Each engagement driver represents a different element of organizational psychology.
This article contains Peakon’s standard engagement question library and a summary of the theory and research that Peakon draws each question from, along with the wording of the questions.
To read more about driver questions in general, see Driver questions.
Question library
The standard engagement question library includes:
- 1 main engagement question.
- 3 engagement outcome questions.
- 14 driver questions.
- 27 subdriver questions.
Driver or subdriver | Question |
---|---|
Engagement |
How likely is it you would recommend [Company Name] as a place to work? |
Loyalty outcome question |
How likely is it that you would stay with [Company Name], if you were offered the same job at another organisation? |
Satisfaction outcome question |
Overall, how satisfied are you working for [Company Name]? |
Belief outcome question |
How likely is it you would recommend [Company Name] products or services to friends and family? |
Accomplishment |
Most days I feel a sense of accomplishment from what I do. |
Challenging |
I have the opportunity to do challenging things at work. |
Autonomy |
I'm given enough freedom to decide how to do my work. |
Flexibility |
I'm satisfied with the amount of flexibility I have in my work schedule. |
Remote work |
I have the option to work remotely when I'd like to. |
Environment |
My physical work environment contributes positively to my ability to do my job. |
Collaboration |
I can easily find space away from my desk for conversations and collaboration with others. |
Informal |
When I need a break, my workplace has spaces to chat and relax with others. |
Equipment |
I have the materials and equipment I need to do my job well. |
Freedom of opinions |
At work, my opinions seem to be valued. |
Manager |
My manager cares about my opinions. |
Team |
My co-workers welcome opinions different from their own. |
Goal setting |
At work, I know what I'm expected to deliver. |
Alignment |
I understand how my work supports the goals of my team. |
Growth |
I feel that I’m growing professionally. |
Career path |
I see a path for me to advance my career in our organisation. |
Learning |
My job enables me to learn and develop new skills. |
Mentoring |
Either my manager or a mentor encourages and supports my development. |
Management support |
My manager provides me with the support I need to complete my work. |
Caring |
My manager cares about me as a person. |
Openness |
My manager communicates openly and honestly with me. |
Meaningful work |
The work I do is meaningful to me. |
Fit |
At work, I have the opportunity to use my strengths every day. |
Significance |
I see how my work contributes to positive outcomes for customers or people I provide services to. |
Organisational fit |
[Company Name]’s values provide a good fit with the things that I consider important in life. |
Support |
[Company Name] really cares about my mental well-being. |
Health |
Working here, I feel that I can live a physically healthy lifestyle. |
Equality |
People from all backgrounds are treated fairly at [Company Name]. |
Response |
If I experienced serious misconduct at work, I’m confident [Company Name] would take action to rectify the situation. |
Peer relationships |
I can count on my co-workers to help out when needed. |
Friends |
I see [Company Name] as the kind of place where I could make friends. |
Quality |
My coworkers are committed to doing quality work. |
Recognition |
If I do great work, I know that it will be recognised. |
Performance |
I get enough feedback to understand if I’m doing my job well. |
Reward |
I am rewarded fairly (e.g. pay, promotion, training) for my contributions to %s. |
Process |
The processes for determining pay in our organisation seem fair and unbiased. |
Discussion |
I can have well-informed and constructive conversations with my manager about pay. |
Strategy |
The overall business goals and strategies set by senior leadership are taking [Company Name] in the right direction. |
Communication |
Our organisation does a good job of communicating the goals and strategies set by senior leadership. |
Mission |
I’m inspired by the purpose and mission of our organisation. |
Workload |
The demands of my workload are manageable. |
*The Fairness sub-driver has been removed, as it had a very high correlation with the Reward driver question, indicating that it is redundant. The scores from the Fairness sub-driver will continue to show in the dashboard until it ceases to contribute to the aggregated driver score.
Theory references
Driver group | Theory |
---|---|
Engagement |
Employee engagement is an outcome of the relationship between an organisation and its employees. An engaged employee is fully absorbed in and enthusiastic about their work, with a high level of commitment to the company and its goals. The engagement question follows the methodology of eNPS (employee Net Promoter Score). This question causes people to consider many factors that influence engagement (satisfaction with the organisation’s culture, work environment, career prospects, brand) and apply them to a very simple decision making process. |
Loyalty Satisfaction Belief |
The engagement outcome questions highlight the behaviors that employees are likely to demonstrate if they’re engaged. These can serve as powerful motivators for leaders and managers on the road to building highly engaged teams. Data shows that disengaged employees (detractors on the eNPS scale) are 6 times more likely to leave their organization than engaged employees (promoters on the eNPS scale). Disengaged employees are more likely to be actively thinking about or looking for other jobs before they resign. Engaged employees are more likely to enjoy coming to work and recommend the organizations products. They're less likely to complain about the organization to their friends, family, network, or coworkers. |
Accomplishment Challenging |
These questions indicate if employees feel a daily sense of accomplishment in their work. Accomplishment, also known as competence, is a main motivational need for employees. According to Self Determination Theory (Ryan & Deci), the 3 motivational needs are: competence, relatedness, and autonomy. Perceiving themselves as incompetent at an activity undermines an employee's intrinsic motivation. Ryan & Deci found that giving people unexpected positive feedback on a task increases their intrinsic motivation to do it. Positive feedback fulfills people's need for competence. |
Autonomy Flexibility Remote work |
Autonomy relates to employees' ability to complete their work as they see fit, unhindered by micro-management. Autonomy is central to many theories on motivation and engagement, including Self Determination Theory (Ryan & Deci), Job Characteristics Model (Hackman & Oldham), and Employee Engagement (Kahn). Self Determination Theory shows that controlling behavior can undermine intrinsic motivation, resulting in either extrinsic motivation (the activity might continue based on rewards and coercion) or amotivation. |
Environment Collaboration Informal Equipment |
These questions indicate whether employees believe that their physical environment has a positive effect on their work. A British government study (Cabe, 2005) describes the profound link between office design and employee performance, highlighting the need for unstructured, informal spaces to facilitate the collaboration. Rashid (2015) also emphasizes informal spaces as a key factor in improving teamwork and enabling employees to benefit from colocation. |
Freedom of opinions Manager Team |
These questions indicate if employees feel that they can express opinions without fear of retribution. To feel like they have freedom of opinion, employees need to feel psychologically safe. Example: You feel comfortable being yourself at work without fear of mental or emotional bullying. Freedom of opinion is conceptually similar to autonomy and relatedness: employees need to feel connected to others and have a sense of belonging. People don’t feel like they belong to a group if they can’t be themselves. |
Goal setting Alignment |
Employees can fully apply themselves at work when they feel capable of meeting current and future needs and understand expectations. When employees lack ways to understand their performance, they feel anxious about how managers and peers perceive them, eroding their capability for self-expression (Brown & Leigh, 1996). Well formulated goals help fulfill employee needs for competence and relatedness. Goals should cultivate shared purpose on a team, as opposed to creating competition between peers. |
Growth Career Path Learning Mentoring |
The growth questions are about the personal and career development opportunities that employees perceive that they have at your organization. Growth features in almost every theory on motivation and engagement, including Two Factor Theory (Herzberg), ERG Theory (Alderfer), and Employee Engagement (Kahn). Growth need describes the degree to which a person has higher order needs, such as self-esteem and self-actualization. This includes desires to be creative and productive, and to complete meaningful tasks. According to ERG Theory, growth need can fluctuate depending on career stage or individual preferences. Example: Some employees see their job as just a way to pay their bills. |
Management support Caring Openness |
While manager relationships can play a major role in how employees respond to all WPEV questions, the management support questions focus specifically on the quality of the relationships that employees have with their direct managers. Manager or supervisor support features in almost every theory on engagement and motivation from Herzberg onwards. Employees view manager relationships as indicative of organizational support (Rhoades & Eisenberger 2002). The cognitive and emotional support employees receive from managers is connected to how much energy and commitment employees are willing to invest in their role (Saks 2006). |
Meaningful work Fit Significance |
Work is meaningful to employees when they consider it valuable to themselves, the company, and potentially society. Job Characteristics Theory (Hackman & Oldham) explores meaningfulness, but Kahn’s Employee Engagement Theory formally conceptualizes meaningfulness as the feeling that one’s work is worthwhile, useful, and valuable, and the sense that employees make a difference and aren't taken for granted. People feel meaningful when they feel that they both give and receive at work. |
Organizational fit Support Health Equality Response |
Organizational fit refers to whether employees feel that the organization's culture and values align with their own. The idea of organizational fit became popular in the 1980s as part of Person Environment Fit Theory (French, Caplan, & Harrison). Person–organization fit (PO fit) is the most widely studied area of person–environment fit. Kristof (1996) defines it as the compatibility between people and organizations that occurs when at least 1 entity provides what the other needs, they share similar fundamental characteristics, or both. High value congruence is a large facet of person–organization fit, which implies a strong culture and shared values among coworkers. |
Peer relationships Friends Quality |
These questions relate to the health of employees' relationships with others in the organization. Strong peer relationships foster an environment of trust. Employees who care about each other personally tend to share values and watch out for each other. They’re more inclined to go the extra mile and work as a team. Teams with strong relationships communicate more openly. Often, strong peer relationships result in increased productivity because employees are less afraid of taking risks and making decisions. |
Recognition Performance |
These questions assess whether employees feel that the organization values their work, which is closely linked to the feedback and praise they receive. Recognition, or feedback, is a main component of both Self Determination Theory (Ryan & Deci) and the Job Characteristics Model (Hackman & Oldham). Feedback refers to how much people learn about how effective they are at work. Feedback at work can come from other people, such as supervisors, peers, subordinates, and customers, or from the job itself. Example: When a salesperson presents to potential clients but doesn't learn what the client's final purchasing decision is, they have a low degree of feedback. When a salesperson knows what the client decides, they have a high degree of feedback from the job itself. |
Reward Process Discussion |
The reward questions relate to how satisfied employees are with their total compensation. Equity theory states that employees are motivated when their input (effort, knowledge, skill, loyalty) and the outcomes (pay, bonuses, benefits, recognition) match. The alignment between input and outcomes creates a sense of equity or fairness. When employees feel under-rewarded, they might restore perceived equity by reducing their input (putting in less effort), attempting to reduce their coworkers' input (convincing others to do less work), seeking increased outcomes (requesting higher compensation), or aiming to reduce coworkers' outcomes (requesting salaries to be standardized). |
Strategy Communication Mission |
The strategy questions assess whether employees agree with the organization's overall strategy. Many theories from Herzberg onwards consider how employees perceive senior management's efficacy, with strategy being the largest component. A strategy that considers employees' needs, values, and skills builds relatedness (Deci & Ryan 1985) and increases employees' sense of purpose (Kahn 1990). |
Workload |
Unmanageable workloads can lead to burnout. This question assesses if employees feel that they're responsible for a reasonable amount of work or if their workload is a source of stress. As defined by psychologists Leiter, Schaufeli, and Maslach (2001), burnout is a prolonged response to chronic emotional and interpersonal stressors on the job, characterized by exhaustion, cynicism, and inefficacy. They cite engagement as the positive antithesis of burnout. |
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