Employee Engagement Survey Questions Template: Clarity, Growth & Trust

These employee engagement survey questions help you see where energy, commitment and trust are growing or slipping. Instead of guessing, you get early warning signals on clarity, growth, workload and culture, so managers can fix things fast and have better one‑on‑one conversations.

Survey questions

Use a 1–5 agreement scale unless stated otherwise (1 = Strongly disagree, 5 = Strongly agree).

(Q1 – Role clarity) I clearly understand what is expected of me in my role.
(Q2 – Role clarity) I know how my work connects to our team’s priorities.
(Q3 – Enablement) I have the tools, systems and information I need to do good work.
(Q4 – Remove blockers) When I face obstacles, I know where to get fast support.
(Q5 – Growth) I see realistic opportunities to learn and develop new skills here.
(Q6 – Career path) I understand what a possible next step in my career here could look like.
(Q7 – Feedback) I regularly receive feedback that helps me improve my performance.
(Q8 – Internal mobility) I know how to find and apply for internal opportunities.
(Q9 – Manager trust) I trust my manager to act in the best interests of our team.
(Q10 – Manager communication) My manager communicates goals and decisions clearly and in time.
(Q11 – Support) My manager supports me when work or life becomes challenging.
(Q12 – Recognition) I receive meaningful recognition when I do good work.
(Q13 – Belonging) I feel accepted and valued by my immediate team.
(Q14 – Psychological safety) I feel safe to speak up about ideas, questions or mistakes.
(Q15 – Conflict handling) Our team addresses conflicts early and constructively.
(Q16 – Inclusion) Different backgrounds and perspectives are respected in my team.
(Q17 – Purpose) I understand the company’s overall goals and strategy.
(Q18 – Impact) I can see how my work contributes to our company’s success.
(Q19 – Pride) I am proud to work for this company.
(Q20 – Meaning) My work feels meaningful and uses my strengths well.
(Q21 – Workload) My workload is generally manageable over a longer period.
(Q22 – Burnout frequency) In the past month, how often have you felt worn out after work? (1 = Never, 5 = Always)
(Q23 – Balance) I can usually maintain healthy boundaries between work and private life.
(Q24 – Well-being) At work, I feel my mental well-being is taken seriously.
(Q25 – Fairness) People are treated fairly here, regardless of role, gender, age or background.
(Q26 – Values) Leaders act in line with our stated values.
(Q27 – Transparency) Important decisions are communicated transparently enough.
(Q28 – Integrity) I feel comfortable raising concerns about unethical behaviour.
(Q29 – Voice) I have enough opportunities to share feedback and ideas.
(Q30 – Follow-through) Management follows up on feedback from surveys or other channels.
(Q31 – Involvement) I am involved in decisions that affect my day-to-day work.
(Q32 – Listening) When I speak up, I feel heard by my manager or leaders.

Overall engagement question (optional)

(Q33 – eNPS) How likely are you to recommend this company as a place to work to a friend or colleague? (0 = Not at all likely, 10 = Extremely likely)

Open-ended questions

What is one thing that would most improve your engagement or daily experience at work?
What is one thing the company could change to better support your growth or career plans?
What is one thing your manager could start doing that would help you do your best work?
What is one thing your manager or leadership should stop doing because it harms engagement?

Decision & action table

Question cluster	Trigger / Threshold	Concrete follow-up action	Owner	Deadline
Role clarity & enablement (Q1–Q4)	Average score < 3.0	Clarify goals and responsibilities in a team workshop; update role descriptions.	Line manager with HR business partner	Start within 14 days; finish workshop within 30 days.
Growth & development (Q5–Q8)	Average score < 3.5	Run 1:1 career talks; create simple growth plans and share learning options.	Managers supported by L&D/HR	Complete career talks within 30 days; plans agreed within 45 days.
Manager & leadership (Q9–Q12)	Any item ≤2.0 or cluster average < 3.0	Provide leadership coaching; schedule listening sessions without the manager present if trust is low.	HR + manager’s manager	Escalate within 7 days; coaching plan in place within 21 days.
Team & collaboration (Q13–Q16)	Average score < 3.5	Hold a facilitated team session on ways of working, conflict rules and psychological safety.	Team lead with HR/People partner	Session scheduled within 21 days; follow-up check-in after 60 days.
Purpose & impact (Q17–Q20)	Average score < 3.5	Leaders reconnect daily work to strategy in town halls and team meetings.	Department head	Key messages drafted within 14 days; shared in meetings within 30 days.
Workload, stress & balance (Q21–Q24, esp. Q22)	>40 % respond 4–5 on burnout (Q22) or cluster average < 3.2	Audit workload and staffing, adjust priorities, and share clear rules on availability.	Department head with HR and Health/Safety	First actions agreed within 14 days; progress review after 60 days.
Culture, values & fairness (Q25–Q28)	Average score < 3.0 or big gap between groups	Investigate root causes, review processes (pay, promotion, complaints), and communicate changes.	HR Director + Executive sponsor	Investigation started within 14 days; action plan within 45 days.
Voice & participation (Q29–Q32, Q33)	Cluster average < 3.5 or eNPS < 0	Improve feedback channels, publish “You said, we did” summary, and repeat short pulse survey.	HR/People team with local managers	Summary out within 30 days; pulse survey within 90 days.

Key takeaways

Group questions by theme so scores turn into clear action areas.
Use hard thresholds to trigger specific actions with owners and deadlines.
Combine annual engagement surveys with short pulses to see if actions work.
Share “you said, we did” updates to keep trust and participation high.
Link results to 1:1s, development plans and workload reviews, not just HR reports.

Definition & scope

This engagement survey measures how people experience clarity, growth, leadership, teamwork, workload, culture and voice. It fits whole companies, business units or individual teams. Results feed into decisions on talent development, manager coaching, workload planning and culture work, and can sit alongside a broader employee engagement and retention strategy.

Scoring & thresholds

Most items use a 1–5 scale from “Strongly disagree” (1) to “Strongly agree” (5). Low averages highlight risk; high ones show strengths to copy. Turn raw scores into three simple bands so leaders instantly see where they must act and where they can learn from strong teams.

Map questions to themes: Q1–Q4 = Role clarity & enablement; Q5–Q8 = Growth & development; Q9–Q12 = Manager & leadership; Q13–Q16 = Team & collaboration; Q17–Q20 = Purpose & impact; Q21–Q24 = Workload & well-being; Q25–Q28 = Culture & values; Q29–Q32 (+Q33) = Voice & participation.

HR or People Analytics calculates average scores per question and per theme within 3 days after survey close.
Use thresholds: <3.0 = critical, 3.0–3.9 = needs improvement, ≥4.0 = strong; colour-code dashboards.
For any theme <3.0, HR informs responsible leaders within 2 days and schedules follow-up planning.
Where scores are 3.0–3.9, managers pick 1–2 improvements per team and set milestones within 30 days.
Share practices from ≥4.2 themes in brown‑bag sessions or internal posts within 60 days.

Follow-up & responsibilities

Surveys without follow-up damage trust. People want to see that their feedback leads to real action. Define clear owners, timelines and escalation rules before you launch the survey. A talent platform like Sprad Growth can help automate survey sends, reminders and follow-up tasks so nothing slips.

HR/People team owns survey design, timing, analysis and company-wide communication; they publish results within 14 days.
Direct managers run team debriefs and pick 1–3 actions with their teams within 21 days.
Executive leadership reviews overall themes, sets 2–3 company priorities and sponsors actions within 30 days.
Any item with many “Strongly disagree” answers on safety, ethics or harassment is escalated to HR and Compliance within 24 hours.
HR tracks action progress quarterly and reports to leadership (and, where applicable, the works council) until issues improve.

Connect the actions from this survey with your broader performance management and feedback processes, so engagement isn’t a separate exercise but part of everyday leadership.

Fairness & bias checks

Engagement is rarely equal across all groups. You need to see patterns by location, function, seniority, contract type or remote vs. office. At the same time, GDPR and local labour law (e.g. works council rights in DACH) require strict anonymity and careful interpretation of small groups.

Segment results only for groups with ≥7–10 responses to protect anonymity, and document this rule with your Data Protection Officer.
If one department or site scores ≥0.5 points below company average on several themes, HR schedules a local deep-dive within 30 days.
Compare scores for remote vs. on-site staff; if remote teams feel less informed or connected, adapt communication and meeting practices.
Ask the works council (Betriebsrat) to review segmentation plans early and agree on how you will share results.
When you see big gaps between demographic groups on fairness (Q25) or inclusion (Q16), run confidential focus groups and adjust processes, not just messaging.

Examples / use cases

Use case 1: Fixing role confusion in a product team

A product team scored 2.6 on role clarity (Q1–Q2) while engagement elsewhere was fine. Developers and product managers were stepping on each other’s toes, and priorities changed weekly. The manager and HR ran a half‑day workshop to map responsibilities, decision rights and quarterly goals. Two months later, a short pulse showed clarity scores at 3.8 and fewer escalations to leadership.

Use case 2: Rebuilding trust in a sales unit

In a regional sales team, manager trust (Q9) and support (Q11) dropped below 3.0, with sharp comments in open questions. HR interviewed a sample of employees and the manager’s manager. Together they agreed on weekly 1:1s, clearer pipeline reviews and coaching for the manager. After one quarter, trust scores rose by 0.9 points and voluntary turnover fell noticeably.

Use case 3: Addressing workload and early burnout signs

Consultants in one practice reported high burnout frequency (Q22) and poor balance (Q23). More than half chose 4–5 on Q22. Leadership paused non-essential internal projects, tightened rules around evening emails and increased staffing for peak periods. HR also introduced a simple check‑in on workload in monthly 1:1s. A follow-up pulse showed burnout ratings down by one scale point on average.

When any theme drops <3.0, HR proposes 1–2 targeted interventions to the responsible leader within 7 days.
Managers integrate survey insights into their next 1:1s and team meetings, using concrete examples from comments.
HR documents each “case” (problem, action, outcome) in a simple log to build an internal playbook over 6–12 months.
Share 2–3 positive stories per year company-wide to show that engagement feedback leads to change.

Implementation & updates

Start small, then expand. Many organisations pilot these employee engagement survey questions in one unit, fix issues in the process, and then scale. In DACH, align early with Data Protection Officers and the works council so anonymity, data storage and reporting follow GDPR and co‑determination rules. A tool like Sprad Growth can automate reminders, dashboards and action tracking, but the core logic stays the same even in simple spreadsheets.

Choose 1–2 pilot teams, agree questions and timing, and run the first survey within 4–6 weeks.
Debrief the pilot with managers and a few employees; improve wording, timing and communication within 2 weeks.
Roll out company‑wide once governance is clear; combine one full survey per year with 2–4 shorter pulses.
Train managers for 90 minutes on reading results, running team discussions and linking actions to their regular 1:1s; refresh training annually.
Review and adjust the question set every 12–18 months, but keep a core of stable items to track trends over time.

Track a small set of metrics: response rate, average scores per theme, the share of teams with at least one concrete action, and progress over time. For development-related insights, you can combine engagement scores with your talent development plans or skill frameworks to see where growth and engagement move together.

Conclusion

Done well, an engagement survey is less a questionnaire and more a regular health check for your organisation. These questions give you three big advantages: you spot problems earlier (for example unsustainable workloads), your conversations with employees become more focused, and you get a clear shortlist of priorities for development and culture work.

To get started, pick a pilot area, select the questions that fit your context, and agree thresholds and owners up front. Load the survey into whatever tool you use today, from forms to an HR platform, and set a clear timeline for analysis and action. Then plan how managers will use results in team meetings and one‑on‑ones, supported by resources like your one‑on‑one meeting guides.

Over time, connect engagement data with performance, development and retention trends. You will see where strong leadership and good talent practices line up with high engagement, and where you still have blind spots. That’s where this survey turns from a one‑off project into a simple, repeatable part of how you run the company.

FAQ

How often should we run these employee engagement survey questions? Many organisations run one full engagement survey per year and 2–4 short pulse surveys. The annual survey gives a deep view across all themes; pulses track progress on 3–5 key items. Research from firms like Gallup shows that regularly tracking engagement links to higher productivity and lower turnover.
What should we do if some scores are extremely low? Treat any theme below 3.0 as a clear call to action. For very low items on safety, ethics or harassment, escalate to HR or Compliance within 24 hours. For other topics, schedule focus discussions, agree quick wins, and document a plan with owners and dates. Communicate what you will do and when, then check progress with a small follow‑up pulse.
How do we handle very critical comments while protecting anonymity? Read every comment, cluster them by theme and tone, and share only summaries, not individual quotes that could identify people. Clarify in your communication that only HR or a small analytics team reads raw comments. In DACH, involve the works council in defining anonymity rules. Use examples in manager briefings, but strip out names, projects or other identifying details.
How can we involve managers and employees so the survey is not “just HR”? Involve a few managers and employees in drafting the questions and communication. Before launch, leaders explain why feedback matters and commit to visible follow-up. After the survey, managers run team sessions where employees help prioritise actions. Sharing “you said, we did” updates keeps people engaged and more willing to answer honestly next time.
How should we update the survey over time without losing trend data? Keep a stable core of 15–20 questions that you rarely change, so you can track trends year over year. Around that core, swap in a few new questions on current topics like hybrid work or new leadership programmes. When you change items, mark them clearly in your dashboard and note from which year they are comparable.

Jürgen Ulbrich

CEO & Co-Founder of Sprad

Jürgen Ulbrich has more than a decade of experience in developing and leading high-performing teams and companies. As an expert in employee referral programs as well as feedback and performance processes, Jürgen has helped over 100 organizations optimize their talent acquisition and development strategies.