--- title: "Employee Engagement Survey Questions: 25 to Ask | Formswrite Blog" description: "25 employee engagement survey questions across purpose, manager, growth, culture and commitment, with scale labels, an eNPS question and tips to act on results." canonical: https://formswrite.com/blog/employee-engagement-survey-questions last-updated: 2026-10-08 --- # Employee Engagement Survey Questions: 25 to Ask In short An employee engagement survey measures how connected people feel to their work, their team and the organization. The best surveys have 15 to 25 questions covering five areas: purpose, manager, growth, culture and commitment. Most questions are statements on a 5-point agreement scale, with one recommendation question and two or three open comments. The 25 below are ready to copy. If you are measuring conditions such as pay and hours rather than motivation, use our list of [employee satisfaction survey questions](/blog/employee-satisfaction-survey-questions) instead. The two surveys overlap a little, but they answer different questions. ## The scales Agreement scale for the statements: - 1 = Strongly disagree - 2 = Disagree - 3 = Neither agree nor disagree - 4 = Agree - 5 = Strongly agree Recommendation scale for question 21: 0 = Not at all likely, 10 = Extremely likely. ## Purpose and meaning 1. I understand how my work contributes to the goals of the organization. 2. I find my daily work meaningful. 3. I know what is expected of me in my role. 4. I am proud to tell people where I work. ## Manager 1. My manager cares about me as a person. 2. My manager gives me clear and regular feedback. 3. My manager supports me when I face a difficult task. 4. I trust the decisions my manager makes. ## Growth and recognition 1. I have the chance to do work that uses my strengths. 2. I have learned something new at work in the last three months. 3. Someone at work encourages my development. 4. I have been recognised for good work recently. ## Team and culture 1. My teammates are committed to doing quality work. 2. I can be myself at work. 3. People here treat each other with respect. 4. Leaders communicate openly about what is happening. 5. I feel that my opinions are valued. ## Commitment and advocacy 1. I would choose to work here again. 2. I rarely think about looking for a job elsewhere. 3. I put in extra effort when it is needed. 4. How likely are you to recommend this organization as a place to work? (0 to 10) ## Open questions 1. What is the best thing about working here? 2. What is one thing that would make you more motivated at work? 3. What, if anything, could make you consider leaving? 4. What should leadership start, stop or keep doing? ## About the recommendation question Question 21 is usually called employee net promoter score (eNPS). Count answers of 9 and 10 as promoters and 0 to 6 as detractors, ignore 7 and 8, then subtract the percentage of detractors from the percentage of promoters. The result runs from minus 100 to 100. It is a single number to track over time, but it does not explain anything, which is why the open questions matter. ## Turning questions into a survey | Goal | Use these questions | | --- | --- | | Quick pulse (2 minutes) | 2, 5, 9, 15, 18, 21, 23 | | Team-level check-in | 5 to 8, 13 to 17, 22 to 23 | | Annual survey | All 25 | | New starters (first 90 days) | 1, 3, 5, 10, 14, 18, 23 | Keep statements positive and specific. "My manager gives me clear and regular feedback" is better than "My manager is good", because it is something people can answer from experience. Add one reverse-worded item per section if you want to spot people who click the same answer throughout. ## After the survey 1. Share the headline results with everyone within a few weeks. 2. Choose two or three themes to act on, not ten. 3. Name an owner and a date for each action. 4. Tell people what changed before you send the next survey. An engagement survey is only as useful as the action that follows. If nothing visibly changes, people stop answering honestly. ## Example: what the generator writes for school staff For the brief "anonymous employee engagement survey for a 40-person school staff: recognition, workload, communication from leadership, growth opportunities and intention to stay", the generator's sample has ten questions. Two ask about role and years at the school, and eight are agreement statements under Recognition, Workload, Communication and Growth and intent, for example "I receive feedback that helps me improve", "I feel comfortable raising concerns" and "I see myself working here in two years". Compare it with the five areas above and add the eNPS question yourself if you want it. Limits worth knowing: three runs a day per visitor, an upload of up to 10 MB (PDF, Word, PowerPoint or text) or up to 20,000 pasted characters as source material, and an anonymous result is kept for 24 hours unless you save it to a free account. The questionnaire can be written in another language, including Spanish, Portuguese, Hindi and Arabic. ## Build one in a minute The free [employee engagement survey generator](/tools/survey-generator/employee-engagement-survey) turns a one-line description of your team into a full questionnaire, with agreement blocks, optional demographics and open comments. You can read it on the page, download it as Word or print it to PDF without an account, with three runs a day. Hosting it on Formswrite to collect responses needs a free account, and the Google Forms export is a paid feature. For how to write the rating statements, read the [Likert scale questionnaire examples](/blog/likert-scale-questionnaire-examples), and for a manual setup, see how to [create a survey in Google Forms](/blog/how-to-create-a-survey-in-google-forms). [Generate an engagement survey free](/tools/survey-generator/employee-engagement-survey) ## FAQ How many questions should an employee engagement survey have? Fifteen to twenty-five works for an annual survey, and five to eight for a quarterly pulse. Longer surveys lower the response rate and the quality of the later answers, so keep only the questions you can act on. What are good open ended employee engagement survey questions? Ask about specifics: the best thing about working here, one thing that would raise motivation, and what leadership should start, stop or keep doing. Avoid vague prompts like "any comments?", which usually get one-word answers. How often should you run an engagement survey? Run the full survey once a year and a short pulse once a quarter. Do not repeat the same survey more often than every three months, because people will not have seen any change by then. Should engagement surveys be anonymous? Yes. People answer questions about their manager and about leaving more honestly when they are not identifiable. Show results by team only when the team has at least five responses.