Guide to running a survey

Careful preparation is required for maximising employee engagement with your survey and ensuring it runs smoothly. Essential things to consider before launching your survey include:

The number of employees to take the survey.
When and for how long the survey should run.
Using incentives to boost employee engagement.
How you plan to promote the survey.

How many employees do I need to survey?

Ideally, all of your employees should have a say in an employee survey. However, if this is not practical for your organisation, you can survey a sample of the workforce instead. The following recommendations will help you determine how many employees you need to survey and the method required to select your sample of employees. The minimum sample sizes in the table below have been calculated to ensure that your survey findings will be representative of the views of all employees in your organisation.

Total number of workers	Administer the survey to:
500 or fewer	All Workers
501-1000	250 workers
1001-2000	325 workers
2001-3000	350 workers
Over 3000	400 workers

How to select a sample of workers

If you are selecting a sample of employees to survey, it is important that these are selected at random from a list of all your employees. By surveying employees selected through random sampling, you will obtain a best estimate of what represents the views of the whole of your workforce.

Survey timing

It is important to identify what is happening in your employees work lives at the time you want to launch the survey. It is recommended that you:

Allow surveys to be completed during work time – this has been shown to improve response rates.
Check with others in your organisation who might also be giving a survey. Avoid “doubling” survey chores for your employees.
Generally be aware of the time of year you want to give the survey. Where possible, try to pick a time that you know your employees are not loaded with other deadlines that may impact their willingness to participate.

For how long should the survey be open?

We recommend keeping a survey open for approximately three weeks, allowing enough time for employees to access the survey without rushing them, while at the same time not giving them too much time to put off taking the survey.

Pre-survey communications

The main purpose of a pre-survey communication is to prepare the organisation and its internal communications network for the launch, distribution and follow-up of the survey tool. Identify the different communication methods you will use to tell employees that an important survey is coming soon. Try to use as many diverse methods of communication as possible to ensure maximum employee awareness (e.g. posters, debriefings, intranet, e-zines, newsletters, e-mail, pay-slip notes and/or verbal announcements). Identify the critical statements you will make in the pre-survey announcement . Remember that you want employees to be highly motivated to participate. However you choose to word your pre-survey announcement, it is important that you explain to employees the reasons for the survey, including:

How and when employees will receive a questionnaire.
Why they should participate.
Outline the individual confidential nature of the survey.
How and when employees will receive feedback on the survey’s results.
How actions will be taken in response to the survey’s findings.

Remember to include in your key communication messages:

Your organisation is committed to improving employee wellbeing.
The participation of all employees is essential to ensure all views are represented.

Pre-survey announcement template:

[Organisation name]’s Survey

Date 20XX

[Organisation name] is carrying out a survey on employee wellbeing in our organisation.

The survey questionnaire provides an opportunity for all employees to have a say on their experiences of work, with the aim of improving any areas which the survey highlights as potential sources of dissatisfaction, whilst building on the things we do well. The survey will run between and . Employees will be emailed a survey invitation, which will direct them to the wellbeing survey website for completion of the questionnaire.

The questionnaire is simple and straightforward, and will take approximately 10-15 minutes for you to complete. The survey is completed anonymously and all individual responses will be kept strictly confidential. Once the survey is over, the organisation-wide results will be communicated to you via…

Your participation is greatly appreciated! If you have any questions regarding this survey or require further information, please contact: <FULL NAME and CONTACT DETAILS>

We thank you for your support and look forward to your participation in the wellbeing survey.

Survey invitations

A survey invitation template is provided for you once you create your survey. This can be tailored if necessary.

Survey invite template:

Dear First name,

As you are a valued staff member here at [organisation name], we would like to ensure that you are satisfied with your working environment. To this end, [organisation name] wishes to invite you to participate in a Work Positive survey. The purpose of this survey is to obtain your opinions about what it is like to work in our organisation.

The survey is completely anonymous. No individual results will be provided either to me or to the company. Please click on the link that follows and complete the questionnaire by no later than X Date at X time.

***SURVEY LINK***

Please do not hesitate to contact me should you have any further queries or should you require any assistance in completing the survey.

Relevant support contact information is attached for [organisation name] should you require them.

Thank you in advance for participating and helping [organisation name] continue to grow.

Regards,

Full Name

HR Manager

Sending survey reminders

Sending survey completion reminders is one of the most effective ways to increase response rates. However, it is important to get the tone and frequency right. Carefully planned and managed survey reminders can dramatically improve employee engagement. As with invitations, it is essential to pay attention to the layout and wording of your reminders:

Change the reminder’s subject line so that it is not identical to the invitation (or previous reminders).
Create a sense of urgency within the subject line and body of the reminder.
Remind employees of the purpose of the survey.
Remind employees of the value of the survey.
Give an estimate of survey completion time.
Remind employees that their responses will be anonymous (where applicable).

Sending two or three reminders is considered to be best practice. Although sending survey reminders is one of the most effective ways to boost response rates, it is important not to send too many – if you send reminders too often, contacts may feel harassed and will simply ignore them.

Guidelines for managing Work Positive^CI Paper based questionnaires

For information on paper based surveys please click here.