Employee engagement survey questions: tips & best practices

Most HR leaders are painfully aware that global engagement has dropped to a five-year low, with just 20% of employees saying they felt engaged at work in 2025 – an issue that’s costing the world economy $10 trillion in lost productivity. 

But what role can surveys play in mitigating this lull in engagement? The right survey cadence – and the right questions – can give managers a genuine read on how their teams are feeling, while the right tools can reveal why. And we know managers are the key to boosting engagement, as the quality of management accounts for 70% of the variance.

So keep reading as we share our take on the best approach for engagement survey questions, how to get the most valuable data from your surveys – and how this data can empower your managers.

The different types of survey questions

Firstly, let’s take a look at the most common types of survey questions used to measure engagement: 

• Likert scale – this gives respondents the chance to rate their level of agreement from 1–5 (or strongly agree to strongly disagree) which is helpful for tracking sentiment trends over time.

• eNPS (Employee Net Promoter Score) – this is used to measure overall employee loyalty through a single number that can be benchmarked.

• Multiple choice – these questions quickly identify specific drivers or preferences among employees.

• Open text – these are best for capturing qualitative data, like the nuance and context that Likert scores miss, and uncovering the “why” behind a low (or high) score.

• Vertical sliding scale – this type of question allows respondents to indicate their sentiment on a visual scale, which can capture more nuance than fixed answer options.

• Grid question – these questions enable respondents to rate several related statements using the same scale, making it quick and easy to compare responses across a number of topics.

Employee engagement survey questions about management and leadership

Management and leadership is one of the most important topics to cover in engagement surveys. With the opportunity to remain anonymous, team members are more likely to feed back openly about line managers, meaning any issues can be surfaced early, rather than going unnoticed until the next 360 review.

This feedback also fosters growth and accountability for leaders, while showing the business exactly where investment is needed – for instance, if scores are consistently low for a specific behaviour (like communication or recognition), this can then inform more targeted development plans. 

Example management and leadership survey questions

• “My manager provides me with constructive feedback on my performance.” – Likert scale, 1-5
• “How confident are you in the decisions that are made by senior leadership?” – Likert scale or 0-10
• “What's one thing your manager could do differently to support you better?” – Open text
• "Is there anything leadership could do to build more trust with employees?" – Open text

The Inpulse difference

At Inpulse, we advocate for the importance of not just hearing the symptoms of the issues, but understanding the underlying causes, by revealing the emotional drivers of specific feedback. That’s why we always recommend asking: “How do you feel working for this person, and why do you feel that way?”

Going after the why helps to push for accountability among managers. Even those who rank very highly for other competencies can need support with qualities like emotional intelligence and self-awareness. Questions that push beyond surface-level feedback can be used in tandem with 360 reviews to give leaders a more holistic, accurate view of how their management style is experienced day to day, helping to close the gap between self-perception and reality. Encouraging that self-reflection is one of the ways we empower managers to lead and own engagement.

Pulse survey questions for continuous employee listening

With pulse surveys, you can track how specific trends fluctuate over time, rather than static scores. Making the questions quick to answer should maximise response rates, while focusing on a single theme should make the feedback more straightforward for managers to respond to and implement. 

It’s also worth including one optional open text question in each pulse survey, so team members have room to flag something specific, while others can answer the rating scale questions then move on.

Look past the scores to the drivers behind them

Consider bringing in emotional analytics tools that surface the behavioural drivers behind 360 feedback, so you can understand the root source of the issue and its impact on engagement and performance.

Example survey questions

• “How motivated do you feel about your work this week?” – Likert scale, 1-5
• “How likely are you to recommend this company as a place to work right now?” – eNPS 0-10 
• “I had what I needed to do my job well this week.” – Likert scale, 1-5
• “Are there any blockers standing in the way of your performance at the moment?” – Open text

Wellbeing and work environment survey question examples

According to Mental Health UK’s 2026 Burnout Report, 9 in 10 adults experienced high levels of stress in the workplace in the last year, while 35% said they wouldn’t feel comfortable discussing that stress with a manager. 

Well-chosen wellbeing survey questions provide a low-stakes way for employees to speak up about overwhelm, helping leaders to catch stress before it turns into absence or attrition. Through a combination of open text and targeted Likert scale questions, you pinpoint exactly where the pressure is coming from – be it workload, management style or even personal circumstances.

Example wellbeing survey questions

• “I feel able to maintain a healthy work-life balance.” – Likert scale, 1-5
• “How would you rate your stress levels at work over the past fortnight? Likert scale, 1-5
• “I feel comfortable talking to my manager if I’m struggling.” – Likert scale, 1-5
• “Is anything affecting your wellbeing at work right now?” – Open text

How to write your own effective engagement survey questions

A good employee engagement partner will work alongside you to shape your engagement survey questions, and guide you on what works for businesses like yours. For instance, where possible, Inpulse provides examples that have been tried and tested by other organisations in your industry, to help you get the best possible results first time. 

We’ll also coach you through writing your own engagement questions, but here are some best practice tips to keep in mind:

• Keep it simple and concise. Avoid getting bogged down with jargon, and aim to keep surveys fairly short to avoid respondents dropping off.
• Balance quantitative with qualitative. Lean on Likert scale questions for trackable data, and use open text questions sparingly to capture specific nuance.
• Avoid leading language. Be sure to phrase your questions neutrally, for example, ask “How would you rate your line manager for X?” rather than “How good is your line manager at X”?
• Ask questions you can act on. Don’t fish for feedback you can’t actually implement – this erodes both trust and engagement over time. If you can’t do anything with the answer, reconsider whether it's a question you should be asking.

Shape your strategy with Inpulse

Ready to ask better questions? We’ll help you design a bespoke survey strategy that’s built around your organisational needs, so you can capture valuable, actionable insights that help encourage your managers to own and lead engagement. 

Get in touch with our team to find out how Inpulse could reshape your engagement strategy.