8 Steps to Craft an Effective Employee Engagement Survey for Non-Desk Workers

Non-desk employees are the backbone of many organizations, yet they are often the hardest to reach through traditional communication methods. With nearly 80% of the global workforce working without desks, according to Forbes, businesses must adopt new approaches to stay connected.

High turnover rates in most non-desk industries are common. Manufacturing and construction have historically had high turnover rates. However, this even extends to other non-desk industries, for instance, the turnover rate in food service is 87% and 65% in retail. This highlights the need for better communication to foster better employee engagement.

Steps to Developing an Effective Employee Engagement Survey

An employee engagement survey is a powerful tool for understanding workplace satisfaction, motivation, and areas for improvement. Developing a well-structured survey ensures you gather meaningful insights that drive positive change.

Step 1: Define Clear Objectives When Creating Your Employee Engagement Survey

Start with the end in mind. Before writing survey questions, establish objectives that align with your organization's priorities. Your survey isn't just an HR project—it's an enterprise-wide initiative that should connect directly to business outcomes.

While HR typically leads these efforts, bringing in multiple departments creates surveys that address people management issues and broader business objectives. This approach transforms survey insights into improvements that affect everything from customer service to overall performance.

Your objectives should tie directly to company metrics like turnover or productivity. Consider focusing on:

• Evaluating how values apply in daily operations
• Measuring current engagement levels
• Identifying gaps between stated values and actual culture
• Understanding what drives engagement on your teams
• Creating benchmarks to track progress

Ask yourself these questions to focus your approach:

• What specific problem are you trying to solve?
• How will you use the findings?
• Who specifically are you surveying?
• How will you track and share progress?

Learning from previous survey efforts and focusing on areas that will give you actionable insights creates a strategic approach that drives real improvement in your workforce.

Step 2: Select the Right Mix of Questions for Your Employee Engagement Survey

Finding the balance between proven, validated questions and custom ones tailored to your non-desk workforce provides reliable benchmarking data and insights specific to your frontline worker environment.

Mix these question formats for the best results:

• Likert scale questions that give you countable data: "On a scale of 1–5, how satisfied are you with the safety measures during your shift?"
• Open-ended questions that let employees speak freely: "What one change would make your work environment better?"

When writing for non-desk workers, remember to:

• Use plain language without jargon
• Focus on concrete experiences, not abstract concepts
• Make questions relevant to their daily work lives

Here are questions that work particularly well in frontline work environments:

• "Do you have all the tools and equipment you need to work safely?"
• "How satisfied are you with communication between management and your team?"
• "What challenges during shift transitions might management not see?"
• "On a scale of 1–5, how physically comfortable is your workspace?"

Step 3: Choose Appropriate Question Types and Rating Scales

The question types you select significantly impact your survey results. Selecting wisely ensures you'll get insights you can actually use.

Question Types That Deliver Results

Mix these effective formats in your survey for comprehensive feedback collection. Quantitative questions with rating scales provide measurable data you can track over time and compare across departments or locations. This approach works well for manufacturing or warehouse settings where concrete metrics matter. 

Qualitative questions with open-ended responses reveal deeper patterns and uncover issues specific to your blue-collar workforce that numeric ratings might miss. These responses often highlight practical workplace concerns like tool availability, break time adequacy, or shift scheduling problems. 

Employee lifecycle questions target specific points in the worker journey, from onboarding to training to retention, helping HR teams understand where improvements would have the greatest impact for hourly workers or those in physically demanding roles.

Questions to Avoid

Stay away from problematic question types that could compromise your survey effectiveness. Leading questions nudge respondents toward a certain response, skewing your data and undermining trust. Double-barreled questions ask two things but allow only one answer, creating confusion about what employees are actually responding to. 

Overly complex questions with industry jargon or complicated scenarios frustrate respondents, particularly those who may not use English as their first language. Negatively framed questions demotivate participants and create a pessimistic tone. 

Hypothetical scenarios instead of questions about real workplace situations produce less reliable data because they don't reflect actual experiences. Questions on sensitive topics with no clear purpose risk alienating employees without providing actionable insights. 

Vague questions produce equally vague responses that HR teams can't use to make meaningful changes. When inviting participation, use neutral language. Avoid saying "be brutally honest" or "show everyone how good we are"—these phrases can skew responses toward either extreme.

Step 4: Implement Effective Communication Strategies for Your Employee Engagement Survey

The difference between high and low survey participation often comes down to how you communicate. Understanding the various types of employee communication can help tailor your approach.

Address Accessibility Barriers

Many non-desk employees struggle with accessibility issues that traditional survey methods don't account for. Factory workers, delivery drivers, and retail staff typically lack access to company computers during their shifts. 

Maintenance teams and field service workers rarely check email while on job sites. Construction crews and warehouse staff often work in areas with unreliable internet connections. HR departments supporting these industries need mobile-friendly communication tools that support multiple communication channels and work on mobile devices. 

Leverage SMS for Direct Engagement

Employee texting platforms bridge this gap by delivering direct communication that works on any phone without special software or strong internet, making surveys accessible to everyone from assembly line workers to retail associates.

Email and intranets fail to reach non-desk workers effectively. SMS-based communication methods offer a better alternative with dramatically higher open rates—people typically read texts within minutes, not hours or days. 

Sending survey links via SMS allows manufacturing, warehouse, and retail workers to participate directly from their phones, improving survey participation and significantly boosting response rates. 

HR teams responsible for these frontline workforces find that SMS creates a direct channel to employees who might otherwise remain disconnected from company communications. 

The immediacy of text messaging also allows for rapid collection of feedback during or immediately after shifts, capturing in-the-moment perspectives that email-based surveys often miss.

Step 5: Utilize Mobile-Friendly Survey Methods

When most of your workforce doesn't sit at desks, old-school survey methods simply don't work. Reaching everyone means adopting mobile-friendly approaches and accessible survey formats.

SMS surveys take advantage of the one tool almost every employee has—a mobile phone. With SMS-based features, you can send links directly to employees and automate reminders, significantly improving participation among non-desk workers.

QR codes offer another flexible solution that works in physical and digital environments. Print and place these codes throughout your workplace, creating easy access points for employees to complete surveys.

The right employee texting platform addresses this by providing:

• Text-based survey delivery that reaches non-desk workers
• Automated messaging for timely communication
• Two-way interaction where employees can respond and send attachments
• Options for workers without reliable data

Meeting employees where they are ensures every voice in your organization is heard, regardless of their work environment.

Step 6: Analyze Survey Results Effectively

To get meaningful insights from your surveys, quantify your data using numeric scores or percentages. This approach makes comparisons straightforward and reduces confusion when interpreting survey data. Put these analytical strategies to work:

• Benchmark your results against relevant standards including national averages, industry metrics, and your own historical data to spot improvement areas.
• Segment your data by demographics, teams, and other groups to uncover the unique experiences of different workforce segments. This targeted approach helps develop specific action plans when resources are limited.
• Visualize your findings through pie charts for proportions, bar graphs for comparing groups, line charts for tracking changes over time, and call-out graphics for highlighting key statistics.

For complex survey data, combine quantitative analysis with qualitative research to gain deeper context. This balanced approach ensures you capture both the "what" and the "why" behind your engagement levels.

Step 7: Develop and Communicate a Clear Action Plan

The survey is just the beginning. Taking action on survey results shows employees you value their input and are committed to making changes. When developing your plan, focus on:

• Identifying specific improvement areas based on survey trends
• Prioritizing by urgency and potential impact
• Setting clear objectives with realistic timelines
• Establishing ways to track progress

Employee involvement is essential. Research shows that people are more likely to participate in surveys when they believe their feedback will lead to actual changes. Invite team members to join action planning sessions to build ownership and commitment through effective internal communication strategies.

When communicating plans to a dispersed workforce:

• Meet employees where they are by integrating communications into their daily workflow through platforms they already use
• For non-desk employees, use SMS messages alongside email to ensure everyone gets the information
• Remind teams of previous survey results and the improvements that followed

Be transparent throughout the process. Explain how you processed feedback, what decisions you made, and when changes will happen. For remote or hybrid teams, consider using automated text message and email survey invitations to keep everyone informed and engaged.

Step 8: Establish a Regular Survey Cadence

Consistency matters. When employees see you regularly asking for their input—and acting on it—they're more likely to stay engaged with the process.

Determining the Right Frequency

Your survey schedule should align with your business goals and your capacity to implement changes. Annual comprehensive surveys provide a solid baseline for manufacturing and distribution companies to track year-over-year changes. 

They offer enough time to implement substantial changes like safety protocols or shift structures between measurement periods. Quarterly engagement surveys work well for retail and hospitality operations with seasonal fluctuations, allowing HR teams to adapt to changing conditions while maintaining consistent measurement. 

These check-ins catch emerging issues before they impact turnover or productivity. Pulse surveys (weekly or monthly) capture real-time sentiments from field service teams or frontline healthcare workers, groups whose working conditions change rapidly. 

These shorter, focused surveys prevent feedback from sitting unaddressed too long and help managers quickly identify and resolve specific issues like equipment needs or communication gaps.

According to Gallup, only 30% of U.S. employees report being actively engaged, highlighting the need for regular check-ins. Research also shows a gap: while 48% of managers see the value of surveys, only 45% of employees agree—often because they don't see timely action on their feedback.

The priority is establishing a rhythm that allows you to collect data, analyze it, implement changes, and show progress before starting the next survey cycle. For many organizations, an annual comprehensive survey supplemented by quarterly pulse surveys works well.

Whatever schedule you choose, consistency signals to employees that their feedback is part of your ongoing culture, not just a one-time exercise.

Transform Your Workplace Communication Today

To create effective surveys, start with clear objectives, select relevant questions, use mobile-friendly methods, analyze results thoroughly, develop action plans, and establish a regular cadence. These steps ensure you capture meaningful feedback from all employees—including those without desk access.

Yourco's SMS-based platform connects HR teams with hard-to-reach employees in manufacturing, retail, hospitality, and healthcare. The platform delivers surveys directly to workers' phones without requiring downloads, enabling two-way communication that shows employees their voices matter.

Try Yourco for free today or schedule a demo and see the difference the right workplace communication solution can make in your company.