Support a happy, productive workplace by using surveys to ask about employee satisfaction and employee engagement. Do your employees feel their work is meaningful and their objectives clear? What motivates them to do their best work? What are they passionate about? Job satisfaction surveys help you make a meaningful connection between employees’ criteria for job satisfaction and your business goals, so you can engage your workforce in a truly satisfying way.
SurveyMonkey makes it easy to learn from your employees. Create a custom job satisfaction survey, or get a jumpstart with an employee satisfaction survey template from our expert methodologists. We’ll even help you collect answers and analyze the results.
Please note: Some survey templates are only available in English.
How to use job satisfaction surveys
What is the top reason employees stay with an organization? Studies have shown they stay for “exciting work and challenge.” They prefer companies that help improve their quality of life. To keep your employees excited, poll them to understand whether they’re happy with their jobs – and what it takes to ensure that they are. Learn more about:
Job satisfaction
There’s a direct relationship between overall employee morale and employee job satisfaction, and surveys can help you see it. Ask your employees: “How meaningful is your work?” and “How challenging is your job?” Or: “In a typical week, how often do you feel stressed at work?” Their answers can help you pinpoint and build on what’s working—or correct what’s not.
Training and career development opportunities
Most people want to grow their careers, and they’ll stay with the company that supports their development and provides good relationships with fellow employees. Use questionnaires to find out if your employees believe they have those opportunities with your company.
Inclusion and belonging
Building a workplace culture that prioritizes belonging and inclusion is the best way to attract diverse and talented people, create a sustainable workforce, and—most importantly—make employees feel supported. SurveyMonkey’s inclusion and belonging survey template can help you understand what you’re doing well and where there’s room for growth.
Team experience
Being a member of a good, effective team boosts job satisfaction. Invite employees to assess their teams’ performance. Ask questions like: “How well do members of your team share responsibility for tasks?” and “How honest with each other are the members of your team?” Use that feedback to develop core team collaboration and communication skills for greater job satisfaction.
Experience with management
Managers directly impact employees’ day-to-day job satisfaction. Spot potential issues using surveys. Ask questions like “How effective is the training you receive from your supervisor?” or “How consistently does your supervisor reward employees for good work?” Use employee feedback from management performance and 360-reviews to make sure you’re developing good managers.
Regular performance reviews—of individuals, teams, and managers—can give HR departments timely insight into how employees feel about their jobs.
3 quick tips to improve survey response rates
1. Be explicit about confidentiality
Reassure your employees that their responses will be kept confidential.
2. When possible, make responses anonymous
You’re more likely to receive honest feedback and a greater number of completed surveys.
3. Avoid corporate-speak
Create surveys that sound human and approachable and invite thoughtful feedback.
Sample job satisfaction surveys
Job satisfaction surveys require thoughtful construction, but we take the work out of it. All of our template questions are written by professional survey methodologists, so you can use them as is. You can also customize templates to fit your needs, or create your own using the certified questions available in our Question Bank. (At this time, most of our survey templates are in English only, although we do plan to offer them in other languages soon.)
Employee/job satisfaction
Employees can rate their satisfaction with their jobs using this 14-question survey, which includes questions about salary, leadership, and stress.
Belonging and inclusion
This 31-question survey asks employees how they feel about their work environment, and the extent to which they feel they can truly thrive at your company.
Team or department performance
These 14-question surveys ask employees to assess their team or department’s professionalism, conflict management, communication skills and more.
Manager effectiveness
This 17-question survey invites employees to evaluate their managers’ availability, training, decision-making skills, alignment of work and business strategy, and ability to provide constructive feedback.
Management performance
Employees rate management as a whole in this 14-question survey, which presents questions about management’s approachability, resource use, skills and ability, and money management.
360-degree employee evaluation
Employees can choose to provide feedback about a supervisor, peer, or subordinate with this variable survey, with questions based on the role being evaluated.
Employee exit
This 21-question survey asks an exiting employee about the personal factors and reasons for their departure, as well as their experiences with leadership, team members, and work environmental factors.
Discover more resources
HR toolkit: Make employee experience your competitive advantage
HR leaders can use this toolkit to help drive exceptional employee experiences.
eNPS Benchmarks: Measure and Improve Employee Engagement
Understand what makes a good eNPS, how to measure it, and discover effective strategies to increase employee engagement and retention.
Employee satisfaction: Why it matters and how to improve
Satisfied employees are happier and more productive. Learn how to measure and boost employee satisfaction to create a workplace people love.
Employee engagement strategy: How-to and best practices
Discover strategies to engage your workforce and improve retention. Learn how employee engagement can lead to better performance and profits.