Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Survey Questions

Why it matters

How people experience their working environment cannot be assessed from a policy document alone. The questions here probe the gap between what an organisation says about diversity, equity, and inclusion and what employees actually encounter day to day. The survey asks whether employees believe they have equal opportunities to advance, whether they trust the organisation to treat everyone fairly and equitably, how confident they are that a discrimination concern would be acted on, and whether they feel a genuine sense of belonging. It also looks upward, asking whether leaders have backgrounds and experiences people can relate to and whether senior leadership is equipped to lead a culturally diverse workforce. Together these items give you a picture of how equitable and inclusive the organisation feels from the inside.

What the survey covers

The survey is built around a short set of context questions and a set of responses that can be compared. The context questions record the date conducted, who prepared the survey, the location, department or team, and years of employment. The substantive questions fall into two groups: - A 1-to-10 rating of how inclusive the respondent finds their immediate work environment. - A series of statements answered on a five-point agreement scale: **Strongly Agree**, **Agree**, **Neither Agree nor Disagree**, **Disagree**, and **Strongly Disagree**. The agreement statements cover equal opportunity to advance, management's role in developing every team member's talents, trust in fair and equitable treatment, confidence that management would act on a discrimination concern, sense of belonging, leaders with relatable backgrounds and experiences, senior leadership's ability to lead a culturally diverse workforce, respectful and professional conduct between colleagues, demonstrated commitment to valuing workforce diversity, and active inclusion in decisions that affect daily work. Two open questions close the substantive portion, inviting specific actions or initiatives that could strengthen diversity and inclusion and any additional feedback or suggestions.

Using the results

The value of the survey is in what you do with the answers. The agreement statements are designed to be read alongside the department and tenure data, so you can see whether inclusion and fairness are experienced consistently across the organisation or whether some teams are falling behind. The two open questions are where respondents say what would actually help. Treat the suggestions as the raw material for a small set of tracked actions. Repeat the survey after those actions have had time to take effect, using the same scale, so the comparison is meaningful rather than anecdotal.

Frequently Asked Questions

The first five question fields capture context rather than opinion: date conducted, who prepared the survey, location, department or team, and years of service. Department or team and years of employment act as the demographic variables that let you cut the results by group.

The survey uses two rating formats. One question asks respondents to rate how inclusive they find their immediate work environment on a scale of 1 to 10. The rest of the closed questions use a five-point agreement scale: Strongly Agree, Agree, Neither Agree nor Disagree, Disagree, and Strongly Disagree.

The items probe equal access to advancement, how actively management develops team members' talents, trust in fair and equitable treatment, confidence that management would act on a discrimination concern, sense of belonging, whether leaders share relatable backgrounds and experiences, whether senior leadership can lead a culturally diverse workforce, everyday respect between colleagues, demonstrated commitment to valuing diversity, and inclusion in decisions affecting daily work.

Open questions ask what specific actions or initiatives could strengthen diversity and inclusion and invite any additional feedback, experiences, or suggestions about the organization's diversity and inclusion efforts. Together they turn the ratings into concrete suggestions you can act on.

The final fields capture a signature and the finished timestamp, and record the real start date and real end date of the exercise. These give the results a clear accountability trail while keeping individual identity separate from the analysis.

Written by

Arne Reis

Founder

Process optimizer with 25 years of expertise, focused on operational excellence in quality, maintenance, EHS, and commissioning. Emphasizes innovative solutions and top-quality standards.

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