives them a sense of ownership in the changes to come.
 Implement changes: Put your action plans into practice. This might involve rolling out new
initiatives, tweaking existing policies, or introducing new training programs. Involve
employees in the implementation process where possible, to increase their buy-in.
 Monitoring and evaluation: How well have the changes been implemented? It’s critical to
monitor the impact and effectiveness of these measures. This might involve follow-up
surveys, regular check-ins, or other feedback mechanisms.
 Continuous improvement: Use the feedback from each survey as a learning opportunity and
a springboard for ongoing enhancements to your workplace. Remember, employee
satisfaction is a dynamic measure that needs to be monitored regularly.

Employee satisfaction survey tools

Popular employee satisfaction survey tools include:

Tool Description Features Pricing

A widely-used survey Pre-built
platform offering various templates, Free and
SurveyMonkey survey templates, analytics, paid
customizable designs, and customizable plans
reporting tools. surveys
A comprehensive survey tool Real-time
that includes advanced analytics, Custom
Qualtrics
features for analyzing dashboards, pricing
employee feedback. advanced reporting
Employee feedback platform
Employee pulse
focused on measuring Custom
Culture Amp surveys, analytics,
engagement, satisfaction, pricing
feedback management
and performance.
An employee engagement
Continuous
platform that provides real-
listening, pulse Custom
Glint time feedback and analytics
surveys, action pricing
to drive organizational
planning
change.
A platform for collecting Real-time feedback,
employee feedback and team reports, Custom
Officevibe
measuring engagement through engagement pricing
pulse surveys. analytics
A performance management and
Weekly check-ins,
employee engagement platform Custom
15Five pulse surveys, goal
that includes survey pricing
tracking
features.
 A platform that combines Real-time feedback,
performance management and performance Custom
Reflektive
employee engagement tools, reviews, engagement pricing
including surveys. surveys
Employee feedback and
Pulse surveys,
engagement platform that Custom
WorkTango sentiment analysis,
includes survey tools and pricing
action planning
analytics.

Invest in employee satisfaction surveys

Investing in employee satisfaction isn’t just good business. In today’s competitive
landscape it’s a strategic imperative. As an HR professional, the data you’ll access
and analyze through employee satisfaction surveys will provide invaluable insights
into what is working well within the company and areas that may require
improvement. Remember, as we’ve highlighted throughout this guide, happy
employees contribute to a thriving company culture and are vital in driving an
organization’s success.

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Nadine von Moltke

Nadine von Moltke was the Managing Editor of Entrepreneur magazine South Africa
for over ten years. She has interviewed over 400 business owners and professionals
across different sectors and industries and writes thought leadership content and how-
to advice for businesses across the globe.

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