Top 25 Employee Benefits Survey Questions

Why should you run a benefits survey?

Benefits packages are an important staple of company contracts, a great way to attract high-quality applicants for vacant positions, and a means to keep top talent once they have been recruited. Employee benefits offer a unique way to impact employee satisfaction rates as companies around the world leverage new and exciting perks to set them apart from their competitors.   

Considering that employee benefits play such an important role in employee satisfaction, retention, and attraction, it is vital to gain insights into how your employees feel about what you are providing. 

“Organization responsiveness to employee feedback leads to higher retention rates, lower absenteeism, improved productivity, better customer service and higher employee morale. The simple fact that the organization is conducting a survey can send a positive message to employees that their opinions are valued.”

SHRM

What should you ask?

Actionable insights should be the goal of any survey; don’t just aim to collect answers, but try to gather responses that will help you evoke change (when needed of course), and to strengthen the relationship between your organization and those carrying out that all-important work. 

Surveys are wonderful when conducted correctly and can help you uncover the root cause of issues and dissatisfaction, as well as encouraging signs. You can learn more than simply, “X is a problem”. You can understand why it’s a problem, and hopefully, what you can do to solve it.  

Another key element here is not only to ask people about whether they are satisfied with some specific benefits, - be it health care, pensions plans, or whatnot - but if they understand what is being offered if they use it, and how they think it stacks up to competitors or past employers. 

Best questions to ask

As we mentioned in our post on employee engagement surveys, how you phrase questions is equally as important as the topic. But what exactly do I mean by this? Well...

1. Keep questions short and concise: Avoid long-winded questions with multiple parts. Keep it short so people understand exactly what they are being asked. 
2. Avoid irrelevant questions: This should go without saying but remember this is about benefits, so keep it on topic.
3. Add in some open-ended questions: Scales and ratings are great but asking people for their honest opinion can turn out to be a treasure trove of good information. 

Remember you don’t have to use these examples word for word if you don’t feel they are applicable to your situation. Feel free to adjust them as needed. 

Scales questions

Scales are great for both gathering data and plotting the average result of the responses you receive. Likewise, you can chart whether there is general consensus between responses or if there is a high degree of variance. 

You can of course re-label the title of the scales as needed: 1 - 10, Very dissatisfied - Very satisfied, Strongly disagree - Strongly agree, etc.

1. How would you rate our health insurance policy? 
2. How would you rate our sick leave policies?
3. How would you rate our flexible work policy?
4. Rate each of our benefits in terms of importance to you.
5. How happy are you with our paid time off policy?
6. Are you satisfied with our professional development guidelines?
7. I believe my benefits package is good by industry standards.
8. How often have you used your health insurance?
9. How often have you used the lunch benefit?
10. I understand the benefits on offer.
11. I understand the pension program.
12. Accessing and using my benefits is a simple and straightforward process.
13. The current series of benefits match what I expect from a company.
14. All of the benefits were explained to me when I joined the company.
15. How likely are you to recommend the company to others based on the benefits plan?

Open-ended questions

Earlier, we referenced just how rewarding it can be to make use of open-ended questions when conducting your next benefits survey; so let’s now examine some specific examples you could include. 

Remember that an open-ended question is arguably the best format for eliciting more detailed answers. For example, you may want to gather insights about an issue raised in a previous survey. 

Again, this is not just asking ‘are you happy?’ it’s about digging deeper and uncovering, for example, what aspect of the health insurance is not up to par, or if it is worth dropping the lunch benefit because no one seems to use it. Those are the type of actionable insights we want to gain here. 

1. What would you say is the best part of our benefits package and why?
2. If you could change one element of our benefits package what would you change and why?
3. Do you have any concerns over our current package?
4. What benefits do you value the most? (These may be ones we offer or ones we do not)
5. Is there any other benefit you think we could / should change and why?
6. If you could add one additional benefit to our current package what would it be and why?
7. How do our benefits compare to other companies you have worked with?
8. What elements of our work from home / flexible work policy do you like or dislike?
9. Is there anything related to the benefits package you are still unclear about?
10. Have you read or heard about any interesting initiatives related to benefits you would like to mention?

A holistic approach to employee surveys

I mentioned before that surveys work particularly well when they have a goal in mind. A benefits survey should relate to benefits and benefits alone, while an engagement survey should focus on other particular aspects of an employee's working life. 

Running regular surveys with this type of focused view can help HR and executives stay up to date on their organization's culture, and improve employee experience, job satisfaction, and countless other metrics. Benefits are a key component of people’s working lives but they are not to be viewed in isolation. 

It is therefore paramount that organizations who are serious about making improvements, checking in on their workforce, and listening to what they have to say, use a tool that can help them gain those all-important insights.

Mentimeter is a survey tool that allows respondents to answer in their own time, with anonymous submissions, without the need to create a series of charts or graphs to display results. As answers are gathered (they can of course be hidden so you don’t have to worry about groupthink), the built-in charts will be ready to visualize responses once you close voting; meaning less work and more engagement. 

Employee Benefits Survey

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