Employee benefits survey template: How to get the data you need to make smarter decisions

To improve employee morale and job satisfaction, employers must first understand their employees' current pain points. And how do the best organizations learn about and address these employee pain points? They ask them. Getting employee feedback around benefits is an especially powerful way to improve employee health and wellness, and research shows that healthy, engaged employees are more productive, more loyal, and more committed.

When organizations understand what specific benefits matter most to their teams, they can design benefits programs that not only attract top talent but also support long-term retention. A well-designed employee benefits survey can serve as an invaluable tool for HR leaders, enabling them to gather meaningful insights directly from their workforce. By identifying which benefits employees value most—and which ones may be underutilized—HR teams can optimize their offerings with adjustments that are both impactful and cost-effective.

In this guide, you’ll not only learn how to design an effective employee benefits survey but also how to best distribute it, analyze the results, and create an ongoing feedback loop to ensure your benefits offerings stay relevant and up-to-date.

Why employee benefits surveys matter for your organization

To create an engaging suite of benefits, feedback from employees isn't just a nice to have—it's a key part of your benefits strategy. Here's why it matters:

Identify and bridge benefits gaps: Employee benefits surveys give HR and leadership teams crucial insight into which aspects of the current benefits package are meeting employees' needs and which may be falling short. By gathering direct feedback, companies can identify benefits that are underutilized or perceived as less valuable, allowing them to tweak offerings or provide more targeted education to increase utilization.

Boost employee satisfaction and retention: There is a strong correlation between customized employee benefits and higher job satisfaction and retention. According to a 2024 MetLife survey, 72% of employees who feel their benefits meet their specific needs report higher job satisfaction, and 79% say these tailored benefits influence their decision to stay at the company.

Customizing benefits to meet diverse employee needs and preferences not only improves morale but also reduces turnover. Since employee turnover is incredibly costly, boosting employee satisfaction and engagement through benefits packages can be a cost-effective strategy to ultimately save organizations money, resources, and time.

Inform future planning: Employee benefits surveys can help to guide future benefit planning and budgeting, allowing HR leaders to improve resource allocation to match employee needs. A 2021 study found that companies that regularly assess benefits usage and satisfaction through surveys can reduce underused benefits offerings by up to 15%. Regular assessments ensure benefits spending aligns with employees' needs and expectations, maximizing both workforce satisfaction and return on investment.

Understanding key employee needs and preferences

Companies recognize the need to offer comprehensive and aligned benefits packages to differentiate themselves and attract and retain top talent in a competitive labor market. 73% of companies cite an increased focus on DEI as a primary driver of their benefits strategy. When refining their employee benefits program, an organization must consider various demographics including age, family status, and career stage.

Younger employees may prioritize benefits like student loan assistance and fertility benefits development, while older employees often focus more on retirement planning, menopause support, and healthcare. Increasingly, employees express a growing interest in these family health benefits, as well as flexible work options and mental health support, with 81% of workers prioritizing employers who offer these benefits in their job searches.

Designing an effective employee benefits survey

In order to maximize the data from your employee benefits survey, you need to make sure you're asking the right questions. Here are a few things to keep in mind when designing your survey.

• Set clear goals for your survey: Define what you want to achieve with the survey. Is the priority to assess utilization and satisfaction with existing benefits? Are you looking to explore new benefit options or improve existing offerings? Get clear on your survey goals upfront so you can optimize the feedback you receive.
• Crafting the right questions: Once you've established the survey's goals, it's time to craft your questions with intention, using clear, simple, and unbiased language. Mix quantitative questions like numerical ratings and scales with qualitative ones, like open-ended questions that allow for more detailed feedback. Make sure to cover the following topics in your survey questions:
  • Health and wellness benefits: This should include medical, dental, and mental health support.
  • Family-building and maternity support: While many people associate family benefits with parental leave, employees can use these benefits at all stages of their journeys, from family planning to fertility treatments to childcare support.
  • Flexible work policies: If you offer flexible work options, use the survey to get a pulse check on those offerings, including remote work, hybrid options, and work-life balance programs.
  • Financial support: Financial benefits include offerings like 401(k)s, retirement plans, and financial wellness programs.

When deciding how to frame and phrase your questions, use Likert scales to measure satisfaction levels, asking employees to rank various statements on a scale of strongly disagree, disagree, neutral, agree, and strongly agree. Adding ranking or multiple-choice questions can help capture employees' specific preferences in a quantitative, easily analyzed way. In addition to rankings and scales, be sure to include open-ended questions to capture nuanced feedback.

Sample employee benefits survey questions

Below are some sample questions to measure employee demographics, satisfaction with current benefits, and suggestions for benefits improvement that you can tailor to your organization's specific needs. For more resources like this, visit Maven's Family Benefits Resource Hub.

1. Department: [from dropdown list]
   ‍
2. Job Level:
   • Entry-Level
   • Mid-Level
   • Senior-Level
   • Executive
     ‍
3. Years with Company:
   • Less than 1 year
   • 1-3 years
   • 4-6 years
   • 7+ years

4. How satisfied are you with the following benefits? (1 = Very Dissatisfied, 5 = Very Satisfied)
   [Customized based on your current benefit offerings]
   • Health Insurance
     • 1
     • 2
     • 3
     • 4
     • 5
   • Dental Insurance
     • 1- 5
   • Vision Insurance
     • 1- 5
   • Retirement Plan (401k/403b)
     • 1- 5
   • Paid Time Off (PTO)
     • 1- 5
   • Parental Leave
     • 1- 5
   • Wellness Programs (e.g., gym membership, wellness challenges)
     • 1- 5
   • Mental Health Support (e.g., EAP, counseling)
     • 1- 5
   • Flexible Work Arrangements (e.g., remote work, flexible hours)
     • 1- 5
   • Tuition Reimbursement
     • 1- 5
   • Financial Planning Services
     • 1- 5
   • Women’s and Family Health Benefits
     • 1- 5
5. How often do you use the following benefits? (1 = Never, 5 = Frequently)
   • Health Insurance
     • 1- 5
   • Dental Insurance
     • 1- 5
   • Vision Insurance
     • 1- 5
   • Retirement Plan (401k/403b)
     • 1- 5
   • Paid Time Off (PTO)
     • 1- 5
   • Parental Leave
     • 1- 5
   • Wellness Programs (e.g., gym membership, wellness challenges)
     • 1- 5
   • Mental Health Support (e.g., EAP, counseling)
     • 1- 5
   • Flexible Work Arrangements (e.g., remote work, flexible hours)
     • 1- 5
   • Tuition Reimbursement
     • 1- 5
   • Financial Planning Services
     • 1- 5
   • Women’s and Family Health Benefits
     • 1- 5

6. Which benefits do you find most valuable? (Select up to 3)
   • Health Insurance
   • Dental Insurance
   • Vision Insurance
   • Retirement Plan (401k/403b)
   • Paid Time Off (PTO)
   • Parental Leave
   • Wellness Programs
   • Mental Health Support
   • Flexible Work Arrangements
   • Tuition Reimbursement
   • Financial Planning Services
   • Women’s and Family Health Benefits
     ‍
7. Which benefits do you find least valuable? (Select up to 3)
   • Health Insurance
   • Dental Insurance
   • Vision Insurance
   • Retirement Plan (401k/403b)
   • Paid Time Off (PTO)
   • Parental Leave
   • Wellness Programs
   • Mental Health Support
   • Flexible Work Arrangements
   • Tuition Reimbursement
   • Financial Planning Services
   • Women’s and Family Health Benefits
     ‍
8. Are there any benefits you feel are missing or should be added? [open response]
   ‍
9. How would you rate the overall benefits package?
   • Excellent
   • Good
   • Fair
   • Poor
     ‍
10. Do you have any additional comments or suggestions for improving our benefits program? [open response]

Best practices for employee survey distribution

Be thoughtful about the timing and frequency of survey distribution to get the most accurate and helpful results. Surveying your employees too frequently could lead to survey burnout and lower response rates, whereas not surveying them enough could cause you to miss valuable insights. Additionally, use anonymous surveys to gather the most honest feedback. It’s also recommended to use various modes of communication to ensure the survey is readily available and accessible to all employees, including digital and mobile-friendly options as well as paper options if employees prefer that.

Analyzing and acting on employee benefits survey results

Once the survey data comes in, it's time to organize. It can be helpful to segment survey results by different employee demographics, role, and tenure at the organization. From there, you can start identifying patterns and trends across different employee groups. These patterns also allow you to measure benefits utilization and identify both popular and underused offerings.

Once you've organized and analyzed the survey results, create a priority list based on the findings, developing a plan to improve existing benefits or introduce new ones.

Communicating changes to employees

When implementing feedback and changing company benefits, it's important to be transparent, keeping employees informed about upcoming changes and relevant timelines. Similar to using a varied survey distribution approach, employ a multi-channel communication strategy to share results and subsequent changes, from department or team meetings to emails and Slack announcements to office hours with your benefits team.

Tips for continuous improvement: Creating an ongoing feedback loop

Even if your full benefits survey only goes out once a year, it's important to establish a culture of continuous feedback. Smaller, targeted surveys to different departments or employee populations throughout the year can help maintain a pulse check on benefits satisfaction. Other ongoing feedback venues include quarterly benefits deep-dive sessions with HR or regular check-ins with your people managers.

Encourage managers to have ongoing conversations with their teams about benefits needs and satisfaction, and provide managers with forums to share that feedback with HR and leadership teams. This culture of ongoing feedback helps organizations stay responsive beyond the more extensive and comprehensive annual survey and review process.

Measuring the success of your employee benefits survey strategy

Along with having clear survey goals from the outset, you also want to define key success metrics to evaluate the success of your survey strategy. These KPIs might include increased survey participation, higher employee satisfaction scores, and higher benefits utilization. In communicating clearly and regularly about benefits offerings and soliciting ongoing employee feedback, organizations can remain adaptable and responsive to real-time needs and insights.

Benefits surveys are a tool in your employee engagement arsenal

Effective employee benefits surveys are essential tools for companies to stay aligned with evolving employee needs. These surveys provide direct insights into what employees value most, allowing HR teams to design benefits packages that foster greater satisfaction, engagement, and productivity, while also offering insights into underutilized programs and potential cost savings. By proactively addressing gaps and making data-driven improvements, companies not only enhance employee well-being but also build a more supportive workplace culture.

If you're looking to drive employee engagement and business growth with holistic benefits and care, Maven can help you evaluate your existing strategies and redesign your benefits program. Book a demo today to find out more.