Gallup's Employee Engagement Survey: Ask the Right Questions With the Q12 Survey
For decades, employers have been measuring employee engagement the wrong way -- or neglecting to measure it at all. But Gallup has the solution: time after time, these 12 items have proven to be the most effective survey questions to measure employee engagement.
We've Studied Over 2.7 Million Workers Across 100,000+ Teams
Which is how we know what employees need most to perform their best. This isn't just one type of worker or workplace -- our research includes over 50 diverse industries. Gallup's 12 item engagement survey, referred to as the " Q12," is the culmination of that research.
Our employee engagement science and history researching the topic are unmatched. We know employee engagement (including the best way to measure it) and have been studying human nature and performance for over 75 years. When it comes to understanding what employees want and need to thrive in their workplace, we've got you covered.
The Q12 is proven to link to greater performance outcomes better than our competition's survey does.
The 12 items give managers a framework to have motivating conversations with employees.
You can compare your results with other organizations and teams within our database.
How to Measure Employee Engagement With the Q12
There are 12 needs managers can meet to improve employees' productivity. This approach to engagement is simple, and it works. These are the 12 employee needs that make up the items on Gallup's engagement survey:
- I know what is expected of me at work.
- I have the materials and equipment I need to do my work right.
- At work, I have the opportunity to do what I do best every day.
- In the last seven days, I have received recognition or praise for doing good work.
- My supervisor, or someone at work, seems to care about me as a person.
- There is someone at work who encourages my development.
- At work, my opinions seem to count.
- The mission or purpose of my company makes me feel my job is important.
- My associates or fellow employees are committed to doing quality work.
- I have a best friend at work.
- In the last six months, someone at work has talked to me about my progress.
- This last year, I have had opportunities at work to learn and grow.
How to Get Started With Gallup's Engagement Survey
The goal of the Q12 engagement survey is not to have employees complete a survey and move on. The goal is to start a conversation between managers and each of their employees. And this is a survey that does just that -- it allows employees to communicate their needs, allowing your managers to know which needs they should work harder to meet.
Choose the option that works best for your organization. But whichever option you choose, just remember, the survey isn't the end -- it's just the beginning.
Learn about the Q12 survey pricing and plans for organizations.
Connect with a Gallup expert to talk through your employee engagement goals, access to our platform -- Gallup Access (home to the Q12 survey) -- and discover how a partnership with us could look.
We recommend this option for departments in organizations with more than 100 employees.
For Smaller Teams and Organizations
Purchase a one-time Q12 survey. Get limited access to our platform for 12 months.
We recommend this option for teams and organizations with fewer than 100 employees.
What Comes After the Q12 Survey?
Our employee engagement framework is based on a hierarchy of employees' development needs, and each of our 12 employee engagement survey questions, or items, fits into one of the four levels within that hierarchy.
Upon completion of the Q12 survey, leaders and managers can fully integrate each item's concepts into casual conversations, meeting agendas, performance evaluations and team goal setting.
Understanding the levels of the Q12
Meeting the needs in the three foundational levels creates an environment of trust and support that enables managers and employees to get the most out of the top level, personal growth.
These levels provide a road map for managers to motivate and develop their team members and improve team members' performance, with each level building on the previous one.
The levels do not represent phases. Managers do not "finish" level one and then move on to level two. They must ensure that employees' needs are met on level one first, then continue to deliver on that while meeting their needs on the second, third and fourth levels. Without meeting basic needs, the other levels will not follow suit.
True employee growth begins when they have good coaching conversations with their manager, who knows how to ask the right questions.
Get the Most From Your Q12 Employee Engagement Survey
Is it only the 12 questions? How do you send the survey? How do I know how my organization's scores compare with others? To get the most from your survey, we've answered all these questions and more. Make the Q12 work for you and your organization -- if you're interested, contact us to learn more.
Administer the survey through our online platform, Gallup Access.
Anyone can purchase the Q12 employee engagement survey, and it can be administered any time after your purchase through Gallup Access. Talk to a Gallup consultant to learn more about our plans and pricing options or click here to learn more about other options.
Send the survey at the best time, and ensure you have at least four people to take it.
The best time to send the survey is when most employees can complete it (avoid peak vacation times and holidays) and when there's time to report, discuss and act on the goals from previous survey results. And to maintain confidentiality, a minimum of four employees must participate in the survey.
Rely on Gallup's research and expertise to discover the clearest insights on employee engagement.
No other survey provider offers the benchmark comparisons that help you understand what your employee engagement scores really mean. This means you cannot use the Q12 questions through another survey provider because all of our survey items are proprietary. Our survey has been around for decades, and it is continually validated based on our extensive research that's reported in our meta-analyses.
The Q12 Is Trusted by Thousands of Organizations; Here's Why
Each item is tested and scientifically validated as an accurate measure of employee engagement.
Each item is written by experts for clarity.
Each item is proven to link to performance outcomes across industries, cultures, company size and nationality.
Each item has a high participation rate.
Each item is paired with actionable advice to help managers improve team performance.
Each item has extensive benchmark comparisons.
See How You Stack Up Against the Competition
Gallup can provide a range of benchmarks within its overall database based on the following categories, among many others:
Putting Our Survey to Work Within Your Organization -- the Results Are In
Our engagement questions do more than gather information. When paired with developmental manager conversations, they directly translate into better business outcomes -- time and time again.
Other people may tell you to measure your employee engagement differently -- but no other measure is proven to link to performance like the Q12. When it comes to the business metrics that matter most, highly engaged companies outperform those with lower engagement.
When comparing employee engagement levels, Gallup found that top- and bottom-quartile business units and teams had the following differences in business outcomes*:
81% in absenteeism
18% in turnover for high-turnover organizations*
43% in turnover for low-turnover organizations*
28% in shrinkage (theft)
64% in safety incidents (accidents)
58% in patient safety incidents (mortality and falls)
41% in quality (defects)
10% in customer loyalty/engagement
14% in productivity (production records and evaluations)
18% in productivity (sales)
23% in profitability
66% in wellbeing (net thriving employees)
13% in organizational citizenship (participation)
*The above figures are median percent differences across companies in Gallup's database. High-turnover organizations are those with more than 40% annualized turnover. Low-turnover organizations are those with 40% or lower annualized turnover.