Surely, if you work in a large company, you have heard of something called a work motivation survey.
For life in the company to work, the corporation needs to know its employees’ motivation level. They must be allowed to have a productive dialogue with their employees’ experiences and their need to express them. However, what is the most efficient way to harmonize the two phenomena? What is the result, and what are the consequences for one party to know it and for the other to express it? In this context, we can learn about the usefulness of a good work motivation survey.
What does a work motivation survey measure?
First, we must establish exactly what we mean by work motivation. It is not easy to define, but doing so is essential when designing a good survey aimed precisely at measuring this vital parameter in the field of Human Resources KPIs. We consider work motivation to be the level of energy, satisfaction, and connection that employees experience concerning their work.
We use energy because motivation refers to movement, the force that drives us in a certain direction. We use satisfaction because, at least in the field of work, it is challenging to feel motivated by something if it is not going to give us some kind of job satisfaction or gratification. And we use connection because, at the end of the day, the extent that we identify with our tasks and feel close to our values, principles, and capabilities gives us the energy and satisfaction necessary to perform them at an optimal level.
Three basic aspects of a work motivation survey
1. Types of questions
Questions can be of different types regarding the topics they address or the extent to which they seek a more open-ended or closed-ended response. This will influence whether they leave room for employees to develop their ideas, offer qualitative information, ask for a dichotomous response, or express a rating on a less informative scale but more straightforward to code.
2. Number of questions
A work motivation survey does not have to be short or long. Still, it should contain a sufficient number of questions to fulfill its purpose: to gather useful information about employees’ work motivation level. When designing the survey, keep in mind that if it is too short, important questions will be left out. On the other hand, if it is too long, response fatigue may result in lower-quality responses. It is best to design the work motivation survey as synthetic as possible (but not short) to persuade employees of the importance of answering it with interest.
3. Topics to ask about
A work motivation survey is a tool for analyzing and measuring employees’ motivation levels at a given time, intending to use this information to make decisions aimed at improving their well-being and productivity. Work motivation is related to other corporate aspects, but it is advisable to focus strictly on the motivational aspects without including questions oriented to more peripheral issues so as not to make the tool too bulky and less effective.
How to structure a work motivation survey
Each company must have the flexibility and creativity necessary to design the best work motivation survey to serve its interests and employees. However, with our above understanding of work motivation, a specifically designed survey relies on these three axes to target employees.
1. Questions oriented to work energy
We can make many possible inquiries on the first axis of work motivation, but we should target the most fundamental aspects: the level of “tone,” strength, and vigor, in the broad sense of these terms, that employees perceive they have when it comes to working. These questions might look something like this:
– Do you find it challenging to perform your work?
– Do you feel that your workload is adequate?
– Do you perceive the work as significantly heavy?
2. Questions oriented to job satisfaction
There are many ways to directly or indirectly assess the level of job satisfaction that an organization’s employees experience at any given time. Essentially, it is a matter of elucidating the extent to which they like their job and feel good about themselves. The items in this block could be of this type:
– Even if you don’t like all the tasks involved, do you generally like your job?
– Do you feel that your work contributes to your professional fulfillment?
– Does your work make you feel good about yourself?
3. Questions oriented to the relationship with work
The relationship with the job is related to the previous sections. Still, it emphasizes the idea of coherence between the characteristics of the position held by the employee and their personal characteristics (interests, values, skills, etc.).
– Do you feel that your job is in line with your personal values?
– Do you feel you are the right person for your position?
– To what extent does your job encourage, challenge and enable your professional development?
Conducting a work motivation survey to take care of well-being at work
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We hope you found this post about how to conduct a work motivation survey interesting and useful. If you would like more information about our emotional well-being program for companies, simply request it, and we will contact your team as soon as possible.
