Employee surveys are one of the most powerful tools in your HR toolbox. Done right, they give employees a voice and drive strategic decisions that shape company culture and performance. Whether you’re a growing startup or an established organization looking for ways to listen more intentionally, launching your first employee survey is a meaningful milestone. But where do you begin?
Right here! This guide will walk you through everything you need to know to go from ideas to actionable insights. The result? Your first survey won’t just be a checkbox, it will be a catalyst for real change.
Types of Employee Surveys
Before you dive into survey creation, take time to understand the different types of employee surveys. Each serves a unique purpose and delivers different insights depending on when and how it’s used.
1. Engagement Survey
What it is: A comprehensive, organization-wide survey typically conducted annually or biannually.
What it does: Measures how motivated, satisfied, and connected employees feel in their roles and with the company overall. It helps identify what’s driving engagement (and what’s holding it back).
2. Pulse Survey
What it is: A short, quick survey sent out regularly (weekly, monthly, or quarterly).
What it does: Provides real-time snapshots of employee sentiment and morale. It’s ideal for monitoring trends over time or assessing the impact of recent changes or events.
3. Onboarding Survey
What it is: A targeted survey for new hires, sent during the first few weeks or months of employment.
What it does: Captures fresh impressions of the hiring and onboarding process, identifies gaps in communication or training, and highlights opportunities to improve the new employee experience.
4. Exit Survey
What it is: A survey completed by employees who are leaving the organization voluntarily.
What it does: Uncovers reasons behind employee turnover and offers honest feedback about leadership, culture, and job satisfaction that current employees may hesitate to share.
5. Culture or DEI Surveys
What it is: A specialized survey focused on workplace culture, diversity, equity, and inclusion.
What it does: Assesses how inclusive and equitable the workplace feels to employees of different backgrounds. It helps organizations identify disparities, biases, and opportunities to create a more supportive culture for all.
6. Training and Development Surveys
What it is: A feedback tool used after training programs, courses, or development initiatives.
What it does: Evaluates how effective learning experiences are, identifies unmet development needs, and helps refine future training programs based on employee feedback and performance outcomes.
Launching Your First Employee Survey: Step-by-Step Guide
Launching your first employee survey can feel overwhelming, especially when you’re starting from scratch. There’s a lot to think about, like choosing the right survey type, crafting questions that yield honest and actionable feedback, selecting the right tools, ensuring anonymity, and then making sense of the results. It’s easy to get stuck in analysis paralysis or rush through the process without a clear strategy.
But with the right plan, launching your first survey becomes less daunting and more of a structured, strategic initiative. Thoughtful planning boosts participation and trust and ensures the insights you gather contribute to meaningful change. This step-by-step guide will walk you through every stage of the journey with clarity and confidence.
1. Define the Purpose
What do you want to learn? Narrowing your focus sets the stage for meaningful insights. Maybe you’re measuring overall engagement, or perhaps you’re evaluating the success of a recent change initiative. A clear goal guides everything from the questions you ask to how you act on the results.
Tip: Start small. It’s better to focus on one goal and get it right than to ask everything and learn nothing.
2. Choose the Right Survey Type
Now that you’ve defined the purpose, choose the survey format that matches it. For example:
- Want broad insight? Go with an engagement survey.
- Need quick feedback on a recent event? Choose a pulse survey.
- Hoping to hear from new hires? Launch an onboarding survey.
Use the types listed above to match your needs and keep things targeted.
3. Build the Survey Questions
Crafting good survey questions is both an art and a science. Your questions should be clear, unbiased, and actionable.
Best Practices:
- Use Likert scale questions (e.g., strongly agree to strongly disagree) for consistent, measurable responses.
- Include a few open-ended questions to capture context or new ideas.
- Avoid jargon or double-barreled questions (e.g., “Do you feel supported and motivated?” ← that’s two questions in one).
Example:
“I feel confident that leadership is making the right decisions for the organization.”
“What’s one thing we could do to improve your experience at work?”
4. Choose a Survey Platform
Don’t rely on spreadsheets and email threads. Instead, use an employee survey platform like Peoplelytics, which offers:
- Customizable templates
- Automated distribution
- Anonymous response tracking
- Real-time analytics
Make sure your platform is easy to use for both HR and employees. A smooth experience drives better participation.
5. Communicate the Why
Before you hit send, let your employees know what’s coming and why it matters. Transparency boosts trust and participation.
Include in your announcement:
- The purpose of the survey
- How long it will take
- That it’s anonymous (if applicable)
- When results will be shared
- How feedback will be used
Sample message:
“Your voice matters! We’re launching a short survey to hear how you’re feeling about your work and our company. It’s anonymous, takes 5 minutes, and your feedback will directly shape our next steps.”
6. Time It Right
Avoid launching during holidays, peak busy seasons, or major organizational changes. Aim for a time when employees can engage without distractions.
Pro tip: Send reminders, but don’t spam. Two follow-up reminders usually do the trick.
7. Ensure Anonymity and Trust
Employees won’t be honest if they fear repercussions. Anonymity encourages transparency—so make sure:
- Responses can’t be traced back to individuals
- Data is securely stored
- Your communications reassure confidentiality
8. Set a Response Deadline
Give employees a clear time frame, typically 7–10 days. Urgency helps maintain momentum, while a finite window encourages timely participation.
9. Analyze the Results
Once responses are in, it’s time to make sense of the data. Use your survey tool’s analytics to identify patterns:
- Where is engagement strong?
- What are common concerns?
- How do teams compare?
Segment by department, tenure, or location to uncover hidden trends.
10. Share the Results and Act
Post-survey follow up is where most surveys fail. Organizations gather great insights and then… crickets. Don’t be that company.
- Summarize key findings clearly and concisely. Highlight both strengths and areas for improvement. Use visuals like charts or infographics to make the data digestible.
- Hold a feedback session or send a company-wide update within two to three weeks of the survey closing. Don’t wait too long, because momentum fades fast.
- Acknowledge what you heard. Even if you can’t fix everything right away, showing that you’re listening is powerful.
- Prioritize a few achievable action items and assign owners to them. Keep the scope realistic to avoid overpromising.
- Provide regular progress updates. If you’re rolling out improvements based on the feedback, communicate updates monthly or quarterly.
Pro tip: Don’t just focus on fixing problems. Celebrate what’s working well, too. Positive reinforcement helps encourage the behaviors and values you want to grow.
Even small follow-through builds credibility. When employees see their feedback leads to action, they’re far more likely to stay engaged and be even more honest the next time around.
Get tips, industry benchmarks, strategies to boost scores, and more!
Common Survey Pitfalls to Avoid
Even with the best intentions, it’s easy for first-time employee surveys to go off track. From poorly worded questions to a lack of follow-up, common missteps can undermine trust, discourage participation, or leave you with data that doesn’t drive change.
The good news? Most of these mistakes are entirely avoidable with a little foresight. By knowing what to watch out for, you’ll set yourself up for a smoother process and more meaningful results. Avoid these first-timer mistakes to ensure your survey succeeds.
Asking Too Many Questions
Why it’s a problem: It’s tempting to try to capture everything in your first survey. However, an “everything but the kitchen sink” questionnaire can overwhelm respondents. Survey fatigue sets in quickly, especially if questions feel repetitive, irrelevant, or never-ending.
What to do instead: Keep it focused and intentional. Aim for 15–25 well-crafted questions that align with your goals. You can always follow up later with a pulse survey to explore specific topics further.
Collecting Data You Can’t Act On
Why it’s a problem: Employees take time to share honest feedback. So, when organizations ask about areas they have no intention or ability to change, it creates frustration and distrust.
What to do instead: Only ask about topics you’re willing to examine and address. If something is outside your control (like remote work policies dictated by corporate headquarters), leave it out of the survey or clarify the context.
Ignoring Feedback
Why it’s a problem: The fastest way to kill future participation is to ask for input and then do nothing with it. When employees never hear back, they assume their voices don’t matter…and stop engaging.
What to do instead: Share key findings, communicate next steps, and follow through with visible action—even if it’s small. Showing that feedback leads to improvement builds trust and encourages future participation.
Failing to Segment the Data
Why it’s a problem: Looking only at organization-wide results may mask important differences between departments, teams, or demographics. What feels great in one group may feel broken in another.
What to do instead: Use your survey tool’s filters to analyze results by role, location, tenure, or team. Segmenting the data helps you uncover more nuanced issues and target solutions effectively.
One-and-Done Mentality
Why it’s a problem: No matter how good a survey is, one won’t be enough to move your needle. Treating a survey as a one-time event gives the impression that listening is a formality, not a value. It also misses the opportunity to track progress or adjust based on evolving needs.
What to do instead: Make surveys part of a larger, ongoing feedback strategy. Combine annual engagement surveys with regular pulse check-ins and targeted follow-ups to stay in tune with your workforce throughout the year.
Start Smart, Stay Curious on Your Way to Survey Success
Launching your first employee survey is a bold step toward a more connected and responsive workplace. With clear goals, thoughtful planning, and an honest commitment to listening and acting, you’ll turn raw feedback into real insight, and insight into action.
Here’s your quick roadmap:
- Choose the right type of survey for your goals.
- Build relevant, actionable questions.
- Communicate with clarity and transparency.
- Analyze results with curiosity, not defensiveness.
- Share what you learned and what you’re doing next.
Whether you’re aiming to boost engagement, build a stronger culture, or simply hear what your people are thinking, your first survey is a chance to show employees that their voices matter.
And remember: the first step is just the beginning. With tools like Peoplelytics, your journey from zero to insight just got a lot easier.
