How to Increase Engagement Survey Participation:
Tuesday, July 28, 2026
An Engagement Survey isn’t like The Field of Dreams. “If you survey, they will participate.” When a high percentage of employees don’t take the survey, senior leaders and HR are left without the data they need to take meaningful actions.
What is a good employee response rate?
It’s unrealistic to think 100% of your staff will take the engagement survey. That said, you should strive for 70% - 80%. Anything above 80% is exceptional. 60%-69% is acceptable. Anything below 50% should be considered a red flag.Increasing survey participation leads to better data that is more representative of your workforce. Results are less likely to be skewed. To increase participation, though, you need to address the why your employees chose to opt out.
Why Your Team Ghosted the Engagement Survey:
A common complaint among organizations is the lack of participation in their engagement survey process. Organizations take the time to set up a survey, and they can’t understand why their staff doesn’t jump at the opportunity to participate. In our experience, several common factors lead employees to skip the survey.It’s an in-house survey:
We don’t doubt that HR took the time to develop as good a survey as they could. In-house surveys, though, are less likely to be trusted by employees (lack of anonymity) and don’t have critical benchmark data to help senior leaders analyze and identify organizational needs. So all that time spent yields few (to no) benefits.Surveys are used as a compliance issue:
It’s that time of year again! And, once again, your employees are asked to take time to fill out a survey and see nothing change. When organizations don’t act on data, shoving survey results in a dusty back closet, the survey process does more harm than good.“Don't ask if you aren't going to act.”
— CustomInsight
Is your organization ready for a survey?
Conducting a readiness assessment can save a lot of work later on. This is a way to lay the groundwork for a successful process. If you’re not ready, take pause. Take the time you need to create readiness.Communication blunders:
Before launching your employee survey, you should communicate the plans, goals, and intentions with senior leaders, managers, and staff. These communications are separate from the invitation to complete the questionnaire, and they should occur before the invitation is sent. Once key stakeholders are on board, you have to develop a strategic communication plan that includes:- An introduction letter to all your employees: Sent from senior leaders and/or HR, this letter explains why you’re conducting the survey and how and when the results will be shared. Also make sure your staff knows that a third-party survey provider will be in charge of conducting the survey and collecting results.
- Share results: We generally assume that companies will share some of the survey results with employees. Not sharing at least some high-level results reinforces many of the things that hurt employee engagement and satisfaction. Sharing some of the results with employees signals trust, openness, and most importantly, respect.
- Communicate the action plan: Create buy-in at all levels of the organization. You will need to decide how you want to approach this. Some companies involve employees in the planning process to some degree. Other companies take a more top-down approach. There is no universal right or wrong answer here. The decision depends on your organization's culture, size, and the problems and actions that are needed.
- Ongoing communication: Just because you’ve done something doesn’t mean your employees know about it. Establish a pattern of regular communication about senior leadership's commitment to employee morale and satisfaction. Share progress toward goals, milestones reached, and other activities related to the action plan. Don't expect employees to automatically know everything that is being done or to simply observe the changes that are being made.
Survey Fatigue:
Your teams are working toward some intense deadlines and, ping!, another survey comes down the pipe. Over-surveying is exhausting. You’re asking your employees to take time from work to answer these surveys. Make sure it’s worth it and you don’t burn them out.When you identify the why, you can tackle the how.
How to Increase Engagement Survey Participation:
Here are some strategies to increase participation and get the feedback you need to improve your organizational culture.Meet Your Employees Where They Are:
You might have remote employees, drivers, or employees who work in the field; maybe some of your staff doesn’t have internet access at home; what languages do your employees speak? Are you providing the survey in several languages?. As an organization, you need a survey solution that works with everyone’s schedules and demographics. Something as simple as needing to “go to the office” to fill out the survey won’t work.- Is the survey mobile-friendly?
- Do your employees have access to the survey in their native language?
- Are you using inclusive language?
Assure Anonymity:
By using a third-party survey provider, your staff will feel more comfortable sharing their feedback about the organization culture.Give Employees Time:
The survey should be filled out during their work hours. Employees need protected time to do so. No questions asked.Keep the Surveys Do-Able:
Limit the time commitment to the survey under 15 minutes to increase participation.What is the ideal survey length? When your surveys are Homer-esque in length, your staff is likely to check out and either not fill them out or breeze through them. Conversely, too-short surveys (the typical 12-question surveys), though effective at telling you whether your staff is engaged, lack actionable details, leaving you with more questions than answers.
We recommend surveys with 40-60 items, including specific follow-up questions, so an organization has both quantitative and qualitative responses. This should take no longer than 10 - 12 minutes.
Communicate, communicate, communicate:
(See above). Send reminders. Share updates. How will this survey improve the lives of your staff? Tell them! Share results. Share action plans. Make communication multi-directional and use all your channels – from the bulletin board in the staff room to your office intranet, website, and emails.An effective engagement survey is the roadmap to success, identifying strengths, challenges, and providing your senior leaders and HR with actionable data to make meaningful changes. For the survey to be effective, though, you need to ensure participation. Implement these tips to engage your staff, develop them, and succeed.
“Employee engagement is an investment we make for the privilege of staying in business.”
— Ian Hutchinson
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