Ask these 9 questions in every employee engagement survey

“Do you receive enough recognition?”

“Does your manager care about you as a person?”

“Do you have a best friend at work?”

Sentiment-based questions such as these are common on the formal annual or bi-annual surveys that organizations use to gauge employee engagement, and the responses reveal some of what employees feel about their jobs and workplace. Such questions aren’t especially effective, however, at determining whether employees feel motivated to put energy and effort into their work beyond the minimum level required—and to what degree, therefore, they will be productive.

Many organizations are exploring new ways, such as pulse surveys and real-time analytics, to measure employee engagement, but most—74 percent in 2019—plan to keep using formal, large-scale surveys to gauge employee engagement.

Insights gleaned from these surveys are especially crucial as trends in business and technology continue to change the way employees work—where, when, why and with whom. And 80 percent of senior leaders believe good employee engagement is an important part of achieving business objectives.