Job security questionnaire: 15 questions about one job, one year ahead
Fifteen questions each employee answers about their own job over the next twelve months. About four minutes, anonymous.
- 15questions
- About 4 minto answer
- 5-point agreeplus one open answer
- Anonymousgroups of 5 or more
The 15 job security questions
A job security questionnaire is a short, anonymous survey in which each employee says how secure their own job feels over the next twelve months: whether it will continue, whether its pay, hours and level will hold, what leaders tell them, and what the worry is doing to their work.
The job itself
Whether the job will still be there. Question 1 sets the twelve-month horizon.
- Over the next 12 months, how likely do you think it is that your job here will continue?count Unsure on its own; it usually means nobody has said anything.
- If my role were cut, I would expect to be offered another role here.whether a cut role means a new role or an exit.
- I can see enough work ahead for my role through the next year.
What the job is
The job can stay while its terms shift. These four ask about the terms.
- I expect my pay and benefits to stay at least at their current level over the next year.
- I expect my hours and working pattern to stay as agreed.hourly and part-time staff feel this one first.
- I expect to keep the parts of my job I value most.the open answer at question 14 usually names those parts.
- I expect to keep a role at my current level rather than be moved down.
What you are told
The block leaders can move fastest.
- Leaders here tell us about changes that affect jobs before we hear them elsewhere.
- I trust that decisions about roles here would be made fairly.about the process, so it can score well in a hard year.
- My manager gives a straight answer when I ask about the future of our team.a low score often means the manager was never briefed.
How it lands
What the worry is doing to the work.
- In the last month, worry about my job has made it harder to focus on my work.agreeing is the low answer here; watch it between runs.
- If I lost this job, I am confident I could find a comparable one.
In your words, then the rating
One choice, one open answer, then the rating that becomes the headline.
- What would do most to make your job feel more secure?ranks the fixes for you.
- What have you heard, or not heard, that affects how secure your job feels?names the rumor doing the damage.
- Overall, how secure does your job here feel?
How to use the job security questionnaire
Send it to everyone at a quiet time. Keep it anonymous and report no group under five: a few answers plus a department can point to one person.[2] All fifteen questions are ready to edit in the online questionnaire builder.
Score agree items 5 down to 1, reversing question 11. The headline is the share answering secure or very secure at question 15. High on questions 1 to 3 with low on 4 to 7 means people expect to keep the job on worse terms.[1]
Once a restructure is announced, switch to the change readiness assessment. Before a named change lands, the ADKAR survey questions show where each person stands. If people are deciding to go, the employee retention survey asks about intent to leave. Low scores in every block call for an employee morale survey. For one key person, take stay interview questions into a one-to-one.
Job security questionnaire FAQ
How do you measure job security?
Ask each employee about their own job over a fixed period, here twelve months. The closing rating gives one headline figure, and four block averages sit under it: the job itself, its terms, what people are told and how the worry lands.
Should a job security survey be anonymous?
Yes. People answer freely about their own job when no name is attached. Turn off name and email collection, and report results only for groups of five or more.
When should you run a job security survey?
Once a year at a quiet time, and again after a big outside change such as a lost contract. Keep the same fifteen questions each time so every team is compared with its own last result.
Michael Hodge, survey methodology · Updated 2 October 2026 · How templates are reviewed
Sources (2)
- Hellgren, J., Sverke, M. and Isaksson, K. (1999). "A two-dimensional approach to job insecurity: consequences for employee attitudes and well-being." European Journal of Work and Organizational Psychology 8(2), 179-195. doi.org
- American Association for Public Opinion Research. "Best Practices for Survey Research." aapor.org
Ask before the rumors answer for you
Fifteen questions, about four minutes, one clear rating for every team.
Use this template