13 Expert Tips For Conducting A Stellar Employee Engagement Survey

Leaders and people teams know that employee engagement is essential. In Nectar's recent employee engagement study, 55% reported that engagement is a significant focus at their respective organizations.

But engagement is also famous for being hard to pinpoint. How can you determine whether your current employees are engaged and committed to their work?

The answer is to run an employee engagement survey that zooms in on how your team members feel. Our comprehensive guide covers:

• The benefits of sending out engagement surveys 
• 48 engagement survey question examples 
• How often you should send your surveys 
• Expert-backed best practices for creating an engagement survey 
• A real-life example of Nectar's engagement survey

What Is An Employee Engagement Survey? 

An employee engagement survey is a set of questions designed to understand how employees feel about their work, team, leaders, and the overall company. Using the results of these questions, organizations can understand their employees' attitudes and sentiments toward their work and then act on the information they receive.

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Real-Life Employee Engagement Survey Example 

There are various ways to design effective employee engagement surveys, using different form lengths and question types. When Nectar ran a recent employee engagement survey, we used ten simple statements and asked employees to give us a Yes/No response to the following:

1. I am paid well for what I do
2. I receive meaningful recognition at work
3. I have a great work/life balance
4. I feel safe to share my opinions at work
5. My company lives its core values
6. I have confidence in the direction my company is taking
7. I have positive workplace relationships with my colleagues
8. My company is great at communication
9. My company has a culture that I enjoy
10. I am proud to work for my company

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Survey participants received 1 point for every "Yes" response and 0 points for a "No." Based on their total points, we divided the responses into three categories: low engagement (0-5 points), medium engagement (6-8 points), and high engagement (9-10 points).

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Why Do Companies Send Out Employee Engagement Surveys?

Of the employees we surveyed, only 43.5% shared that their company sent out an employee engagement survey. This is a real shame, indicating that over half of companies are missing out on the following benefits of this exercise:

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Giving Your Employees A Voice

When you ask your employees' opinions and give them the floor (albeit in a text box), you send a powerful signal that you care what they think. Your employees see and hear ground-level things that leaders can easily miss in boardroom meetings. Let your workers tell you how things are and what changes they need so they can love their jobs and work better and harder in them.

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Understanding Employee Sentiment At Scale 

Engagement surveys are the quickest way to collect meaningful feedback from every corner of your organization to "take the temperature" of your workforce. Perhaps you haven't noticed that employee morale has taken a nosedive since you changed your employee benefits. Or maybe you're not aware that your unlimited PTO policy is causing problems with work scheduling. Ask the right questions, and you'll discover how your employees feel about important issues.

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Improving Employee Retention 

Unsurprisingly, engagement is closely linked to retention decisions. 72% of the employees we surveyed shared that they must feel engaged at work to stay with the company long-term. Regular surveys identify if your employees are disengaged—an essential exercise, as 64% of employees shared that their work experience is impacted when their peers are disengaged at work. Surveys prevent the effect from snowballing—first, you capture the insights and then implement measures to improve engagement in all ranks and roles so you can retain your talent.

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Enhancing Organizational Culture 

Company culture can be tricky to define, but employee engagement surveys help you understand it. When you ask employees about their workplace relationships, work-life balance, and company values, you reveal the intangible elements that make up your corporate culture. Use these actionable insights to strengthen what's working well and address the areas that fall short.

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How Often Do Companies Send Out Engagement Surveys?

Along with question selection, determining how frequently to send employee surveys is another critical consideration. However, it can be challenging to balance collecting regular insights and bugging your employees to fill out yet another form.

As a result, Nectar’s research suggests that companies are split on the right cadence: 

• 21% opt for monthly engagement surveys 
• 30% send them quarterly 
• 11% choose biannual surveys 
• 38% send annual engagement surveys

How often you send surveys determines their length. If you opt for a monthly survey, you'll likely want to send a shorter pulse survey. If you send them yearly, you can get away with a longer, more detailed survey.

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What Questions Should Be Asked On Employee Engagement Surveys?

The questions you ask are integral to your survey success. Choose a selection from the core themes below and adapt according to your engagement goals and employee needs:

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Leadership And Management 

Questions about your employees' direct managers and interactions with leadership can be illuminating. They highlight if employees have a positive relationship with their superiors, whether they believe they can voice their concerns, and ultimately, if you need to invest in leadership training.

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Example Leadership/Management Likert And Open-Ended Questions

• I am clear on what my manager expects of me.
• My manager values my contributions to the team.
• I feel comfortable sharing feedback with my manager.
• What do you appreciate most about your manager’s leadership style?
• What would you like your manager to start doing, stop doing, or continue doing? 
• What is the impact of your manager on the team?

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Professional Growth And Development 

Career development opportunities are often cited as critical factors in employee satisfaction. They can be the difference between someone staying to progress within your organization or leaving to develop with another organization. Employee development questions unravel if your employees feel empowered to develop their skills and reach their full potential.

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Example Professional Growth/Development Likert And Open-Ended Questions 

• I have access to the tools and resources I need to do my job effectively.
• I receive regular feedback on my employee performance.
• I have opportunities for career growth within the company.
• Do you have the skills or knowledge required to meet your career goals? 
• How can we better support your professional development? 
• Can you see a future at our company?

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Job Role And Responsibilities 

The tasks and projects that make up your teams' daily work significantly impact employee engagement levels. Asking questions about job roles and responsibilities helps you pinpoint any areas causing frustration or disengagement.

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Example Job Role/Responsibilities Likert And Open-Ended Questions

• I am challenged in my role in a healthy way.
• My workload is manageable.
• I have a clear understanding of my responsibilities.
• What do you feel is the most significant challenge in your role? 
• Are tasks or responsibilities distributed fairly across your team?
• How can we make your job more fulfilling?

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Team Dynamics 

Nectar's "State of Workplace Connection" report reveals that work relationships are critical to employee engagement. 69.5% of employees would be happier if they had deeper relationships with colleagues, and 77.63% consider workplace connections important or very important to company culture. Employee survey questions about team dynamics help you understand how well your workers are bonded.

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Example Team Dynamics Likert And Open-Ended Questions

• I collaborate well with my teammates.
• I feel supported by my team when facing challenges.
• My team celebrates successes together.
• What is your favorite thing about working with your team? 
• How can we improve teamwork and collaboration in our organization? 
• Can you share an example of a time when your colleagues collaborated exceptionally well to meet your team goals?

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Recognition And Rewards 

Nectar’s employee recognition survey finds that 81.9% of workers would be more engaged if they were recognized for their contributions. Asking the right questions solidifies the link between engagement and appreciation.

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Example Recognition/Rewards Likert And Open-Ended Questions

• I feel appreciated for my hard work and contributions.
• The company recognizes and rewards employees for their achievements.
• My manager acknowledges my accomplishments.
• How do you prefer to be recognized for your hard work? 
• Can you share an example of a time when you felt especially valued at work?
• What recognition and rewards would motivate you the most?

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Employee Wellbeing And Work-Life Balance 

Employee wellness initiatives have been prominent since the COVID-19 pandemic, yet worker burnout and mental health issues continue to rise. It's crucial to regularly assess your team's wellbeing and work-life balance by asking some of the following questions.

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Example Employee Wellbeing/Work-Life Balance Likert And Open-Ended Questions

• I feel supported in maintaining a healthy work-life balance. 
• The company prioritizes employee wellbeing.
• I have access to resources and support for my mental health.
• Are you able to switch off from work at the end of the day? 
• How can we better support your mental health in the workplace? 
• Can you share any suggestions for improving overall employee wellness in our organization?

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Company Culture And Values 

Successful companies can articulate their company mission and values. When employees share these core values, their engagement levels can be greatly impacted. Ask some of the following questions to gauge how well your workplace culture aligns with your employees' own values.

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Example Company Culture/Values Likert And Open-Ended Questions

• I believe in the company's mission and purpose.
• The company's core values align with my personal beliefs.
• My team and I embody the company's values in our daily work.
• What do you think sets our company culture apart from others?
• How can we continue to foster a positive and inclusive culture in our organization?
• Can you share an example of how one of our core values has positively influenced your employee experience?

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Internal Communications

When employees feel informed about company news rather than left out of the loop, they are more likely to engage in their work and commit to the organization for the long term. It's not always clear whether company communication is working well, but the following employee engagement questions are designed to give you a strong hint.

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Example Internal Communications Likert And Open-Ended Questions

• I am kept well-informed about company updates and changes.
• The company values transparency in its communication with employees.
• I understand when to use the right tool to deliver a particular message.
• What channels of communication do you prefer for receiving information from the company? 
• How can we improve our internal communication processes? 
• Do you have any suggestions for making our organization more transparent in its communication?

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13 Tips For Making The Most Of Engagement Surveys

Follow the tips and best practices below to perfect your employee engagement surveys:

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1. Don’t Overdo The Survey Length 

As you design your engagement survey, keep it simple. It's tempting to include as many questions as possible to gain valuable insights that support your decision-making. But little and often is a great rule to follow. Why? 

Employees can easily feel put off by a never-ending list of questions to ponder over. They're busy; they need to get back to their mounting workloads, and they don't have the time or energy to invest in something that goes on for pages and pages. 

Even those who do commit to a longer-length form can be hit by survey fatigue. When that lethargy sets in, your employees may start to speed up and take less interest in how they choose their answers, which can impact the validity of your insights. 

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Nectar Tip: Improve the survey experience by aiming for a form length of under five minutes to keep employees engaged and increase your survey participation rates.

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2. Commit To A Regular Survey Frequency 

Too many companies wait for things to start going wrong before they roll out an engagement survey. Instead of this reactive stance, be proactive by committing to a regular survey cadence. This will allow you to easily compare results from one period to the next and understand what's working or what's not. 

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We spoke to Bill Catlette, partner at leadership development company Contented Cow Partners, who advised:

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“Particularly in an era when 30%+ annual worker turnover rates are the norm, survey frequency matters a great deal. We routinely advise clients to survey no less than 2x annually.”

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Timing is also an important consideration, with Flex HR's Director of Marketing Jaime Sieja explaining:

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"We send out our employee engagement survey usually in the summer, so it's not such a busy time at the end of the year."

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3. Use Different Surveys For Different Purposes 

As a best practice, it's worth sending out the same employee engagement survey questions each time so you can easily compare the answers. However, when considering your survey frequency, you may wish to mix and match the types of surveys you use at different times of the year.

Mark Edgar, Chief People Officer at Wajax, highlights the benefits of using pulse surveys in conjunction with more substantial annual surveys. 

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“Engagement surveys form an important part of our employee listening strategy at Wajax. We currently have an annual survey that we use for strategic planning at a company and local level where we ask a consistent set of questions allowing us to identify year on year trends. Moving forward we expect to introduce more frequent surveys recognizing the pulse of the organization can be very dynamic and we will also ensure the information is quickly in the hands of leaders so they can access it and take the appropriate actions.”

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4. Weigh Up Anonymity Vs. Transparency 

Promising employees anonymity throughout the process can persuade them to be more candid. This is particularly relevant when answering open-text questions, which offer more space and freedom for workers to dig in and provide their opinions.

However, offering anonymous feedback can also suggest that employees should be scared to express themselves. Jason LaMonica, Chief Operating Officer at Spec on the Job, prefers to “create an environment that allows honest feedback so corrections can be made in specific areas."

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5. Consider Demographic Data 

When weighing the pros and cons of anonymous surveys, consider how you'll handle demographic questions. Dividing your survey results by gender, age, department, location, ethnicity, etc. can be illuminating.

Example: If you discover that your female employees aged between 18 and 25 from a specific branch all have an issue with their leader demonstrating sexism, this is obviously worth investigating. Without this data, you would struggle to identify that the problem exists.

However, while demographic data can support your DEIB initiatives, it can also reveal too much in companies where employees would rather remain anonymous. Suppose there's only one Latino female aged 35 to 44 in a department. In that case, the demographic data will essentially reveal her identity and potentially put her in a vulnerable position, depending on what she discloses.

Get around this issue by:

• Aggregating data so that there are at least five or more employees per group.
• Only sharing demographic data with the most senior HR leaders, not the individual manager of a small team.
• Hiring a third party to analyze the data so no one internally can identify individuals.

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6. Communicate The Purpose Of The Surveys 

Gain your employees' trust and commitment to your employee engagement process by communicating the purpose behind your surveys. Employees must be able to make the connection between giving up their time and energy to complete your engagement survey and believing they’ll witness results. Achieve this step by:

• Mobilize managers to explain the importance of surveys and how they impact decision-making within the company.‍
• Share success stories from previous surveys to demonstrate how employee feedback loops have driven positive change across the entire organization.‍
• Explain the goals and objectives of each survey, as well as how the results will be used, in your survey communications.‍
• Invite employees to ask questions on the survey process and show that their opinions are valued and considered.

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7. Set Clear Deadlines 

Not receiving surveys back for analysis within a specific time frame will skew your engagement results.

Example: Imagine you have an engagement survey deadline of August 31st, company layoffs occur on September 1st, and you receive a slew of late survey responses during the following week. Your engagement scores will undoubtedly be driven by the negative emotions surrounding the layoffs. 

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Get around this by:

• Setting an end date for your survey and consider including a countdown timer in communications to remind employees how long they have left.
• Creating urgency with prizes, rewards, or other incentives to boost employee motivation and encourage early responses directly.
• Clearly stating that any late employee responses will be discarded. You can also remind employees of the timeframe for the next engagement survey cycle.

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8. Incorporate A Mix Of Questions 

Question selection is a make-or-break element of your employee feedback surveys. Flex HR's Jaime Sieja recommends: 

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“Make sure your survey is short and sweet and has a mix of multiple choice answers and open-ended questions for them to provide their feedback.” 

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Likert scale questions are a popular way to collect quantitative data and are easy to measure. They consist of a series of statements that employees can agree or disagree with. Since question responses are given in a set of 5, you can easily understand how your employees feel and group data when appropriate.

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Example: “I would recommend this company as a great place to work.”

• Strongly disagree
• Disagree
• Neither agree nor disagree
• Agree
• Strongly agree 

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Open-ended questions provide qualitative data but can be time-consuming and challenging to analyze. However, they allow employees to provide value-packed feedback in their own words:

Example: "What are the top three things you like about working at our company?"

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9. Be Strategic About Your Questions 

Instead of asking hundreds of questions, zoom in on meaningful topics that uncover the strengths and weaknesses of your company. Jason LaMonica recommends:

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“One tip to receive the most value from your engagement surveys is to ensure that the questions are specific, relevant, and actionable. Remember, the goal is not just to collect data, but to use that data to drive positive change within your organization.”

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Paul Falcone, bestselling author, workplace leadership consultant, and former CHRO of Nickelodeon, shares the most effective question he believes employers should ask: 

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"To get the most value from your engagement survey, ask one key question on a 5-point scale—Are you able to do your very best work every day with peace of mind?

That one question tells you so much about your company culture, your employees’ relationships with their managers, and your employees’ assessments of their own productivity and performance. On a 5-point scale from 'Strongly Agree' to 'Strongly Disagree,' you’ll gain a key metric of workforce performance that you can track, trend, and tie to organizational productivity."

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10. Determine Who Will Review Survey Data 

Before you launch your survey, nominate someone to analyze the data and create effective action plans. This might be:

• An HR team member 
• A third-party consultant 
• A cross-functional group of leaders from different departments

Whoever is responsible for reviewing the data should have a strong understanding of how employee engagement initiatives impact company success and be able to provide meaningful recommendations for improvement.

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11. Lean On AI To Glean The Best Insights 

The actual analysis of your employee engagement data can be a head-scratcher. Will you use spreadsheets to manually comb the data or perhaps lean on an HRIS with reporting capabilities to generate pretty charts that are visually appealing and easy to present?

Theresa L. Fesinstine, founder of peoplepower.ai, asserts that companies must lean on artificial intelligence to speed up the lag time between receiving survey responses, analyzing the insights, and implementing positive change. She shares:

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“Traditionally, as HR teams moved to hone in on data measures, we started to move from really qualifying and soliciting the way employees feel toward longer surveys with more questions to show the "metrics" and eNPS scores. The challenge is HR teams have been ill-equipped to assess all of the data— and most certainly the narrative data that comes out of surveys. So, we move toward Likert scale questions to simplify the quantitative analysis and hopefully reduce the time it takes to understand the result of the survey. 

With the advent of AI and tools like ChatGPT-4, HR teams can cut the analysis of engagement surveys (the comment questions) down from weeks to hour(s), and be able to turn that information into actionable change in a week."

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There are a few considerations to make before using AI to analyze your data:

• Company Security Policies: AI is a powerful tool, but it is also constantly learning. You'll want to keep sensitive data out of the application and check in with your company's security team to make sure they are comfortable with you using AI in this way.
• Prompt Creation: AI only works with a good prompt. You'll need to test your prompts and be as specific as possible to get the correct information. You may have to run an analysis several times to get the results you are looking for.
• Data Cleanliness: AI tools like ChatGPT will work better if you feed it clean data. Make sure you download results from your survey tool in a proper format to make the analysis easier.

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12. Act On The Feedback 

If you want your employees to take your engagement survey every time you run it, you need to prove it’s worth their effort and act on the feedback you receive. For this reason, David Lewis, CEO at OperationsInc, highly recommends:

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“Don’t ask questions where the likely responses are ones you cannot address. For example, don’t ask if people would prefer to work from home if you want all work done in the office.” 

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Kate Walker, Founder and CEO of Kate Walker Consulting, also strongly believes in following up on employee feedback in a timely manner. 

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“Take the survey results seriously. Don't let this project languish after results are returned. Asking people to put time and effort into a survey only to wonder why they never heard back about results or forthcoming actions is a surefire way to create resentment and disengagement from future participation. The whole point of a survey is to collect information, make an analysis, and start action planning based on the feedback. Issues and themes will be apparent.”

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13. Be Open About The Results 

Part of the process of acting on feedback is sharing what you've learned with your workforce. For example, you might learn your employees are unhappy with the company's internal communication strategy. In response to this feedback, you might hold a town hall meeting to discuss the survey results and share new initiatives for improved communication. Alternatively, you might create an internal newsletter highlighting changes based on employee feedback. Kate Walker continues:

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“Make a plan to address survey feedback and keep the entire company in the loop with next steps. Of course, not everything can be 'fixed' based on survey results, but show the staff that action plans and forthcoming results are in motion.”

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Allyns Melendez, CEO and founder of HR Transformed, agrees:

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"Communicate! Share the results openly, detailing your strategies for preserving what your employees currently value about working at your company and addressing areas where they suggest improvements. How you convey this information can influence whether employees feel encouraged or hesitant to provide feedback in the future."

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Boost Employee Engagement With Nectar 

Nectar offers a suite of rewards and recognition tools proven to boost employee engagement in your organization.

Take it from PropLogix, which dramatically improved its engagement survey scores after switching to Nectar's recognition platform. Following 2020, this real estate company found it challenging to incorporate meaningful praise and connection into its new hybrid culture. However, after implementing Nectar's recognition program, the company improved its employee recognition scores by 15%—from 83% to 98%. Feeling recognized was the highest-ranking category in the survey. 

Want to see how our approach to recognition and rewards could elevate your employee satisfaction scores? Book a free Nectar demo today to learn more.