Employee Experience Survey Template
Twelve questions on how work is going for each person, starting with what has changed for them lately.
- 12questions
- About 3 minto complete
- 5changes you can compare
- Noname or email asked
The 12 employee experience survey questions
An employee experience survey asks employees how work at your organization is going for them: whether they can get help, do the job they were hired for, see a next step and picture staying. This one opens with what has changed for them, so each change reads as its own group. Edit all twelve in the free survey tool.
What changed
Asked first, so every reply carries the change it is about.
- Which of these has changed for you here in the last six months?None of these is your baseline group, so keep it.
Settling in
Six things a change can knock loose, each asked alone, so a low answer names one fix.
- I know who to go to when I get stuck.low means they have nobody to ask; one introduction fixes it.
- The job I am doing now is the job I was told I would be doing.low from an internal mover means the posting and the work differ.
- The people I work with now know what I am here to do.low after a team move means nobody briefed the new team.
- I have had the time I needed to get good at what I am doing now.low across one intake points to a training gap.
- How often do you get useful feedback on your work?
- I know what it would take to reach my next step here.
Overall
Three outcomes, kept apart from the drivers so you can see which driver moves them.
- Overall, my experience of working here right now is a good one.
- Things here have been moving in the right direction for me lately.
- I can see myself still working here in a year.
In their own words
Both optional and placed last, so skipping them loses no ratings.
- What has gone well for you here in the last few months?
- What is one thing that would make working here better for you right now?
One line to add for each change
Not in the survey. Add the line that matches the change, and send at the time shown.
- The training I was given for this role was enough to start with.
- I have met the people I now need to work with.
- My new manager knows what I am working on.
- What changed while I was away has been explained to me.
- Someone has talked with me about how my first year went.
How to use the employee experience survey
Send it to one person a few weeks after one of the five changes in question one; the add-on lines above give the timing. Plenty of people are at one of these points: in January 2026, 20.6 percent of US wage and salary workers had been with their employer a year or less.[1] Tell people before question one who will read their answers.
To read it, group replies by question one and compare each group with None of these. A low settling-in item names its own fix. When several people who moved in one quarter lacked the time to get good, a training needs assessment turns that into a plan. Someone who rates their experience well but cannot see a year ahead is ready for stay interview questions. After a whole team moves, an organizational network analysis survey shows who now works with whom.
Employee experience survey FAQ
What is the difference between employee experience and employee engagement?
Engagement is commitment to the work. Experience is how people see working here: the job, the people, how the place is run, growth and pay. A 2025 scale study found the two related but distinct.[3] For commitment, use the employee engagement survey.
How often should you run an employee experience survey?
Send it to each person after one of the five changes, once per change. You can also send it to everyone once a year, and the None of these group becomes your baseline. For a short monthly read, use an employee pulse survey.
Can I use the Gallup Q12 questions in my own survey?
Only with Gallup's permission. Its terms say the Q12 items "cannot be reproduced or used, except within the participating company, without the express permission of Gallup."[2] Every question in this template was written for it and is yours to use.
Michael Hodge, survey methodology · Updated 25 September 2026 · How templates are reviewed
Sources (3)
- U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Employee Tenure in 2026, USDL-26-1532, 24 September 2026. bls.gov
- Gallup. Product Terms of Use, updated 17 October 2025. gallup.com
- Yang, P. and Zhang, S. Employee experience: conceptualization, scale development, and validation. Humanities and Social Sciences Communications 12, 605 (2025). doi.org
Hear how the change is going
Twelve questions, about three minutes, with the change tagged in question one. It opens in the editor ready to send.
Use this template