How to Increase Employee Engagement Survey Participation

Ever sent out an employee engagement survey only to see a disappointing 30% response rate? Those missing voices cost your company more than you think. 

Employee engagement surveys should clearly show how your people feel about their roles, leadership, and work environment. But when participation lags, you're left making decisions based on incomplete data. 

According to Gallup, employee engagement in the U.S. hit an 11-year low in early 2024, with 4.8 million fewer engaged employees than the quarter before. 

That matters because companies with highly engaged employees see 23% higher profitability. But you can't improve what you don't fully understand, and you can't understand your workforce if half of them aren't responding. 

Reaching non-desk workers is a challenge. They make up more than half of the U.S. workforce, yet many rarely check corporate emails or log into HR systems. When engagement surveys only live in inboxes and intranet portals, you lose vital employee feedback on job sites, healthcare facilities, and manufacturing floors. 

However, you don't have to settle for low participation rates. In this blog, we will explain how to increase employee engagement survey participation with practical, proven tactics, including how SMS-first communication is helping organizations finally hear from every employee, everywhere.

Why High Participation Matters in Engagement Surveys

Survey participation directly impacts the quality of insights that drive your engagement strategy. Low participation creates blind spots, costing your organization thousands in turnover and productivity losses.

• Accurate data emerges from comprehensive participation. 

Higher response rates provide more reliable insights across departments and shifts. When participation drops significantly, you make decisions based on incomplete information that may not represent your workforce sentiment.

• Representative feedback prevents costly missteps. 

Frontline workers often have different engagement challenges than office workers, but traditional surveys frequently miss these important voices. Missing input from large employee segments can lead you to invest in improvements that don't address real workplace issues.

• Complete participation builds organizational trust. 

When employees see colleagues across all levels and departments participating, they feel more confident about sharing honest feedback. This creates a sustainable engagement measurement that improves over time.

The financial impact of poor participation is significant. Organizations with low survey participation often experience higher turnover rates because they miss early warning signs of disengagement. Replacing employees involves substantial costs in recruiting, training, and lost productivity.

Skewed results from low participation create three significant risks:

1. Decision-making based on vocal minorities rather than workforce reality
2. Missed identification of department-specific engagement challenges
3. Reduced employee confidence in leadership's commitment to workplace improvement

Understanding these participation barriers becomes essential for developing solutions that teach you how to increase employee engagement survey participation across your workforce.

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Common Barriers to Survey Participation

Every organization faces predictable obstacles that prevent employees from participating in engagement surveys. Recognizing these barriers helps you design targeted solutions that reach your entire workforce.

• Technology access limitations exclude major workforce segments. 

The majority of U.S. workers (61%) do not have jobs that can be done from a home/office setup, meaning they lack regular access to email and corporate systems during work hours.

Manufacturing teams, healthcare staff, retail workers, and construction crews spend their shifts focused on hands-on tasks. They don't sit at desks checking email or accessing internal portals. Traditional survey distribution through these channels automatically excludes their perspectives.

• Survey design creates participation friction. 

Long questionnaires that take 15-30 minutes overwhelm busy workers. Complex rating scales and abstract questions confuse employees who prefer straightforward communication.

Annual surveys compound this problem by asking too many questions at once. Employees often start these surveys but abandon them partway through due to length and complexity.

• Trust and anonymity concerns prevent honest participation. 

Past experiences with surveys that produced no visible changes reduce future participation. Employees question whether their time investment will create meaningful workplace improvements.

Fear of identification despite anonymity promises also limits participation. Workers worry that demographic questions or specific feedback might reveal their identity to supervisors.

• Poor timing creates unnecessary obstacles. 

Surveys launched during busy seasons, shift changes, or holiday periods get ignored. Night shift workers receive survey reminders during sleep hours, reducing their likelihood of participation.

• Communication barriers affect diverse workforces. 

Complex survey language prevents participation among employees with varying educational backgrounds. Workers for whom English is a second language may struggle with technical terminology or lengthy instructions.

Industry-specific challenges compound these barriers:

• Healthcare: 12-hour shifts leave little time for lengthy surveys
• Construction: Outdoor worksites lack reliable internet access
• Manufacturing: Safety protocols restrict phone use during work hours
• Retail: Variable schedules make consistent communication timing difficult

Overcoming these barriers requires a strategic approach that addresses accessibility, trust, and timing simultaneously.

Proven Strategies to Increase Employee Survey Participation

The most successful organizations use a multi-pronged approach that removes barriers while making participation convenient and meaningful for every employee. These proven methods show precisely how to increase employee engagement survey participation.

1. Make It Mobile and Easy to Access

Your frontline employees carry smartphones everywhere and check text messages regularly, even during busy work periods. SMS-based survey delivery reaches these workers instantly without requiring email access or system logins.

Text message surveys eliminate common access barriers. Employees receive a simple text with a survey link that opens immediately on their mobile devices. No passwords, portal navigation, or app downloads required.

Mobile-optimized surveys work on any device. Questions display properly on small screens with large, easy-to-tap answer buttons. Surveys load quickly even with basic data connections common in remote worksites.

Udext's SMS platform delivers surveys directly to employees' phones across multiple industries. Companies using this approach report significantly higher participation rates compared to email-only distribution.

Implementation timeline for mobile-first surveys:

• Week 1: Collect employee phone numbers and consent
• Week 2: Create mobile-friendly survey questions
• Week 3: Test SMS delivery and survey functionality
• Week 4: Launch with automated reminder system 

2. Keep Surveys Short and Relevant

Pulse surveys generate higher participation than annual questionnaires. Brief, focused surveys respect employee time while gathering essential feedback on specific engagement aspects.

Limit surveys to 3-5 questions that address actionable workplace issues. Focus on areas where you can implement improvements based on employee responses.

Effective pulse survey questions:

• "How supported do you feel by your direct supervisor this week?"
• "What one thing would improve your work experience this month?"
• "How likely are you to recommend this company as a great workplace?" 

Find more staff survey questions here → 

SMS tools support micro-surveys that employees complete in under 90 seconds. This format encourages participation during brief breaks when longer surveys would be ignored.

Regular pulse surveys provide better insights than single annual assessments. You capture changing sentiment and can respond quickly to emerging issues before they impact retention.

3. Communicate the "Why" Clearly

Employees participate more when they understand survey purposes and potential outcomes. Clear communication about survey goals builds trust and increases response rates across all employee segments.

Send pre-survey messages that explain what you hope to learn and how feedback will influence workplace decisions. Avoid corporate language and speak directly about specific improvements you're considering.

Effective pre-survey communication includes:

• Specific examples of past survey-driven improvements
• Timeline for reviewing results and taking action
• Explanation of how anonymity protects individual responses
• Direct connection between participation and workplace enhancement

SMS campaigns allow you to build context through multiple brief touchpoints. Send preparatory messages that reinforce survey importance without overwhelming employees.

4. Time It Right

Strategic timing significantly impacts participation rates. Study your workforce patterns to identify optimal survey windows that avoid busy periods and respect different shift schedules.

Industry-specific timing recommendations:

• Healthcare: Mid-week during day shifts, avoiding shift changes
• Manufacturing: Beginning of shifts before production demands peak
• Construction: Early morning or end-of-day, when teams gather
• Retail: Mid-morning on slower weekdays, avoiding weekend rushes

Consider multiple time zones and shift patterns when planning survey distribution. Day shift workers prefer midday surveys, while night shift employees respond better to morning messages.

Automated SMS workflows maintain optimal timing. Schedule personalized delivery times that match individual employee preferences and work schedules across your entire organization.

5. Assure Confidentiality

Address privacy concerns directly through clear, simple explanations. Many employees need explicit reassurance before participating honestly in engagement surveys.

Explain how anonymous survey links protect individual responses. Describe technical measures that prevent response tracking from being traced back to specific employees or departments.

Use third-party survey platforms when possible to increase trust. External platforms provide additional separation between employee responses and internal HR systems.

Avoid collecting unnecessary demographic information that might make employees feel identifiable. Focus on essential data that supports meaningful analysis without compromising privacy.

Communicate confidentiality through multiple channels:

• Pre-survey SMS messages explaining privacy protections
• Clear statements at the beginning of the survey about anonymity measures
• Follow-up messages reinforcing that individual responses remain confidential

6. Close the Feedback Loop

Survey participation increases significantly when employees see results and actions from previous surveys. Transparency about outcomes builds trust for future engagement efforts across your organization.

Share high-level employee engagement survey results with all employees within 30 days of survey completion. Use simple language and visual formats that make findings accessible to workers at all education levels.

Announce specific actions you'll take based on survey feedback. Connect improvements directly to employee suggestions whenever possible, showing clear cause-and-effect relationships.

Effective feedback loop communication:

• Summary of key findings in easy-to-understand language
• Specific action items with implementation timelines
• Progress updates on improvements over the following months
• Recognition of employee participation in driving positive changes

Use SMS communication to deliver result summaries and action updates. Brief messages keep all employees informed regardless of email access or portal usage patterns.

While these strategies form the foundation of successful survey participation, the right technology platform can amplify their effectiveness exponentially.

How Udext Helps Improve Survey Participation

Udext's SMS-first platform addresses the core challenges preventing high survey participation across industries with large deskless workforces. The platform provides practical solutions for organizations seeking to increase employee engagement survey participation.

• SMS-first communication reaches 100% of your workforce. Unlike email systems that exclude frontline workers, text messaging connects with every employee who has a phone. This eliminates the primary barrier preventing comprehensive engagement measurement.
• Two-way SMS communication creates natural conversation flows around survey participation. Employees can ask questions, request clarification, or provide additional feedback through the same channel they use to receive surveys.
• Mobile-optimized survey distribution ensures universal access. Surveys load quickly on any smartphone and work with basic data connections standard in remote worksites, manufacturing facilities, or healthcare environments.
• Automated reminder workflows maintain engagement without overwhelming employees. The platform schedules personalized follow-ups that respect individual work schedules across different shifts and time zones.
• Multi-language support removes communication barriers for diverse workforces. Surveys and messages can be delivered in employees' preferred languages, increasing participation across all demographic groups.
• Real-world results demonstrate platform effectiveness across various industries. Organizations consistently achieve higher participation rates and better employee feedback quality when switching from traditional email-based surveys to SMS delivery.
• Advanced analytics help optimize participation strategies. Track which communication approaches generate the best response rates and adjust messaging timing, frequency, and content based on workforce behavior patterns.

Success in engagement surveys comes down to making participation as effortless as sending a text message. See how Udext works for your team → 

Conclusion

Learning how to increase employee engagement survey participation requires strategic thinking about accessibility, timing, and communication methods. Traditional approaches that rely on email and corporate portals automatically exclude significant portions of most workforces.

SMS-first communication transforms survey participation by reaching every employee directly through their preferred communication channel. With thoughtful timing, clear messaging, and consistent follow-through, these strategies create engagement insights representing your entire workforce.

With only 21% of employees globally classified as engaged according to Gallup research, organizations cannot afford incomplete engagement data. The cost of missing critical workforce insights far exceeds the investment in comprehensive communication tools.

Ready to boost your survey participation rates and gain complete insights into employee engagement across your workforce? Discover how Udext's SMS platform can transform your employee communication strategy and deliver the comprehensive engagement data your organization needs to thrive.