A survey is only as good as its questions. At Leapsome, we ensure our surveys are backed by scientific research, driven by best practices, and verified by experts. We have followed an intentional and thoughtful process to create clear, meaningful, and actionable surveys.
Intentionality in Design
To create our survey module, we first focused on what was most important to measure. To do this, we assessed leading scientific and behavioral theories behind the high-level objectives most relevant to companies, such as motivation and engagement. We then dove into the specific factors driving those high-level effects, selected the factors our questions needed to target, and grouped those into 'question categories'. You can find a full list of our best-practice questions here.
From there, we wrote our questions based on best practices for survey design and field-tested research from relevant leaders in this topic, like Google. Lastly, we verified and tweaked our approach based on feedback from industry experts.
The outcome: reliable and clear survey results with which companies and managers can confidently act.
Backed by Research
Scientific and Behavioural Frameworks
Leapsome based our survey questions on the following research frameworks, used by the scientific and business community for their proven reputability and long-standing validation over time.
Job Characteristics Model (Hackman & Oldham)
This comprehensive model was created by leading organizational psychologists. Their research finds five core drivers of engagement – job autonomy, significance, identity, variety, and feedback – and applies their model to job design. Leapsome measures these core drivers as applied to the job context.
- Question Category: Autonomy
- Sample Question: “I feel I am given enough freedom to decide how to do my work”
Employee Engagement Theory (Kahn)
This theory is from William Kahn, the “Father of Employee Engagement” and professor of organizational behavior at the University of Boston's School of Business. Kanh’s research shows employees are most engaged when they feel they are doing meaningful work, are psychologically safe in rewarding and supportive relationships at work, and have the physical and psychological resources to do their job well. Leapsome measures employee feelings on these factors.
- Question Category: Open Communication
- Sample Question: “My manager cares about my opinions”
Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs (Maslow)
When applied to work, Maslow's hierarchy asserts employee satisfaction must come not only from fulfilling lower-order needs (salary, benefits, health and safety, and work environment), but also higher-order needs (achievement and recognition, growth and development, autonomy, and purpose, and belonging and support). Leapsome measures employee perception of work environment, as well as the stated higher-order needs.
- Question Category: Professional Growth
- Sample Question: “My job enables me to learn and develop new skills”
Employee Net Promoter Score (eNPS)
Global consulting firm Bain and Company pioneered ENPS to assess employee satisfaction and engagement. The eNPS is a way of understanding the engagement and advocacy your employees are showing towards your company. The eNPS is based on a single question: 'I would recommend this company as a great place to work.' Employees answer this question on a scale from 0-10 (ratings from 0-6 are 'detractors,' 7-8 are 'passive,' and the best scores 9-10 are 'promoters').
- Question Category: Engagement
- Sample Question: “I would recommend this company as a great place to work”
You can read more on the interpretation of the eNPS here.
Psychological Safety
Feeling psychologically safe means being able to show up and employ one's self without needing to fear negative consequences to one's self-image, status, or career (Kahn, 1990). Creating a psychologically safe workplace is paramount for employers to guarantee the company's employees trust their teams and managers enough to be vulnerable, bring up ideas and thoughts, challenge the status quo, and contribute to the workplace.
- Question Category: Psychological Safety
- Sample Question: "It is safe to take a risk on my team"
Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion
Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion relate to whether a company has and promotes a diverse workforce (diversity) and whether everyone at the company (regardless of their gender, age, ethnicity, sexual orientation, culture, parental status, etc.) feels respected, experiences a sense of belonging, has a fair chance of progressing their careers, and is enabled to contribute to processes and decision making (inclusion).
Companies greatly benefit from the diverse ideas, perspectives, and experiences of their workforce. An inclusive work environment where the above factors are present enables employees to share and voice their diverse perspectives.
- Question Category: Striving for Diversity
- Sample Question: "The management at {Company} is visibly committed to diversity."
Driven by Best Practices
The re:Work Project by Google
Google has pioneered effective practices for employee surveys by testing thousands of employees and iterating over an extensive timeline.
Leapsome draws from Google’s detailed and data-backed guide on running employee surveys, including best practices for writing quality questions, avoiding survey-writing pitfalls, and balancing structured vs. unstructured questions. We’ve also drawn from their guides and survey tools for understanding what makes a great manager and for understanding team effectiveness.
Best Practices from Survey Methodology
Leapsome ensures our overall survey approach and survey questions align with the best practices promoted by leading research and practice institutes, including Duke University’s Initiative on Survey Methodology, Harvard University’s Program on Survey Research, and Michigan University’s Survey Research Center within the Institute for Social Research.
Verified by Experts
After first grounding questions in reputable research and then applied business practice, Leapsome validates our survey questions based on review from industry experts.
Providing Easy, Accurate Interpretation of Results
Grouping questions into categories facilitates a more accurate interpretation of survey results. Instead of leaving managers to try and to draw conclusions from a large question pool, Leapsome automatically aggregates results based by question category, as well as showing individual breakdowns. This allows those with access to results to gain a high-level understanding, as well as see the specific responses driving those results.
Question categories / topics can also be used in question rotation.
Sample Use Cases
Team Pulse Survey
A manager might decide to run a bi-monthly pulse survey with four short questions to answer. The manager can determine which factors are most important to their goals (e.g., Manager Support and Teamwork), select the questions from those categories, and have a ready-to-run survey in less than five minutes.
Company-Wide Survey
A company might decide to implement a quarterly or biannual company culture survey. To do this, they may choose to utilize almost all the question categories and add custom questions addressing factors specific to the company.