(developer) happiness questionnaire

26. January 2016

I use the (developer) happiness questionnaire to collect honest feedback about the happiness of my colleagues. It is based on the book First break all the rules by the Gallup Institute but has been slightly modified.

Gallup tested thousands of questions on millions of employees to find the right questions with the exact wording that provided the highest correlation to business results most companies regularly measure — profitability, productivity, turnover, and safety.

My modified version alters the phrasing of question 9, which originally reads

Are my associates or fellow employees committed to doing quality work.

This is split into two questions:

Are all colleagues working with all their possibilites for the company's goal?
Is it favored to deliver high-quality work results?

This enables to distinguish between individual commitment to qualitity and the overall notion about quality throughout the organization.

A new question is the net promotor score for teams:

If I had a good friend who is looking for a new job, would I recommend them to apply here?

If there is one question that summarizes my understanding of a great place to work is: would I want my friends to work here, too?

I let my colleagues fill out the anonymous form every other month, prior to all-hands meetings.

I use Google Forms and give all colleagues an exact date and time when to fill out the form. This disables any form of tracking / assigning individual answers to team members.

During the all-hands meeting we go through the (accumulated) results and talk about what we can do to improve the ratings. The discussion alone is brilliant and the questionnaire is a great starter for this (necessary) discussion. Nevertheless, it helps you to keep track of the progress in tackling the issues that arise.

These are the 14 questions, I've also translated them into German for a better understanding. Questions are answered in a range between 1 to 10. I keep the resulting median of all answers in a wiki as a history.

Do I know what is expected of me at work?
Weiß ich, was man von mir auf der Arbeit erwartet?
Do I have the materials and equipment I need to do my work right?
Verfüge ich über die Mittel und Ausstattung um meine Arbeit richtig zu machen?
Do I have the opportunity to do what I do best everyday?
Habe ich jeden Tag die Gelegenheit, mein Bestes zu geben?
In the last 7 days, have I received recognition or praise for doing good work?
Habe ich in den letzten 7 Tagen Anerkennung oder Lob für meine Arbeit erhalten?
Does my supervisor or someone at work seem to care about me as a person?
Schätzt mich mein Vorgesetzter oder jemand anderes auf der Arbeit als Person?
Is there someone at work who encourages my development?
Gibt es jemanden auf der Arbeit, der mich zur Weiterentwicklung ermutigt?
At work, do my opinions seem to count?
Wird meine Meinung auf der Arbeit gewürdigt?
Does the mission / purpose of my company make me feel my job is important?
Gibt mir das Unternehmensziel das Gefühl, einen wichtigen Job zumachen?
Are all colleagues working with all their possibilites for the company's goal?
Engagieren sich alle Mitarbeiter voll für das Unternehmensziel?
Is it favored to deliver high-quality work results?
Ist es gewünscht, dass qualitativ hochwertige Arbeitsergebnisse erzielt werden?
Am I confident that the company's goals are actually achievable?
Bin ich davon überzeugt, dass das gesteckte Unternehmensziel erreicht werden kann?
In the last 6 months, has someone talked to me about my progress?
Hat jemand in den letzten 6 Monaten mit mir über meinen Fortschritt gesprochen?
Do I have the opportunity at work to learn and grow?
Habe ich die Möglichkeit auf der Arbeit zu lernen und mich weiter zu entwickeln?
If I had a good friend who is looking for a new job, would I recommend them to apply here?
Würde ich einem guten Freund/in, der/die auf Jobsuche ist, empfehlen sich hier zu bewerben?