20 Questions to Ask in a Remote Work or WFH Survey (+Examples)

When the majority of the business world moved to a remote work model in 2020, leaders scrambled to ensure their teams had everything they needed to be successful in their new work environment. Today, hybrid and remote teams are more common than ever before, and the new focus is on continually optimizing the work from home experience.

It's essential to understand the following: How are your team members holding up in this new age of distributed workforces? Are they as productive? Are they as satisfied in their jobs? To find out, you’ll need to know what questions to ask in a remote work or WFH survey.

Why you should survey remote workers

One HubSpot study found that remote workers are happier and feel more valued overall. However, it also found that they experienced weaker relationships with their coworkers.

72% of remote workers want to return to the office according to a 2020 Glassdoor survey. Their reasons? Socializing with coworkers and in-person collaboration.

Furthermore, the State of Remote Work report by Buffer found that WFH employees struggle most with unplugging after work, loneliness, collaborating, and communication.

These stats all support the importance of checking in with your remote team members. The right WFH survey questions will help determine the best way to support your team moving forward, ensuring they stay motivated and engaged.

If you're looking for some best practices to keep your remote team engaged and motivated, check out this video:

Work from home experience survey questions

A work from home experience survey focuses on each remote workers’ unique WFH experience. It provides insight into what benefits and challenges your team is finding while working remotely.

These survey questions will focus on team members’ WFH tools, job satisfaction while working from home, and more. We’ve included some examples in the template below.

Survey questions about your team's work from home experience:

• Are the WFH policies clear?
• Are your work objectives clear each day? Each week?
• Do you feel there is adequate communication from your teammates and team leaders?
• How satisfied are you with the frequency of communication from leadership?
• How satisfied are you with the quality of communication from leadership?
• What communication channels work best for you?
• Is it easy to reach your teammates and team leaders when you need them?
• Do you feel supported and trusted by your team leader? By the organization?
• Do you have all the equipment and remote tools you need to complete your work to your usual ability? If not, what do you need?
• What can leadership do to support your work while you work from home?

Other questions to ask remote employees

Outside of the work from home experience, there are other questions you should ask remote employees to nurture a helpful and caring work relationship. These may feel a little more personal, but remote team members are completing work in their personal spaces. As a result, personal experiences and work-life balance with WFH models deserve extra attention.

It's important to think about what personal factors may be affecting productivity for your remote team. This can include distractions in the home, scheduling, and more. Here are some examples in the template below.

Survey questions about other remote work factors:

• Do you feel you have a good work-life balance?
• Do you have a separate and suitable space for work in your home?
• Is it easy to “turn off work mode” at the end of the day?
• Have you been able to stick to a work routine or schedule?
• Do you take regular breaks?
• Do you feel as productive at home as you are at the office?
• Is anything holding you back from completing your work?
• Do you look forward to returning to the office? Why or why not?
• What do you need to feel safe returning to the office?
• What is your biggest WFH struggle?

Employee engagement questions leaders should ask outside of a survey platform

The above questions are instrumental in understanding how your remote team is operating. However, not every question is best presented in survey form. Surveys can feel impersonal and detached, and while anonymous surveys can invite more honest answers, some questions are better suited for a conversational setting.

Here are some questions that can be asked in 1:1 meetings, team meetings, or when you're in person with your team members:

• How do you feel about working from home?
• Is there anyone on the team who has been especially helpful in your WFH transition?
• Do you feel connected enough to your teammates? Why or why not?
• Do you feel you’ve been able to learn and grow in the last few months? If so, how? If not, why not?
• Is there anything new you think I should be aware of at this time?
• What can I personally do to improve your remote work experience?

How to improve remote work for your team

There are so many elements to remote work that leaders need to account for. Discussions, decisions, action items, accountability; these all need a solution that can keep them synced in one place and promote operational efficiency.

Fellow is the all-in-one AI meeting management solution for remote and hybrid teams. Its AI meeting copilot allows you to record, transcribe, and summarize meetings in Google Meet, Microsoft Teams, and Zoom. No more disjointed tools or scattered meeting notes. Fellow keeps everything meeting related right where you need it, when you need it.