The 20 best employee satisfaction survey questions

Having satisfied and happy employees can seem like it’s not particularly important to the health and profitability of your business. Many employers think engaging employees is a nice add-on and put little effort into prioritizing company satisfaction.

However, treating the satisfaction of your employees as an optional endeavor severely impacts your business. After all, your employees are on the front lines, performing your business's essential functions. Therefore, building a robust employee experience that keeps your workforce happy is critical to your bottom line.

But how do you know for sure how your employees feel about their roles and your workplace culture? Are they happy, quietly quitting, or searching for an exit?

You need to know where you currently stand to make effective improvements. And that’s why you must ask the best employee satisfaction survey questions.

Employee satisfaction is a broad topic and can be tricky to define. But at its core, employee satisfaction is how content employees are with their roles, employee experience, the workplace, and company culture.

Employee satisfaction is a crucial part of your company’s overall employee experience. It’s not the same as employee engagement, though the two concepts are related. Engagement relates to performance, while satisfaction significantly impacts your retention rates.

A high employee satisfaction rate tells you that employees are happy with their treatment at work. Employee satisfaction comes from two main factors: material ones like compensation or benefits and considerations like recognition and leadership. Addressing both aspects is critical to creating a delighted and engaged workforce.

Employee satisfaction greatly influences your business's profitability. From top executives to entry-level staff, happy employees increase productivity and reduce turnover. Satisfied employees also become loyal advocates and are more inclined to excel due to the support they receive.

What factors influence how satisfied (or dissatisfied) employees are? There are many, and they work together to create your employee experience.

It’s natural to want to be recognized and appreciated for what we accomplish. Employees who feel valued at work are more satisfied. Conversely, employees who feel undervalued and unappreciated typically have lower satisfaction rates.

Even employees who love their jobs need time away from work to live a well-rounded life. Feeling overworked and stressed is not suitable for employee satisfaction, so it’s vital to help employees achieve more balance between their work and personal lives.

Uncertainty about job security makes it challenging to experience workplace satisfaction. Though the future can’t be guaranteed, instability within the organization or team can decrease employee satisfaction.

Employees want to feel there are opportunities to grow in their roles, especially if they like the company culture. If they can see a future with your company, they’re more likely to be satisfied with where they are now.

No matter how much employees love their role and your company, they come to work for one main reason: to get paid. And being compensated fairly for their work, years of experience, and industry ensures they feel more satisfied.

If employees don’t feel they can trust or know what’s going on in your company, that leads to higher levels of dissatisfaction. Leadership should clearly communicate essential company decisions and policies and ensure employees trust the company and its leaders.

Employees want to work where they can be authentic and feel welcomed. A diverse workplace fosters an environment of inclusion and leads to more satisfied and engaged employees.