Employee Experience Survey: What Questions to Avoid

Employee engagement has reached a new low, reveals the latest Gallup report, with numbers dropping to 32% in 2022, compared to 34% in 2021 and 36% in 2020. As a significant workplace issue, disengagement costs the global economy up to $7.8 trillion in lost productivity. While there are a handful of reasons behind this, the discontent of the workforce is a substantial contributor. 

Measuring workers’ experience influences employee engagement since it can predict the causes and solutions behind the dissatisfaction, saving employers money and creating a more satisfied workforce.

As a result, employee experience surveys have become an increasingly popular tool among organizations. They’re an excellent means of understanding the needs and experiences of the workforce.

These surveys are designed to gather information about the factors contributing to employee engagement, satisfaction, and productivity, such as company culture, communication, leadership, and work-life balance. Their insights can help organizations identify areas where improvements can be made to enhance the employee experience and, in turn, boost engagement, performance, and retention rates. 

However, to ensure the surveys are effective, it’s crucial to design them carefully, including evading questions that can undermine their validity and accuracy. 

With that in mind, in this article, we explore the impact of employee experience surveys and what questions to avoid, offering guidance and alternatives to achieve the best results.

The Potential Impact of Poorly Designed Questions

Asking the wrong questions will precipitate the wrong answers. Therefore, designing effective employee experience surveys requires a meticulous approach and attention to detail. Failure to do so will result in inconclusive results and an ineffective questionnaire.

But the potential impact of poorly designed questions goes even further.

From vague or unclear to leading or biased, questions can have a detrimental impact on the overall employee experience since they can skew the results and make it difficult to draw meaningful conclusions.

Additionally, they can harm employee morale and trust. Suppose employees feel that the questions are intrusive or unfair. In that case, they may become reluctant to participate in future surveys or feel resentful toward their employer, which can negatively impact employee engagement and satisfaction.

Thus, by going the extra mile to understand their demographic, having clear intent, and investing in reliable survey software, companies can ensure that their surveys provide meaningful insights into the employee experience.

Questions to Avoid

The best survey technique largely depends on its goal, the demographic, and the information employers want to gather on employee experience. While these can significantly differ, there’s a unanimous agreement regarding what not to do.

Avoiding specific questions when designing a compelling employee experience survey is necessary. Some excellent examples of questions to bypass are the following:

Vague or Unclear Questions

Unclear or ambiguous questions can result in responses that are difficult to interpret or don’t provide meaningful insights. Some examples of that are questions with little to no context, like: 

• “Do you think the company is doing a good job?”
• “Are you satisfied with your job?”
• “Are you happy at work”? 

Alternatives to these questions would be:

• “On a scale of 1-10, how would you rate the company’s performance in providing employee support?”
• “How satisfied are you with your workload and the opportunities for growth and development in your role?”
• “Do you feel motivated to come to work? What are some measures the company can take that will increase your motivation?

Leading or Biased Questions

Leading or subjective questions can influence survey participants’ responses and undermine the survey results’ validity. For example, “Don’t you think the company should be doing more to support work-life balance?” is a leading question that implies that the company isn’t doing enough in this area.

An appropriate way to tackle this issue would be to ask, “What measures can the company take to support work-life balance for you as an employee.” By motivating employees to share their thoughts and suggestions, companies can gain valuable insights into the employee experience and how to improve it.

Too Personal or Intrusive Questions

Being too intrusive in a questionary can be a red flag for employees and have the opposite effect on them. Questions that are too personal can make workers uncomfortable and may result in low response rates or skewed results. 

Some examples of that are:

• “Do you have any health problems that affect your work performance?” – Sharing medical information might be uncomfortable for some employees, or they can perceive it as an intrusive survey question.
• “Are you suffering from any mental health condition, or have you ever been diagnosed with one”? – This is another example of a personal inquiry. Companies should instead focus on the employee’s experience at work without asking for their medical background. 
• “What is your sexual orientation?” – Asking this is irrelevant to the person’s job or performance. Employees can find these types of questions discriminatory and offensive.

Questions That Assume Facts, Not Evidence

Finally, questions that assume facts that may not be accurate can also undermine the validity of survey results. 

For example, “How happy are you with your salary, given that the cost of raising children has increased?” imposes that all respondents have children, which may not be true. Also, it’s a leading question suggesting the employee is happy with their salary. 

This format does not allow the worker to give a correct answer. Instead, it should be rephrased to an open-ended question so the respondent can voice their opinion on the salary.

Alternatives to Avoid These Issues

To avoid the abovementioned issues, it’s vital to design clear, unambiguous, and unbiased survey questions that respect employee privacy.

By following these guidelines, organizations can design surveys that accurately capture the needs and experiences of their workforce and use the insights gained to drive meaningful improvements in the employee experience. 

Here are some tips for writing practical survey questions:

Use Clear and Concise Language

One of the most important aspects of question design is ensuring that they are unambiguous. This means using language that is easy to understand and avoiding technical jargon or complex sentence structures that may be unfamiliar to survey participants.

Instead, companies should use simple, easy-to-understand language to ensure respondents comprehend the questions.

Avoid Leading or Biased Questions

To avoid leading or biased questions, it’s essential to focus on the facts without making assumptions or asking questions that might influence the respondent’s answer. This includes questions phrased to suggest a particular solution or encourage the respondent to provide a socially desirable response. 

Instead, surveys should be neutral and focused on gathering information to help identify strengths and areas for improvement. 

For example, it’s better to ask, “How well do you feel the company supports work-life balance?” rather than “Don’t you think the company should be doing more to support work-life balance?“

Respect Employee Privacy 

Balancing the need for information with respect for employee privacy can be challenging.

Although gathering in-depth transparent data on workers’ experiences and perceptions is essential, questionnaires shouldn’t ask personal or intrusive questions. This might include inquiries related to health, financial status, or other sensitive topics. 

Thus, instead of asking, “Do you have any health and medical issues that might affect your work performance?” it’s better to ask, “Are there any workplace accommodations that would help you perform your job more effectively?”

Whenever possible, questions should be framed to allow respondents to provide anonymous feedback, and any collected data should be handled in a way that protects employee confidentiality.

Test Questions Before Using Them

Finally, testing questions before using them in a survey can help ensure they are clear, unbiased, and respectful of employee privacy. This might involve conducting focus groups or pilot surveys to gauge how respondents interpret and respond to different questions. 

Testing can also help identify any unintended consequences or negative impacts that specific questions might have, allowing for adjustments before the survey is distributed more widely.

In Conclusion

As more companies recognize the significance of employee experience in driving performance, it’s essential to design surveys that accurately capture employee needs and use that information to empower the workforce by creating a more positive and engaging work environment.

This requires a thoughtful approach and meticulous question construction. Ultimately, by avoiding specific questions and using best practices for survey design, organizations can ensure that their surveys provide valuable insights into the employee experience while demonstrating their commitment to respecting and valuing their workforce.