Employee engagement is declining. According to the WebMD Health Services 2025 Workplace and Employee Survey, the share of respondents who are “highly engaged” dropped by seven points between 2024 and 2025. Chances are, you are already running surveys, but you need sharper, more targeted questions to understand what employees are experiencing. This article explains the importance of surveys and their benefits, and includes questions organized by category.
Understanding the importance of employee engagement surveys.
Engagement surveys provide organizations with structured, actionable data on what drives engagement and what may undermine it. The broader picture reflects a growing challenge. According to Gallup’s 2025 State of the Global Workplace, global employee engagement fell from 23% in 2023 to 21% in 2024, costing the global economy $438 billion in lost productivity, with the sharpest decline among managers.
Well-being, performance and retention are all closely tied to engagement levels. Organizations that measure consistently are better positioned to retain talent, identify cultural gaps and respond before disengagement compounds. For teams focused on improving employee engagement, surveys are an essential starting point.
The benefits of employee engagement surveys.
Consistent survey practices create value at every level of the organization:
- Employees gain a structured voice.
Surveys surface problems within specific teams before they affect the broader workforce. - HR leaders can benchmark engagement over time.
Tracking data across cycles reveals whether conditions are improving, holding steady or declining. - Managers receive data to guide their leadership.
Survey results offer practical input for how managers communicate and support their teams. - Organizations can link engagement to business outcomes.
Insights connect to metrics like retention, absenteeism and productivity.
Surveys deliver value only when leadership communicates findings and commits to acting on them. Acting on employee feedback is one of six factors WebMD Health Services research identifies as making employees feel cared for at work. When that commitment is visible, participation and trust in the process tend to grow.
How to run an effective employee engagement survey.
A thoughtful process improves data quality and increases honest participation. Here are the core steps:
- Define what engagement means for your organization.
- Establish a measurement strategy with clear benchmarks.
- Gain leadership buy-in before launching.
- Set clear objectives for each survey cycle.
- Choose question formats thoughtfully, balancing closed-ended and open-ended items.
- Decide on frequency based on your goals. For more guidance, see how often employee engagement surveys should be conducted.
- Share results with employees and leadership after each cycle.
27 employee engagement survey questions to ask.
The questions below are organized by category to help you build a complete survey or select the items most relevant to your current goals. Strong engagement surveys rely primarily on closed-ended questions, which tend to be less demanding for respondents. Open-ended questions can add depth, but are best left optional.
TINYpulse allows respondents to add optional comments to any closed-ended question, giving teams both quantitative and qualitative depth without making additional input a requirement. Each question should map back to a clear objective.
Employee satisfaction survey questions.
1. How happy are you at work?
This question captures overall emotional sentiment and serves as a broad indicator of how employees feel about their work environment day to day.
2. How likely are you to recommend working at this organization to a friend or colleague?
This reflects employee advocacy and overall satisfaction with the organization.
3. How would you rate your work-life balance?
Work-life balance is a consistent predictor of sustained engagement.
4. Are you satisfied with the benefits and perks we offer?
Benefits play a role in overall satisfaction and retention, making this a valuable signal for teams reviewing their offerings.
Employee recognition survey questions.
Recognition questions help organizations understand whether employees feel seen and appreciated for their contributions. Recognition is a driver of engagement and retention. When employees do not feel acknowledged, they may be more likely to disengage and, over time, to seek opportunities elsewhere.
5. Do you feel valued at work?
This question captures the overall sense of appreciation an employee feels, which connects directly to motivation and commitment.
6. How frequently do you receive recognition from your manager?
Identifying whether appreciation is a regular part of the employee experience or an occasional occurrence can measure the consistency of recognition.
7. The last time you finished a big project, did you receive any recognition?
This question ties recognition to a specific, recent experience, making it easier for employees to respond honestly and for managers to act on the findings.
Employee retention survey questions.
Retention questions surface signals before employees decide to leave. These questions help you identify at-risk talent and understand what your organization can proactively address to keep your people engaged and committed.
8. Do you believe you will be able to reach your full potential here?
When employees do not see a path forward, disengagement typically follows. This question helps determine whether development and growth opportunities meet expectations.
9. Do you see yourself working here one year from now?
This question provides a direct read on short-term retention risk. A notable share of employees answering “no” or “unsure” signals a need for immediate follow-up.
Corporate culture survey questions.
Culture questions reveal how well the organization’s stated values translate into employees’ daily experience. Culture is often described in aspirational terms by leadership but felt very differently at the team level. These questions help close that gap and give leaders concrete data to bring to senior stakeholders.
10. Do you feel like the leadership team is transparent?
Transparency from leadership is closely tied to trust.
11. What three words would you use to describe our culture?
This open-ended question provides qualitative insight into how employees perceive the organization’s culture, often surfacing themes that structured questions miss.
12. Do you feel coworkers respect one another?
Respectful peer relationships contribute directly to psychological safety, collaboration and overall well-being at work.
13. Do you believe we authentically live by our organizational values?
There is often a gap between the values an organization supports and the behaviors employees observe. This question helps measure that distance.
14. Does our leadership team foster a positive work culture?
This question holds leadership accountable for the culture employees experience, not just the culture leadership intends to create.
Personal growth employee survey questions.
Personal growth questions measure whether employees feel the organization invests in their development. Stagnation is one of the more consistent drivers of disengagement, particularly among younger employees.1 When people see a clear path forward, they are more likely to remain engaged and committed. Research from Gartner found that only 46% of employees feel supported in their career development, highlighting a gap between what organizations offer and what employees expect.
15. Which new responsibilities, if any, would you like to take on?
This question invites employees to express ambition and helps managers identify opportunities to stretch and retain their people.
16. What type of new projects would you like to be involved in?
Understanding project preferences helps organizations align employee interests with business needs, potentially strengthening both engagement and output quality.
17. What new skills would you like to develop?
Skill development is a top driver of engagement and retention. This question opens a direct conversation about learning aspirations.
18. Do you receive adequate learning opportunities at your current job?
This question measures whether the organization is delivering on its development commitments in practice.
Well-being and mental health questions.
Well-being questions help organizations understand whether employees feel supported in managing the demands of their work alongside their broader health. This category has become increasingly relevant as the connection between engagement and well-being has grown stronger. Organizations that actively monitor well-being as part of their engagement strategy are better positioned to intervene before burnout, absenteeism and disengagement take hold.
19. Do you feel supported in managing work-related stress?
Stress management support indicates how much an organization invests in its workforce’s mental health.
20. How would you rate your overall well-being in the workplace?
This broader question captures the employee’s holistic sense of well-being at work, spanning physical, emotional and social dimensions.
21. Does the organization provide adequate resources to support your mental well-being?
Access to mental health resources is an increasingly baseline expectation. This question helps assess whether current offerings are meeting that bar.
Communication and alignment questions.
Communication questions measure how well employees understand where the organization is headed and how their role contributes to that direction. These questions will help you identify whether communication gaps are concentrated with certain managers or exist more broadly across your organization.
22. Do you have a clear understanding of the organization’s goals and priorities?
Clarity of purpose is a foundational driver of engagement. Without it, employees may struggle to connect their daily work to meaningful outcomes.
23. Do you receive timely communication about changes that affect your role?
Timely communication reduces uncertainty and signals respect for employees’ time and contributions. Delays in sharing relevant information can quickly erode trust.
24. Do you feel your manager communiations expectations clearly?
Unclear expectations are a leading cause of frustration and disengagement. This question identifies where managerial communication may need to improve.
25. Are you kept informed about decisions that affect your work?
This question measures the broader flow of information across the organization, extending beyond the immediate manager relationship.
Inclusion and belonging questions.
Employees who feel excluded or unable to bring their authentic selves to work may be at higher risk of disengagement and turnover. Measuring inclusion and belonging separately from broader culture questions gives you a more precise view of where the employee experience may be breaking down and for whom.
26. How accepted and valued do you feel for who you are at work?
This question gets at the heart of psychological safety. Employees who feel they must suppress aspects of their identity to fit in are less likely to contribute fully and less likely to stay.
27. How would you rate your sense of belonging at this organization?
Belonging is distinct from satisfaction or recognition. An employee can be satisfied with their pay and role and still feel disconnected from the organization’s broader community. This question captures that distinction.
What to do after you collect survey results.
Collecting engagement data is only as valuable as the action that follows. Sharing findings transparently across the organization is the first and most critical step. From there, identify two or three priority areas where change is both needed and feasible. Communicate clearly about what will be addressed, what the timeline looks like and who is accountable. Then follow up with employees to demonstrate that progress has been made.
Pulse surveys are an effective tool for tracking whether those changes have made a measurable difference. Surveys without follow-through can erode trust and lower participation in future cycles. Employees who share feedback and see no response become less likely to engage with the process and less likely to believe their input matters.
Take steps to build a more engaged workforce.
Regular, well-structured employee engagement surveys, paired with consistent organizational action, can meaningfully influence engagement, retention and well-being. Surveys are most effective when they are part of a broader commitment to listening and responding, not a one-time initiative.
The urgency is clear. U.S. employee engagement hit a 10-year low in 2024, according to Gallup. Organizations that invest in active listening and structured response cycles are better positioned to maintain a stable, committed workforce.
WebMD Health Services supports organizations through science-backed tools, including our employee engagement solution, that make it easier to gather feedback regularly and translate it into action.
If you are ready to strengthen your engagement strategy, explore how WebMD Health Services can help and request a demo to get started.
