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Employee Satisfaction Survey Methodology

The 10 key areas to measure employee satisfaction 

​By Mansour Baker, SHRM-CP

Posted  25 February 2020

​The 3 Primary Objectives:

1. Help leaders to better understand employee perspectives on their jobs and how they feel about working within the organization.
2. Provide company leadership with data to compare employee satisfaction against overall employee satisfaction levels.
3. Provide data to define or adjust strategies for employee change adoption.

End Result Recommendations:

1. Address both near-term communication of employee satisfaction survey results and long-term organization efforts / initiatives to address key survey findings.
2. Recommendations will be reviewed, and implementation decisions made by company leadership.
3. Responsibility for execution of recommendations will be shared within the organization.

Exhibit 1

Employee Satisfaction Survey Approach

​The survey would gather information related to ten key areas of the organization that drive performance and employee satisfaction.

Survey Overview Question Category

1. Rewards / Recognition: Gauges employee awareness and opinion of award and recognition programs.
2. Opportunities: Determines whether employees are aware of opportunities for professional development.
3. Management & Supervision: Relates to employee opinion of his/her direct supervisor.
4. Leadership: Relates to employee opinion of the organization’s senior leadership.
5. Communication: Assesses employees’ opinion of the speed, efficiency, and honesty of the organization’s communications.
6. Teamwork: Captures both the employees’ opinion of the value of teamwork and his/her assessment of the quality of teamwork in the work environment.
7. Customer Service: Captures employees’ opinion of his/her knowledge of customer needs and whether those needs are being met.
8. Engagement: Assesses employees’ motivation and involvement in decision making.
9. Personal Experiences: Assesses employee personal experiences across categories.
10. Job Satisfaction: Gauges employees’ satisfaction with the company environment.

Open-ended questions to provide qualitative data and an opportunity for respondents to share concerns in a less-structured format.

The survey data would provide a statistically reliable and representative
​measure of employee opinion.

​Sample size requirements are driven by:

​Variance of Variable
​A measure of the dispersion of the variable. Variables with large variances require larger samples.

Confidence Level
How certain you wish to be that the sample mean falls within a specified range of the population mean. The more certainty required; the larger sample required.

Confidence Interval
The range in which you want to be X% sure that your population mean is included. The smaller the desired range, the larger the required sample.

​The variance of and number of valid responses received for each question in this survey allowed mean estimation with a 95% confidence level and a confidence interval of .2 for each question in this survey. ​​Thus, we will be 95% confident that the sample mean is within 0.2 of the true population score.

Additional Considerations

Potential Response Bias
Those who responded to the survey may have different feelings from those who did not. People with strong feelings are typically more likely to respond to surveys.

Mitigation Strategy
Additional attempts may be made to survey non-respondents. However, the magnitude of negative feedback already received suggests some corrective action is regardless advisable.

Exhibit 2

Sample - Survey Analysis

Sample Survey Questions

Rewards and Recognition 

1. I have a good understanding of the reward and recognition programs that exist within my organization.
2. Reward and recognition programs are used to recognize high performing employees.
3. Managers personally recognize the contributions of individuals and teams through praise, informal or formal rewards and recognition.
4. Reward and recognition are distributed fairly.
5. Reward and recognition programs motivate me to higher performance levels. 

Opportunities

1. Overall, my future job / career opportunities with my organization look very promising.
2. I am provided with relevant training and development opportunities to help me be successful in my job.
3. I know what skills I need to focus on for my personal and professional growth.
4. The current job posting process makes career development and growth opportunities available to me.
5. Career opportunities always go to the most qualified people.
6. I know how to identify training and development opportunities available for me. 

Management and Supervision

1. My manager/supervisor communicates clear expectations for my performance.
2. My manager/supervisor provides feedback on how to improve my performance.
3. My manager/supervisor keeps me informed on policies and changes.
4. My manager/supervisor discusses reasons for changes that need to occur.
5. My manager/supervisor listens to my ideas and opinions.

Leadership

1. Senior leadership is providing clear direction for the future. 
2. Leadership appropriately communicates the strategy of our organization.
3. I believe senior leadership makes the necessary changes to practices and processes to achieve our organization's goals.
4. I see strong evidence of effective leadership from senior leaders.
5. I feel leadership wants to listen to my opinions, ideas, concerns, and problems.

Communication

1. Managers and supervisors communicate with candor and honesty.
2. Good news travels fast. 
3. I receive information in time to help me do my job.
4. My manager/supervisor consistently discusses projects, initiatives, and programs underway.

Teamwork

1. We have a work environment that encourages teamwork and collaboration.
2. I believe there is value in sharing information with others.
3. I see people collaborating and sharing information within my organization, including best practices, lessons learned, resources, and expertise).

Customer Service

1. I have a deep understanding of customer needs and expectations.
2. I have the resources I need to support my customers.
3. I feel empowered to meet customer needs and expectations.

Engagement

1. I would recommend my organization to others as a great place to work.
2. I rarely think about leaving my organization to work somewhere else.
3. I am inspired to do my best work every day.

Personal Experience

1. I am asked for my ideas and opinions before important decisions related to my work are made. 
2. The people I work with cooperate to get the job done.
3. I am given a real opportunity to improve my skills.

Job Satisfaction

1. The recognition you receive for doing a good job.
2. The information you receive in order to do your job well.
3. The changes that occur as a result of your suggestions.

​Those who disagree with the statements below are most likely to be dissatisfied with their jobs.

​Questions most correlated to overall job satisfaction by rank:

1. I rarely think about leaving my organization to work somewhere else.
2. I would be very happy to spend the rest of my career with my organization.
3. I would recommend my organization to others as a great place to work.
4. I have a strong sense of belonging to my organization.
5. Overall, my future job/career opportunities with my organization look very promising.
6. I get a sense of accomplishment from my work.  
7. I am inspired to do my best work every day.
8. I am given a real opportunity to improve my skills. 
9. I receive information in time to help me do my job.
10. We have a work environment that encourages teamwork and collaboration.​

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