There are so many different types of employee engagement surveys—from employee satisfaction surveys to onboarding surveys, to culture surveys. Many employee surveys are designed to collect deep insights about an organization and turn those insights into actionable change.
Some surveys, however, are designed for another purpose: to be fun! Yes, employee surveys can be fun. And even in your action-driven, purposeful surveys, you can include a few lighthearted questions to give the survey’s tone a more positive spin.
In this post, we’ll discuss the often-overlooked benefits of posing employee survey questions that are positive, funny, entertaining, witty, silly, or just simply fun.
3 Key takeaways you need to know:
- Integrating fun questions into employee surveys can break the monotony and fatigue often associated with traditional surveys.
- Fun employee surveys not only serve as a means to gather insights but also promote a positive and friendly work environment.
- Cleverly crafted fun questions, whether rating scale or open-ended, offer a window into employees’ preferences, aspirations, and perceptions.
Benefits of Fun Employee Survey Questions
When disseminating an employee survey, you may be met with a range of reactions from your employees. While some employees may welcome the opportunity to provide their feedback, others may feel reluctant to participate, or like filling out a survey isn’t the best use of their time.
When surveys are full of intense questions designed to drill down on a specific topic, the respondent may feel fatigued by the survey and less willing to provide feedback that is accurate and complete, if they feel like continuing with the survey at all.
When designing your employee surveys, it’s a great idea to include a “fun” employee survey question to break up the monotony of the survey. Used at the beginning of the survey and throughout the questions, a wildcard or lighthearted item can improve the tone of the exercise and reinvigorate the respondent. They can also help respondents relax and ease any feelings of distrust or suspicion they may feel regarding the survey’s purpose.
What’s more, fun employee survey questions can provide real insights without making your employees clam up. For examples of questions that can help you collect insights without outright asking for them, check out our section on Open Ended Questions.
When to Use Fun Questions
Fun employee survey questions don’t have to be reserved for “wildcard” questions in traditional employee surveys. Rather, they can stand on their own! You can use fun employee surveys purely as a way to bring employees together and improve company culture. Fun employee surveys get your team members talking, encourage bonding, and can improve collegiality.
Fun employee surveys are a great way to promote a positive and friendly work environment, but they can also serve a purpose as a training tool. If your employees are new to employee surveys, a fun survey can serve as a “test run” to familiarize them with your survey software and answer any questions that may arise regarding access and input methods. They can also be used to gauge participation and test different methods of increasing participation without sacrificing respondent energy on surveys from which you need real insights.
Types of Fun Employee Survey Questions
Consider the following questions as you’re building out your own fun employee survey (or looking for a few fun employee survey questions to lighten up your surveys with!)
Rating Scale Questions
- How likely are you to hit the snooze button more than once on Monday morning?
- Rate the office air freshness from “stale” to “mountain breeze”.
- On a scale of 1-10, how satisfied are you with the office coffee?
- What is your reaction to surprise office potlucks on a scale of “yuck” to “yum”?
- How comfortable are the office chairs?
- Rate the cleanliness of the office kitchen on a scale of “dorm room” to “sanitarium”.
- How much do you enjoy our weekly team meetings on a scale of “snooze” to “cruise”?
- How would you rate the quality of office jokes?
- How would you rate the frequency of office memes?
- How would you rate the office Wi-Fi speed on a scale of “escargot” to “roadrunner”?
- Rate the quality of office swag on a scale of “Sketchers” to “Gucci”.
- How satisfied are you with the office noise level?
- How funny do you think your coworkers are?
- Rate the office air conditioning on a scale of “arctic tundra” to “Dante’s inferno”.
- On a scale of “nap time” to “nerf wars”, how exciting are summer Fridays?
Clever Fun Employee Survey Questions that Reveal Actual Insights
Some fun employee survey questions serve a deeper purpose than what may be apparent on the surface. If you find your employees are reluctant to provide genuine feedback, you can get creative with these clever ways to dig into insights.
Open-ended Questions
1. Question: If you could have any superpower at work, what would it be?
What it really answers: What is your employee struggling with, and what do they want to improve? What are they interested in, and what would they learn about? What do they enjoy and want to home in on?
2. Question: What’s your favorite day of the week to come to work, and why?
What it really answers: What is enjoyable about the office to you? Do you prefer the office when it’s busy or when it’s less crowded? When can we plan team meetings in the office?
3. Question: If you could swap jobs with anyone in the company for a day, who would it be?
What it really answers: What are your interests? Where can we find opportunities for cross-training, learning, and development?
4. Question: What’s the funniest thing that happened during a meeting?
What it really answers: Are you bonding with your coworkers? Note: responses to this question may be good to share with the organization post-survey (with respondent permission) to boost feelings of comradery and promote a positive workplace culture.
5. Question: What’s the coolest project you’ve ever worked on here?
What it really answers: Where are your interests at work? What would you like to do more of?
6. Question: What’s the most interesting thing you’ve learned at work recently?
What it really answers: What are you learning day-to-day? Note: responses to this question may be good to share with the organization post-survey (with respondent permission) to decrease siloes and increase cross-departmental understanding of company functions.
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7. Question: What’s the best lunch spot near the office?
What it really answers: Are you bonding with your team, or do you prefer to take breaks alone? Where can we plan enjoyable company or team outings? Note: responses to this question may be good to share with the organization post-survey (with respondent permission) in a company newsletter.
8. Question: If you could choose a theme song for the company, what would it be?
What it really answers: What is your perception of our corporate culture?
9. Question: What’s your favorite work-related app or tool?
What it really answers: What is the perception of our company’s vendors?
10. Question: If you could invent a new job title for yourself, what would it be?
What it really answers: Where do you see your career taking you? What are your skills, and what are you most passionate about?
11. Question: What’s the best way to recognize a job well done?
What it really answers: How do you like to receive employee recognition? Do you feel the company does an adequate job of recognizing employees?
12. Question: What’s the most unexpected way you’ve bonded with a coworker?
What it really answers: What company outings or team events have been effective? Where does collaboration happen, and amongst whom?
13. Question: If you could create a new position in the company, what would it be?
What it really answers: Where are our efficiency gaps? What do employees recognize a need for? Where can employees use support?
14. Question: What’s the best way to make meetings more enjoyable?
What it really answers: What do you think of the way we get together to review and plan for the future? Are you engaged with our current meeting processes? If not, how could we improve engagement?
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Let’s Recap
In the realm of employee surveys, where the pursuit of actionable insights often takes precedence, the role of fun questions might seem inconsequential at first glance. However, as we’ve explored, integrating elements of levity and amusement into these surveys can yield significant benefits beyond mere entertainment.
From fostering a positive atmosphere to employee engagement and trust, fun questions serve as invaluable tools for organizations seeking to understand their workforce on a deeper level. By adding some fun to the survey process, employers can engage employees more effectively, uncover meaningful insights, and ultimately enhance workplace culture and camaraderie.
By embracing the playful side of survey design, organizations can unlock a vast knowledge of insights while cultivating a workplace that thrives on positivity, engagement, and mutual appreciation.
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