Understanding your employees is critical for retention, engagement, and culture. These 10 templates cover every employee survey situation — from a new hire's first 90 days to the exit interview. Click any template to see the questions and launch it directly.
Free tier: VoteGenerator surveys are free with no signup. Up to 10 questions per survey and 100 responses per survey on the free plan. All templates below fit within the free tier. Pro ($19/month) allows up to 25 questions and 10,000 responses — ideal for larger teams.
How to Use These Templates
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Click any template to expand it
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Review the questions and scale
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Click Launch to open in VoteGenerator
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Customise questions to your company
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Share the link with employees
The 10 Templates
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Scale: Strongly Disagree → Strongly Agree (Likert)
- I feel genuinely interested in my work
- I feel valued and appreciated by my manager
- I have the tools and resources to do my job well
- I see a clear path for growth and advancement here
- I would recommend this company as a great place to work
- My work contributes meaningfully to the company's mission
- I feel supported by my team members
- Leadership communicates company goals clearly
Why this matters: Employee engagement directly predicts retention and productivity. Run this quarterly or annually to track trends and identify disengagement before it leads to turnover.
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Scale: 1–5 (Very Dissatisfied → Very Satisfied)
- How satisfied are you with your current role?
- How satisfied are you with your compensation?
- How satisfied are you with your work-life balance?
- How satisfied are you with learning and development opportunities?
- How satisfied are you with your relationship with your manager?
- How satisfied are you with the company culture?
- What is the one thing about your job you would most like to change? (open text)
Why this matters: Job satisfaction is the single strongest predictor of voluntary turnover. Identifying dissatisfied employees early gives you a window to address issues before they leave.
03
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Scale: Strongly Disagree → Strongly Agree (Likert)
- I had a clear onboarding plan when I started
- I received adequate training for my role
- I felt welcomed by the team from day one
- I understood company values and culture from early on
- I had a clear understanding of my role and responsibilities
- I had good access to information and resources I needed
- What was the best part of your onboarding experience? (open text)
- What could we improve about onboarding? (open text)
Why this matters: Onboarding quality sets the tone for the entire employee journey. Early feedback helps you fix gaps and improve the experience for every future hire.
04
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Mix of multiple choice and open text
- What was your primary reason for leaving? (multiple choice + other)
- What could we have done to retain you? (open text)
- How satisfied were you with your role overall? (1–5)
- How satisfied were you with your manager? (1–5)
- Would you recommend this company to a friend? (Yes / No / Maybe)
- What did you enjoy most about working here? (open text)
- What was most frustrating about your time here? (open text)
- Any final feedback or suggestions for leadership? (open text)
Why this matters: Exit interviews reveal the real reasons people leave — not the polished ones they tell HR. This data is essential for identifying retention risks and fixing systemic issues before they affect more employees.
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Mix of 1–5 scale and yes/no
- How are you feeling about work this week? (1–5 scale)
- Do you have what you need to be successful in your role?
- Is there anything blocking your progress right now?
- One word or sentence to describe your work experience this month? (open text)
Why this matters: Pulse surveys are short enough (under 3 minutes) that participation stays high. Run them after major company announcements, changes, or quarterly to track sentiment trends over time.
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Scale: Strongly Disagree → Strongly Agree (Likert)
- My manager provides clear and useful feedback on my performance
- My manager actively supports my professional growth
- My manager listens to my ideas and concerns
- My manager creates a positive and productive team environment
- My manager makes fair and equitable decisions
- I feel comfortable approaching my manager with problems
- What does my manager do really well? (open text)
- What is one area where my manager could improve? (open text)
Why this matters: "People leave managers, not companies" is well-evidenced. Upward feedback helps managers improve and flags management quality issues before they drive turnover at scale.
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Mix of 1–5, yes/no, and multiple choice
- How satisfied are you with our current remote work setup? (1–5)
- Do you have a suitable and productive workspace at home?
- Do you have the technology and tools you need to work effectively?
- How effective is communication within your remote team? (1–5)
- Are you experiencing video call or meeting fatigue?
- Do you sometimes feel isolated or disconnected working remotely?
- What working arrangement would you most prefer going forward? (remote / hybrid / in-office)
- What single change would most improve your remote work experience? (open text)
Why this matters: Remote work satisfaction varies enormously. This survey helps you understand where to invest — better tooling, more async communication, or changes to your in-office days.
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Scale: Strongly Disagree → Strongly Agree (Likert)
- I feel my perspective is valued regardless of my background
- I feel psychologically safe to be my authentic self at work
- I see diverse representation in our company leadership
- Our company actively supports diversity and inclusion in practice
- I feel treated fairly regardless of my identity or background
- What barriers, if any, exist for underrepresented groups here? (open text)
- What is one thing we could do to improve inclusion? (open text)
Why this matters: DEI surveys measure progress, identify blind spots, and demonstrate commitment to an inclusive culture. Without data, DEI efforts are guesswork.
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Mix of 1–5, yes/no, and multiple choice
- How satisfied are you with your total compensation? (1–5)
- Do you feel your pay is fair for your role and level?
- Are you aware of all benefits available to you?
- How satisfied are you with current health insurance options? (1–5)
- Which benefits are most important to you? (multiple choice — select up to 3)
- Which of these benefits would you most value if we added them? (multiple choice)
- What benefits should we add or improve? (open text)
Why this matters: Compensation is a top-three retention driver. Understanding which benefits employees actually value (vs. which they never use) helps you allocate budget where it has the most impact.
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Scale: Strongly Disagree → Strongly Agree (Likert)
- I feel a strong sense of community and belonging within my team
- My team members respect and genuinely support each other
- Communication within my team is open and honest
- My team celebrates wins and learns constructively from mistakes
- I would choose to work with this team again if given the option
- What makes our team culture particularly strong? (open text)
- What could we improve about our team dynamics? (open text)
Why this matters: Team culture drives daily experience more than company culture. This survey helps team leads identify where to invest in team building and spot dysfunction before it becomes a retention problem.
Tips for Better Employee Survey Results
Always make surveys anonymous
Anonymous surveys produce significantly more honest responses, especially for sensitive topics like manager feedback and compensation. Tell employees the survey is anonymous before they start.
Keep it under 10 minutes
Surveys over 15 questions see completion rates drop sharply. Prioritise the questions you will actually act on. The free tier supports up to 10 questions — enough for any of these templates.
Always close the feedback loop
Share results with the team and tell them what you are changing as a result. If employees see no change from previous surveys, participation drops significantly in future rounds.
Send reminders 2–3 days before close
Response rates for employee surveys typically peak after a reminder. Target 50%+ response rates for results to be representative. Set a clear deadline and remind 2–3 days before it closes.
Launch an Employee Survey Today
Free, anonymous, no signup required. Up to 100 responses and 10 questions per survey on the free tier.
Create an Employee Survey →Frequently Asked Questions
Should employee surveys be anonymous?
Yes, for almost all employee surveys. Anonymous surveys consistently produce more honest responses, particularly for sensitive topics like manager effectiveness, DEI, and compensation. If you need to track individual responses (for example, in some performance review contexts), be completely transparent about that upfront — employees need to know before they start answering.
How many questions should an employee survey have?
5–10 questions is the research-backed sweet spot. Surveys over 15 questions see completion rates drop noticeably. Every question should be tied to something you will actually change or act on — remove any question whose answer you wouldn't act on. VoteGenerator's free tier allows up to 10 questions per survey, which covers all 10 templates above. Pro ($19/month) allows up to 25 questions.
How often should you survey employees?
Annual comprehensive surveys (30 minutes, full engagement/satisfaction coverage) plus quarterly pulse surveys (3–5 questions, 3 minutes maximum) is the research-backed balance. More frequent than monthly tends to reduce participation as employees develop survey fatigue. The pulse check template above is specifically designed for regular use.
What is a good employee survey response rate?
50% or higher is good for internal surveys. Below 30% means results may not be representative of the full workforce — results from a self-selected minority can be skewed. To improve participation: keep surveys short, announce them in advance, use a familiar tool (like a link in Slack or email), send reminders, and most importantly — demonstrate that previous survey feedback led to real changes.
How do I analyse employee survey results?
Focus on three things: average scores per question, trend direction over time (are scores improving or declining?), and open-text responses for context. Compare by team or department to identify specific problem areas. VoteGenerator shows real-time results. For deeper analysis with CSV export and cross-filtering by segment, a Pro plan ($19/month) is needed.