What is an Employee Engagement Survey? Tips to Measure and Understand Your Employees’ Needs.

“Your employees are your brand.” Heard that one before? 

To put it simply, that means having happy, fulfilled employees can meaningfully impact your organization’s reach, market penetration, and bottom line in a number of ways. This can be a huge differentiator at a time when 71% of surveyed global consumers said they trust companies less today than they did just one year ago. 

But how do you know if your employees are happy and fulfilled? Employee engagement surveys are one of the common tools HR leaders use to understand their employees’ experience with work. 

What is employee engagement? 

Employee engagement describes the emotional commitment and level of involvement employees have toward their work and organization. Highly engaged employees are motivated, connected to their company’s goals, and more likely to go above and beyond in their roles.

Engagement can be influenced by factors such as workplace culture, leadership, recognition, and opportunities for growth.

Why are employee engagement surveys important? 

Employee engagement surveys help you understand your employees’ experience with the organization. Employee engagement levels can affect organizations in a number of ways, including: 

• Profitability
• Productivity
• Employee turnover
• Safety incidents
• Absenteeism

However, profitability and productivity levels can be influenced by any number of factors. By conducting an employee engagement survey and benchmarking it against others in your industry and against your own data if you survey regularly, you can better understand areas to focus on. 

In some industries, such as construction, scientific, and tech services, employee engagement is steadily declining. If you’re in one of those industries, it’s important to understand why. 

What do you measure to understand employee engagement? 

Areas that you might measure with an employee engagement survey include: 

• Confidence and trust in leadership
• Manager effectiveness
• Recognition and appreciation
• Meaningfulness and purpose of work
• Culture and belonging
• Psychological safety at work
• Effectiveness and usefulness of your benefits, such as your EAP

Considerations when building your survey? 

• Define your goals. What do you hope to learn from the survey? Let that determine the questions you ask in the survey. Building a survey should not take on a one-size-fits-all approach. 
• Ensure questions are written so you receive clear answers. Do you want employee anecdotes? If not, make sure questions can be easily answered with a yes or no, or that there are multiple choice options. Avoid asking two questions at once.
• Clearly communicate to employees what the survey is, how anonymous it is, and why it’s important to them. Employees may view the survey with skepticism or even fear if they don’t feel their answers are private and confidential, which will impact results. 
• Keep the survey concise. The shorter the survey, the more likely employees are to complete it. Generally, it’s advised to keep the survey completion time to less than 10 minutes and no more than 30 questions. 

What are the best employee engagement survey questions? 

The best employee engagement survey questions really depend on what your goals are and what you want to understand. Depending on those factors, here are a few of the best employee engagement survey questions you can ask: 

• How proud are you to work at this organization?
• How clearly do you understand how your work contributes to the organization’s goals?
• How comfortable do you feel being your authentic self at work?
• Do you have the tools and resources you need to do your job effectively?
• Does your manager support your professional growth and development?
• How often do you feel recognized for the work you do?
• How much confidence do you have in the leadership team’s decisions being in the best interest of employees?
• How energized and motivated do you feel in your day-to-day work?
• Do you see a clear path for career advancement within the organization?

Understand the connection between engagement, mental health

Employee engagement is the emotional commitment a person has to their organization and its mission. It’s more than just being happy at work; it’s about feeling motivated, dedicated, and having a sense of purpose. This kind of commitment takes mental and emotional energy.

When employees struggle with their mental well-being, their ability to engage is often the first thing to fade. Issues like stress, anxiety, and burnout drain the energy needed to stay focused and motivated. This can lead to presenteeism—when employees are physically at work but not mentally present or productive.

The impact is significant. In the U.S., employee engagement has dropped to its lowest point in over a decade, a trend some call "The Great Detachment." This isn't just a concern for HR; it's a major business challenge. 

Widespread disengagement costs the global economy an estimated $8.9 trillion each year. It's clear that engagement isn't just an HR problem. It's a critical issue that affects the entire organization's bottom line.

Tips for analyzing results 

The survey closes. The results are in. Now what? 

Data analysis can be one of the most interesting parts of conducting an employee engagement survey. Sifting through responses for each question can fill you with insights you never knew and inform questions for future surveys. Here are a few tips to help you: 

• Look at averages, and identify outliers. Averages are helpful, especially for easy year-over-year and quarter-over-quarter comparisons. But also look at outliers. Are there specific groups that are particularly disengaged?
• Focus on what’s working, too. There can be a knee-jerk reaction when you see results that signal an area to improvement. But also look for areas to celebrate and potentially build off of. 
• Be transparent with the results. Survey results shouldn’t shine a spotlight on failures. All of this is a learning opportunity for your organization, and it’s one worth embracing. 
• Tie findings to business outcomes. Link responses to actual business data points when possible. For example, if a certain team or a class of employees’ survey results also tie back to a data point that shows higher-than-usual turnover or absenteeism rates. 

How mental health challenges show up in results

An employee's mental state acts like a filter, coloring how they answer survey questions. If a large part of your workforce is facing mental health challenges, your employee engagement survey results will likely skew toward the negative, hiding the real issues that need to be addressed.

Perceptions of workload and burnout

Employee burnout is a state of complete exhaustion caused by long-term stress. Employees who are burned out are much more likely to report that their workload is unmanageable and that they lack support, even if their duties haven't changed. 

According to a 2025 commissioned study conducted by Forrester Consulting on behalf of Spring Health, 65% of employees are more stressed or as stressed as they were five years ago. When burnout is widespread, feedback on your employee engagement survey will reflect it.

Relationships with management and peers

Mental health struggles can also impact how people interact with others. An employee dealing with depression might pull away from colleagues and affect their sense of belonging at work, while someone with anxiety could become more irritable or sensitive to feedback. When they fill out a survey, their negative feelings about their manager or team might actually be a symptom of their inner distress, not just a professional conflict.

Outlook on career growth and company future

Anxiety and depression can create a feeling of hopelessness, making it hard for employees to see a positive future for themselves or the company. They might express doubts about their career path or the company’s direction. This pessimism can grow during uncertain times, like hiring freezes, which increase job insecurity and lower morale. Learning how to keep engagement high and stagnation low during a hiring freeze is crucial to prevent these feelings from distorting your engagement data.

What survey results to share, and what to do about them

In an effort to be transparent, it makes sense to share as much as you can with employees. Of course, be sure to de-identify results as much as possible when sharing with anyone. These steps will help you take those results and make a difference: 

• Analyze the results. Dive into response trends across segments and themes. 
• Share with senior leadership. Provide the results of the survey and connect them to business goals.
• Partner with leaders to develop an action plan. Encourage leaders to review data and develop a couple focus areas. 
• Communicate with employees. Share the results of the survey. Depending on the size of the organization, discuss action plans in smaller groups or as a whole. 
• Track and react. Keep surveying with some regularity, and track the results of the action plan you’ve implemented. 

3 strategies to boost employee engagement

To drive better employee engagement that shows in your survey scores, companies need to focus on a root cause: employee wellbeing. This means proactively investing in mental health support.

Provide accessible and effective mental health benefits

Traditional Employee Assistance Programs (EAPs) are often not enough. Today's employees expect and need more. In fact, 81% of workers say they will look for workplaces that support mental health when searching for a new job. Following the latest employee mental health benefits trends is no longer optional.

However, employees often face barriers like high costs or confusion about whether a benefit will actually work. Modern mental health solutions like Spring Health remove these barriers. We use a data-driven approach called measurement-based care, which is a proven method for ensuring quality. By using measurement-based care, we track progress to make sure employees get effective support that delivers real results for them and their employer while maintaining the employee’s confidentiality.

Create a culture without stigma

Great benefits are only useful if people feel comfortable using them. Leaders must build a culture where mental health can be discussed openly and without stigma. When leaders share their own stories, it helps normalize the conversation for everyone.

It's also important to train managers to spot signs of distress. They don't need to be therapists, but they should have the skills to talk to team members with compassion and guide them to the resources available, like Spring Health.

Promote genuine work-life balance

A real commitment to wellbeing goes beyond just healthcare benefits. It means creating an environment where employees are supported as whole people. That can include:

• Paid sabbaticals for long-term employees to rest and recharge.
• Fertility and family-forming support to help employees on their journey to parenthood.
• Wellness stipends (gym memberships, yoga classes, etc.) that give employees the freedom to invest in their well-being in ways that matter most to them.

A mentally healthy workforce is an engaged workforce

Your employee engagement survey results are a direct reflection of your team's overall mental health. Low scores aren’t just a sign of dissatisfaction—they're a sign that your employees' well-being needs support.

To improve engagement, leaders must move beyond quick fixes and proactively invest in comprehensive, easy-to-access, and stigma-free mental health care. The companies that succeed in the future will be those that understand that investing in their people's well-being is the best way to build an engaged, productive, and successful organization.