Employee check-ins might seem like a small gesture. But when done right, these pulse check questions increase employee morale, help managers gauge the pulse of their team, and invariably create a happier, more productive workforce.
But merely asking generic, half-hearted questions simply wouldn’t suffice. To encourage employees to speak up and share their concerns openly, you need to ask more specific, targeted check-in questions.
That’s why we have curated a list of 100+ employee check-in questions for every need. Our employee check-ins are a healthy balance of daily, weekly, and monthly work (and non-work-related) prompts.
With this, you can create an employee check in template to gather a holistic view of how your employees are doing – while also reinforcing your company’s values & culture. Here’s what we’ll cover in our blog post:
Daily Employee Check-in Questions
Employee check-ins should not be a once-in-a-while practice. To reap its benefits, you have to make it more frequent and predictable, preferably an everyday practice (like a checklist for managers). For achieving that, we made these check in questions simple, straightforward, and focused on the actual work your team is doing.
- How are you feeling today?
- How has your day been so far?
- What is your current workload like?
- What can I do to help you today?
- What is something you want to learn today?
- What are some obstacles you foresee for the day?
- What are you most looking forward to for the day?
- What has been your biggest challenge so far
- Do you have any pressing questions that you’d like to pose?
- What would put you at ease and brighten your day?
- What tools or resources do you need today?
- What are you prioritizing today?
- What goals are you trying to achieve today?
- How can we help you achieve your goals?
- Is there anything you’re struggling with today?
- What do you plan to accomplish today?
- What are some of the skills you’d like to develop and practice today?
- What was your biggest win today?
- What are the most remarkable things that happened to you today?
- How will you end today better than you started?
Here’s a quick Employee Check-in Survey created using SurveySparrow.
Did you know that SurveySparrow makes it easy to automate daily check-ins? From Slack stand-ups to engaging surveys and polls, you get to track progress, enable weekly employee reflections, and streamline your employee check-in feedback.
Sign up to try our employee check in software for free. 🙂
Employee Wellbeing Check-in Questions
With regular wellness check-ins, you can boost motivation and encourage ownership of your workforce. But with these employee wellbeing questions, you can set aside the time, resources, and the budget to prioritize activities that place employees at the center.
- What have you been working on lately?
- Which word best describes your state of mind right now?
- What about work excites you?
- What does your daily routine look like?
- What task have you been putting on hold for some time?
- What has been taking most of your time lately?
- Have you had any interesting ideas of late?
- What do you hope to achieve in one month? Do you believe you’re on track to meet these expectations?
- Considering your work so far this quarter, what are you most proud of?
- Which teammate do you work best with?
- Is there any teammate you’d like to work closely with?
- Which tools/ resources have been most helpful?
- Are there any tools/resources we could provide you with to help you perform better?
- If you could go back and change one thing about last week/month/quarter, what would it be?
- If you had the power to make an instant organizational change, what would it be?
- How do you plan on pushing yourself outside your comfort zone?
- What is a goal you’ve set for yourself this month?
- Have you had the time to reflect since our last check-in?
- What have you learned since the last check-in?
- What steps have you taken to improve since the previous check-in?
Employee Check-in Questions For Building Rapport
Building a good rapport with your employees would cement a fantastic foundation for a productive work environment. However, while discussing the importance of team rapport is easy, establishing one – not so much. But fret not.
With our rapport-building check-in questions, you are sure to foster an environment of trust, support, and collaboration.
- What is everyone’s current workload like?
- What do you need help with?
- How can we redistribute responsibilities to increase efficiency?
- What is one strength that you can share with the rest of the team?
- What do you think is the biggest time drain lately? What can we do to resolve it?
- Is there anything we as a team can do differently to improve results?
- What is a seemingly small task that, if done, would have big returns?
- Which task took you more time than you had anticipated?
- Which task took you less time than you had anticipated?
- What have been the biggest bottlenecks?
- Are there any tasks that are being pushed back due to want of time?
- Which tasks are being completed quickly?
- What, according to you, is good communication?
- What can be done to improve our communication further?
- Can you state one example of good communication this week?
- What is one example of less-than-perfect communication this week?
- What is one example of excellent teamwork this month?
- How would you describe our team’s performance?
- How do you think our team fares compared to other teams in our organization?
- What is a discussion point that has not yet popped up in conversation?
- Do you feel comfortable approaching your team members and asking them for help?
- What team-building activities can be adopted?
- What is one way we could show better appreciation for each other?
- Where do you think a lot of confusion or miscommunication seems to be happening? What can we do to resolve them?
- How can we extend our welcome to a new team member?
- Is there a non-work detail that you are curious to know about your colleague?
- Share a moment you truly appreciated being a part of this team?
- Can you share an instance where you developed a deep appreciation or admiration for one (or several) of your teammate(s)
- Was there a question/issue that you were glad a teammate raised?
- According to you, how can we better prepare for emergencies or other unforeseen circumstances?
Fun Employee Check-in Questions
Checking in on your employees needn’t be strictly about work. Once in a while, it’d be great to pull out some get-to-know-you questions up your sleeve. And no, you don’t need to stick to those clichés that everybody is sick of answering.
So throw a couple of these fun check-in prompts in one-to-one catch-ups or in meetings to bond with your colleagues on a different level.
- How are you doing? How’s life outside of work?
- What is the best non-work thing that happened to you this week?
- What is the most fun you had at work this week?
- What was the most random thought you had this week?
- What is one interesting statistic you wish to know about our company?
- Have you got a joke that your teammates might find funny? Could you share it?
- Have you got an interesting fact that might fascinate your teammates? Could you share it?
- If you could learn any secret about your teammates, what would it be?
- Can you describe your dream team-outing?
- If you could go undercover as any of one among our team, who would it be and why?
- If you could work from anywhere in the world right now, where would it be and why?
- If you could instantly master a skill, what would it be?
- If you could get rid of one thing from your daily routine, what would you eliminate?
- If you could change places with anyone in the world right now, who would it be?
- What would be a concept or new idea you’re willing to explain to the team?
Remote Employee Check-in Questions
Building and maintaining strong communication ties gets a little tricky when your team is dispersed across various locations. But with purposeful and regular check-ins, you can indeed establish a better team structure and make room for a highly engaged workforce.
Thus, when collaborating remotely, you can use these check-in questions in Zoom meetings, Slack threads, team emails, employee surveys, or weekly update forms.
- How do you feel about working from home?
- Are your objectives clear every day?
- Which communication channels work best for you?
- What can we do to improve your remote working experience?
- What can the leadership do to further support your work while you work from home?
- Do you feel connected to your teammates?
- Do you feel you have been able to learn and grow in the last few months?
- Do you feel there’s adequate communication between you and your teammates?
- Are you able to reach your teammates when you need them?
- Do you feel trusted by your manager?
- Do you believe you have a good work-life balance?
- Do you feel as productive working from home as you do from the office?
- Are there any factors that hinder you from completing your daily tasks?
- What is your biggest struggle working from home?
- Do you feel seen and heard by the team?
- Do you feel safe returning to work?
- Do you get to take regular breaks to refresh?
- Have you been able to adopt a productive schedule to get your work done?
- Do you have a separate space to get work done comfortably from home?
- Do you experience trouble switching off from work at the end of the day
Checklist for Framing the Perfect Check-in Questions
Communication patterns, particularly the tone and the framework of the check-in question dramatically determine its effectiveness and engagement. To put things into perspective, let’s go over these questions below –
- How’s that report coming together? Is there any help you’d like?
- Have you done the report?
- Haven’t you finished your project yet? What time will you send it across?
One wouldn’t even require an explanation on how just by framing these questions differently, its delivery was impacted. Isn’t it? While the first one is positive, the second and third questions are neutral and negative in tone.
So one might ask, what are some of the elements that differentiate a bad check in question from a well-meaning one? Well, the devil’s in the detail, or more so in –
- Cadence: Duration is key. Ask yourself these question- Would your employees’ responses possibly have changed since the last check-in? If the answer is no, you might want to stall that question momentarily.
- Context: Hmm, imagine posing your question while your employees are on a tight deadline. Or when they’re clearly irate. Now that’s an example of poor context.
- Cause: If your employees’ output cannot be met with a positive/favorable output, it’s best to not ask it at all.
If you really want to leave no stone unturned and want to tick all the boxes, use this simple litmus test.
- Is this question- Asked often enough? Asked too often?
- Is my question- Contextual to the situation? Relevant to the recipient?
- Is this check-in- For my benefit? For their benefit? For our mutual benefit?
Tips For Better Employee Check-ins
All this said, we think it is worthwhile to remember that employee check-ins are less about a series of perfectly posed questions and more about building a genuine, meaningful relationship with your employees.
To help you achieve that, here are some pointers to keep in mind.
- A little planning won’t hurt: Decide in advance of the check in meeting how often you want to ask certain questions, if the answers have to be made public or only visible to you, etc.
- Be sincere or don’t bother at all: Employee check-ins shouldn’t feel forced. You ought to ask these questions with utmost authenticity. Remember that you’re engaging with a real person and listening to what they have to say.
- Be prepared to hear answers you don’t like: You ask questions to get answers, learn from them and make changes. But in the process, you may have to bear the brunt of hearing answers that you may not like. So, make sure to keep an open mind and be receptive to what your team members have to say during the check in meeting.
- Be frequent and consistent: Employee check-ins aren’t a one-time thing to be checked off the list. To gather transparent responses, you have to check in on them frequently and make these questions a part of your everyday conversations.
- Remember to take your time: Don’t expect your employee check-ins to gather momentum right away. It is a process that involves much testing and learning. The key is to find out what works best for you and your team throughout it all.
Wrapping it up
There is a reason why no one likes the proverbial my-way-or-the-highway boss, the control freak, or the micromanager. To set yourself apart from them and be an effective manager, you have to know how to wield the right employee check in questions at the right time.
Lucky for you, with SurveySparrow’s extensive employee-related surveys and handy automation, keeping your employees happy, engaged, and satisfied is easier than ever. Good luck!
