How to Run an Employee Survey Step by Step
In this guide, we have brought together the key steps for creating and running an online employee survey. Whether you are planning a short ad hoc survey or a comprehensive employee survey, several factors contribute to a successful survey project. To gather honest, relevant feedback from your workforce and gain the information you need to make decisions, it is important to think through the key steps in advance. Here are the main points to consider:
1. Define the aim of your employee survey from the outset
Start by defining the aim of your employee survey. What do you want to find out, and what do you want to achieve? Is the focus on supporting quality management, strengthening employees’ identification with the company, assessing and improving employee satisfaction, promoting health and improving working conditions, or examining and improving the workplace atmosphere? The questionnaire should be tailored to a specific objective. Keep the focus on the core topic.
When planning your employee survey and creating the questionnaire, you may find our free employee survey templates and examples helpful.
2. Involve the works council and data protection officer
The works council and data protection officer are important stakeholders who can build trust among the workforce and increase acceptance of the survey project. Where possible, set up a separate account for employee representatives in your online survey tool so they can independently review the framework, such as anonymity and GDPR compliance, as well as the content of the employee survey.
Build trust and interest among the workforce. Before the survey begins, explain the survey project, its purpose, what it will examine and its objective. The more transparent you are, the higher the response rate is likely to be. Be sure to name a contact person for employees’ questions.
4. Ensure participation is anonymous and voluntary
Make sure participants’ anonymity is protected. Individual participants must not be identifiable, including through combinations of answers or cross-tabulations. Collect data in aggregated groups and ensure a sufficient minimum sample size. Ask employees not to enter personal information, or information that could identify them, in free-text or comment fields. You can find detailed instructions on creating anonymous employee surveys here:
Create an anonymous surveyEven with indirectly identifying data, ensure that no combination can reveal a person’s identity, for example length of service + gender + department = Ms Müller.
5. Less is more: keep questionnaires as short as possible
When creating the questionnaire, focus on the essential aspects and the aim of the survey. Do not overwhelm participants with complex matrix questions or too many question categories. Avoid covering several topic areas in a single survey or using overly long questionnaire pages. Instead, consider running several short surveys and dividing the questionnaire into short pages. Use dynamic features such as
individual response paths so participants only see questions that are relevant to them.
To make your questionnaires visually appealing and match them to your corporate design, use the design features described in detail in our Helpdesk.
6. Phrase questions clearly and unambiguously
Make sure every employee can understand the questions. Avoid complex technical terms and long, nested sentences, and ensure the units used in rating-scale questions are clearly labelled. Avoid leading questions and double negatives. The clearer the questions, the more useful the answers will be. Where appropriate, also provide comment fields so participants can formulate answers freely in their own words. Bear in mind, however, that analysing free-text responses takes more time, so allow enough time for this if necessary.
It is advisable to carry out a pre-test before the survey goes live. This allows you to correct potential errors, such as issues in the survey flow, and problems of understanding in good time.
7. Analyse the survey carefully and present the data clearly
When analysing the survey, assess the data in relation to its specific objective to identify connections and meaningful relationships. Depending on your aim, analyse the
raw data or overall results and/or
filter subsets by department, location or other criteria. Identify significant values and trends, and distinguish them from random outliers. Present the relevant data clearly and visually for each audience, such as senior management, individual departments and the workforce as a whole.
8. Communicate the survey results to the workforce
After analysing the results, it is advisable to communicate them as soon as possible. You could present the results in team meetings or via the intranet. It is important that all employees feel fully informed. Also explain whether, and which, changes will be introduced as a result of the findings, and let employees know about any planned follow-up surveys.
9. Implement the announced follow-up measures and communicate progress
Do not leave it at empty promises. Announced measures should, of course, be put into practice. Set a realistic timeframe and involve project groups or the works council in implementation where appropriate. Provide regular updates on progress and developments, particularly when individual measures have been successfully completed.
10. Review progress and repeat the employee survey
To find out whether changes are having the desired effect, or whether trends are strengthening or changing significantly, it is advisable to repeat employee surveys regularly. If the original survey analysed the status quo or specific issues, follow-up surveys can provide valuable comparative data. This is especially useful when developing long-term strategies.
You can find detailed guidance on creating employee surveys in our Helpdesk: Employee survey use cases. You can also use our examples and free employee survey questionnaire templates, which you can copy to your account.
Create an employee survey
What is LamaPoll?
LamaPoll is a survey tool for creating employee surveys and measuring employee satisfaction. You can use it to create, conduct and analyse all types of employee survey. Create your employee survey in just a few steps, apply your organisation’s corporate design and invite employees conveniently by email or via your intranet. You can quickly gain insights that help improve employee satisfaction. You can register for our survey tool free of charge and immediately conduct surveys for up to 50 employees with no obligation. If you need more responses to your online employee survey questionnaire, simply choose one of our monthly plans. You can also use our employee survey questionnaire templates and examples.
