At Revlet Sales, we’re always looking for ways to improve our work culture and we encourage feedback from our team. We strive to create an environment where employees feel engaged, motivated, and happy to come to work every day. I recently decided that we could get valuable feedback on our work culture by creating and sending out an anonymous team survey.
There are many free online survey tools you can use such as SurveyMonkey, Typeform, Google Forms, and Microsoft Forms. These tools allow you to create customized surveys and analyze the data all in one place. I opted to use Microsoft Forms because of its user-friendly interface and easy-to-use reporting.
Surveys are a great tool for gathering honest opinions and suggestions from employees. When creating a survey, you want to keep the questions simple, clear, and concise. Avoid long, complex questions that may confuse people. Here are some tips for drafting effective survey questions:
- Ask only one question at a time. Don’t combine multiple questions into one.
- Use simple, straightforward language. Avoid technical terms or jargon.
- Make questions specific rather than vague. “How can we improve our work culture?” is too broad.
- Use rating scales for quantitative questions when possible. For example, “On a scale of 1 to 5, how happy are you with our work-life balance?”
I decided to focus my survey questions on a few key categories: communication, manager relationships, collaboration, growth opportunities, work-life balance, and general satisfaction. Within each category, I asked 1-2 questions to dig deeper into how employees felt.
For example, one of the questions I asked was “What team bonding/morale building activities do you most enjoy participating in?” 35% chose “Off-Site Events (Escape room, boat tour, networking events, etc.).” 29% of employees chose “Team Lunches,” 18% chose “Office Games,” another 18% chose “Participation in Local Charity Events,” The results provide an insight into what our employees enjoy and we’re able to create events that resonate with them.
Once I drafted the survey questions, I sent the link out to our team with an explanation of why their feedback was valuable. I let them know the survey was anonymous to encourage open and honest responses. Within just a day or two, I received responses from over 50% of the team!
I’m currently compiling the survey results and my next step is to create a presentation of the key findings and recommendations for our leadership team. The goal is to transparently communicate the survey results back to the team and implement new initiatives to address their ideas and feedback.
Employee surveys are important for creating a great work culture because they give employees a voice and allows companies to gather valuable feedback and insights directly from their workforce. The data helps identify areas for improvement as well as strengths to build upon in terms of policies, practices, and overall workplace experience. Acting on this feedback shows employees their opinions matter, and builds trust and engagement — all key to creating a positive, productive culture.
