A workplace wellbeing survey is only valuable if it produces data you can act on — and only trustworthy if employees believe their honest answers are safe to give. Both conditions require deliberate design.
Most wellbeing surveys fail at one or both: they ask vague questions that produce uninterpretable data, or they’re run in a context where anonymity isn’t credible, so employees give safe rather than honest answers. Here’s how to do it properly.
Before You Design the Survey: Establish Credibility
Employees who believe a survey is anonymous will answer more honestly. Employees who’ve seen previous surveys lead nowhere will either not respond or give positive answers to avoid wasting their time again.
Before launching, address this directly:
- Confirm that responses are genuinely anonymous (not just “confidential”) — ideally using a third-party survey platform rather than internal tools where IT can theoretically access responses
- Commit publicly to sharing results back to employees, even when they’re unflattering
- If you’ve run surveys before, explain what changed as a result. If nothing changed, acknowledge that and explain what will be different this time
Trust is the prerequisite. Without it, you’re measuring how safe people feel answering rather than how they actually feel about work.
What to Measure
Workplace wellbeing has multiple dimensions. A comprehensive survey covers:
General wellbeing — overall sense of thriving or struggling, not just job satisfaction
Workload manageability — whether employees can do their work within reasonable hours without chronic overload
Psychological safety — whether employees feel safe raising problems, disagreeing, or making mistakes
Manager quality — whether employees feel supported, recognised, and fairly treated by their direct manager
Autonomy and meaning — sense of control over how work gets done, and belief that the work matters
Work-life balance — ability to maintain boundaries between work and personal life
Physical wellbeing — physical work environment, ability to take breaks, ergonomics
Don’t try to measure everything in one survey. A shorter, focused survey with high response rates is more valuable than a comprehensive one that takes 30 minutes and gets 20% completion.
20 Sample Wellbeing Survey Questions
These questions are designed to be direct, specific, and actionable. All use a 5-point Likert scale (Strongly Disagree to Strongly Agree) unless noted.
General Wellbeing
- Overall, I feel positive about my life at work right now.
- I am able to manage the demands of my job without feeling overwhelmed.
- I feel energised rather than drained at the end of most working days.
Workload 4. My workload is manageable within my working hours. 5. I am able to take proper breaks during the working day. 6. I rarely need to work evenings or weekends to stay on top of my role.
Psychological Safety 7. I feel comfortable raising concerns or problems with my manager. 8. I feel safe admitting mistakes at work without fear of punishment. 9. I feel comfortable disagreeing with my manager or senior colleagues.
Manager Support 10. My manager genuinely cares about my wellbeing, not just my output. 11. My manager recognises my contributions regularly. 12. I would feel comfortable talking to my manager if I was struggling.
Autonomy and Meaning 13. I have sufficient control over how I do my job. 14. I understand how my work contributes to the wider organisation. 15. My work feels meaningful and worthwhile.
Work-Life Balance 16. I am able to switch off from work outside my working hours. 17. My organisation genuinely supports work-life balance, not just in policy.
Open Questions (free text) 18. What is the biggest factor affecting your wellbeing at work right now? 19. What one change would most improve your wellbeing at work? 20. Is there anything else you’d like us to know?
The open questions are where the most valuable insight usually comes from. Make space for them.
Running the Survey
Timing: Avoid high-pressure periods (year-end close, major product launches). Early in the year or mid-year works well for most organisations.
Length: Aim for under 10 minutes. 15–20 focused questions plus two or three open-text questions is about right.
Frequency: Annual comprehensive surveys plus quarterly short pulse surveys (5–8 questions) give you trend data without survey fatigue.
Response rates: Follow up once or twice during the survey window. Explain why participation matters. High response rates (above 70%) produce more reliable data.
After the Survey: What to Do With Results
This is where most wellbeing surveys fail. The results come in, get reviewed by leadership, and nothing visible changes. Employees notice.
Share results transparently. Report back the aggregate findings to all employees — not just leadership. Include scores you’re proud of and ones you’re not.
Identify the highest-priority areas. Focus on two or three issues rather than trying to address everything simultaneously. Specific, meaningful action on a few things beats vague commitments across many.
Create visible change. Choose at least one thing you can change quickly and do it publicly. Quick wins build credibility for longer-term changes.
Close the loop. At the next survey, reference what changed as a result of the last one. This is the signal that answering honestly has consequences — good ones.
A wellbeing survey run well tells you where people are actually struggling rather than where you assume they are. That data — combined with genuine willingness to act on it — is the foundation of any serious workplace wellbeing programme.
For the specific wellbeing dimensions to target with interventions, see our guide to employee wellbeing tips for employers and signs of poor wellbeing that managers should watch for.