How do I design a culture survey?

Run a Culture Survey to measure the current experience of your employees and gather ideas on how to improve on certain areas.

Our data and research shows that most employees don't find value in completing long surveys and usually only do so because they are forced to participate.

While employees may not find value, many of our customers have a requirement to measure employee experience and engagement.

In this case Joyous recommends a middle ground as outlined below.

Survey structure

• We recommend keeping surveys short. Ideally under 5 minutes to complete. 
• Start the survey with a few sentences that set the context and expectations of the survey.
• While open conversations are well suited for operational campaigns, we recommend positioning your culture survey as confidential.
• Employees names will still go with their feedback, but only a small number of people, typically from your People & Culture team, will be given access to the live feed, and any reporting shared more broadly will not include any identifying information.
• We recommend asking five rating questions followed by one open question as surveys are naturally measurement-focused rather than conversational. 
• End the survey with an open question that seeks ideas and solutions for improvement.

Example, focused on Development & Experience

If you go with the confidential approach we recommend that you communicate this to your employees in advance of sending the survey. Here is an example email:

Email Template

From: [Chief People Officer] 

Audience: All employees

Subject: Help us improve your experience at [ACME]

Body:

Dear [Valued Team Member],

[CEO Name] and I are reaching out to you today with an important request - we would like to ask for your feedback on how we can improve your experience working at [ACME].

As valued employees, we believe that your perspectives and ideas are critical to informing how we improve [ACME].

What to expect:

• Every [six months], starting from [Date], you will receive one [email/SMS] including a link to a short survey from Joyous that will take less than 5 minutes to answer.
• Your feedback will be treated confidentially. (links to a confidentiality web-page)

Thanks in advance.

Sincerely,

[Chief People Officer]

Confidentiality Webpage Template

Link location: joyoushq.com/confidentiality-[ACME]

Note: Joyous can publish and tailor a page to suit your particular requirements as requested. Your logo will be included on the heading of the page.

Body:

For the [engagement] survey, only [description of people] will see your feedback, along with your name. This enables them to reach out to any particular individual for more clarity or support if needed. They will treat your feedback confidentially.

Once the survey is closed, results will be shared to a broader audience in a Joyous report. No names or any other identifying information will be associated with comments or themes inside the report.

If you have any concerns or questions about confidentiality, please do not hesitate to reach out to [Chief People Officer / nominated HR champion] for more information on [contact information].

Full Question Library

The example above was specific to the topic of Development and Experience. Here are all the questions from the Joyous culture library for you to select from.

• You may select the questions that are most applicable to your requirements.
• You may expand the survey to any length, the design of the survey is in your control.
• Once you are ready simply inform your customer success manager and they will configure your survey according to your needs.