How to build an effective benefits survey – and improve your offering

Want to know which benefits your employees like and use and where there are gaps? Read on

Employee benefits surveys can reveal valuable insights into which benefits your employees use, which need additional resources, and where employees are seeing gaps in support.

As remote work has become increasingly popular, employee priorities have shifted. By taking a closer look at the questions you’re asking, your survey’s format, and how you’re promoting your survey, you can help your team uncover gaps and find more actionable results for this year and beyond.

Determine your questions and phrasing

As you begin planning your benefits survey, start by looking at your questions from prior surveys and considering which to keep, which to rephrase, and what questions you might like to add. Ask yourself:

Are there questions from previous surveys that should be included again?
Are there questions from previous surveys that need to be rewritten because they were vague or confusing?

If your company hasn’t conducted a survey in recent years and you’re starting from scratch, use resources such as SHRM and Qualtrics for inspiration. Your questions should cover your main benefits areas and ask about satisfaction and use.

Survey design experts suggest using a numerical scale from 1 to 5, with 1 being ‘strongly agree’ and 5 five being ‘strongly disagree’, to simplify analysis and allow easy tracking year-on-year.

For example, questions around fertility and family-forming benefits may include:

I am satisfied with the amount of paid time off provided by my employer (strongly agree / agree / neither agree nor disagree / disagree / strongly disagree / not applicable)
Using my fertility benefits has been straightforward (strongly agree / agree / neither agree nor disagree / disagree / strongly disagree / strongly disagree / not applicable)
I feel confident that my pension will meet my needs in the future (strongly agree / agree / neither agree nor disagree / disagree / strongly disagree / not applicable)

Next, consider whether you’d like to ask questions about employee benefits you’re not currently offering. Research the employee benefits your competitors provide. Are there any benefits coming up consistently that your company isn’t offering?

As you build your benefits survey, consider gauging interest in these benefits, as well. If you’re concerned about complicating your data with open-ended questions, you can conduct follow-up focus groups with your employee resource groups or other interested employees to gather more qualitative data instead.

Finally, decide how long your survey will be. The longer a survey is, the less likely employees will complete it. Typical employee surveys have no more than 75 questions and take around 20-30 min, according to SHRM.

Segmenting responses

Including segmentation and demographics — while considering anonymity — can help deepen your understanding of your results. HBR recommends placing demographic questions at the end of the survey and making them optional to help protect employee privacy.

Segmentation can be based on demographics like age and gender, and employer-specific demographics like location, remote work status, and department. Again, especially for smaller companies, combining certain demographics can sacrifice anonymity, so keep your company size in mind as you design your survey.

Set a timeline

The timing of your survey can help ensure its success — holidays, bonus season, or the end of quarter or sales cycle, may affect how employees respond.

Your company should also consider the timing of when change can be implemented. If you cannot make changes for some time, you may want to hold off on a survey to avoid frustrating employees.

On the other hand, if you can make changes in a benefits cycle, consider a survey sooner to show your employees their values in action.

Plan for your next survey

Benefits should be evaluated every year to understand the needs of your workforce and how they change. As the makeup of your company changes in age, lifestyle, and parental status, what your employees value in their employee benefits may change as well. Planning for the next survey will ensure you create benefits that address your employees’ needs and continue to grow with your workforce.

For more ideas on how to create your survey go to How to build an effective benefits survey