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Best questions for employee survey about manager support

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Adam Sabla

·

Aug 20, 2025

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Here are some of the best questions for an employee survey about manager support, plus tips for crafting insightful ones. You can use Specific to build such a survey in seconds.

Best open-ended questions for manager support surveys

Open-ended questions in employee surveys uncover deeper perspectives and allow team members to express their thoughts authentically. These questions invite honest feedback and reveal themes that often get missed in rigid formats, making them perfect for exploring nuanced dynamics like manager support. When we really want to understand someone's experience—not just check a box—open-ended prompts are essential. They not only get you richer insights but also make respondents feel genuinely heard, boosting engagement. Open-ended formats are proven to enhance insight quality and participant engagement [1][2].

  1. What does your manager do that helps you feel supported at work?

  2. Can you share an example when you felt truly helped or empowered by your manager?

  3. What’s one thing your manager could do differently to improve your experience?

  4. How comfortable do you feel bringing challenges or concerns to your manager? Why?

  5. Describe a situation where your manager made a positive impact on your work life.

  6. Are there things your manager could learn or develop to better support you?

  7. How does your manager handle feedback, both giving and receiving?

  8. What obstacles make it difficult for your manager to support you as you’d like?

  9. In what ways does your manager help you develop your skills or career?

  10. Is there anything else you wish your manager knew about supporting the team?

These questions prompt authentic stories and observations, helping you spot patterns and improvement areas—all while making employees feel their voices matter [1][2].

Best single-select multiple-choice questions for manager support surveys

Single-select multiple-choice questions work best when you want to quantify responses or simplify choices for your team. Sometimes, people find it easier to pick from a list, especially around sensitive topics, which opens the door for more honest responses and lays the groundwork for deeper follow-up questions. Plus, they’re easy to analyze at a glance and perfect for surfacing issues that warrant more conversation [3].

Question: How supported do you feel by your manager in your daily work?

  • Very supported

  • Somewhat supported

  • Not very supported

  • Not at all supported

Question: Which aspect of your manager’s support do you value the most?

  • Regular feedback

  • Help with career development

  • Support in problem-solving

  • Recognition for achievements

  • Other

Question: How comfortable are you sharing concerns with your manager?

  • Very comfortable

  • Somewhat comfortable

  • Not very comfortable

  • Not at all comfortable

When to follow up with "why?" After a closed-ended or single-select question, always consider a follow-up like “Can you tell me why you feel that way?” This gives employees the space to elaborate, revealing critical context and deeper motivation behind their choices. Without this, you’re stuck with a number—but with a follow-up, you get the story.

When and why to add the "Other" choice? Adding “Other” uncovers angles and needs you hadn’t anticipated. If someone picks "Other," a follow-up lets them explain, surfacing unexpected but important themes no one had on the radar. That can completely change your view on what employees value most in manager support.

Using the NPS question for manager support surveys

The Net Promoter Score (NPS) is a trusted benchmark for measuring loyalty and satisfaction, and it isn't just for customer feedback—it adapts well to employee surveys about manager support too. By asking employees how likely they are to recommend their manager as a leader to others, you gain a quick, powerful metric that shows not only levels of support but also overall trust and satisfaction. This helps identify high-performing managers and areas for growth. If you want to see how this works in practice, try this NPS survey builder for manager support.

The power of follow-up questions

Follow-up questions are the unsung heroes of insightful feedback—they clarify, dig deeper, and often uncover the real story behind surface-level answers. We’ve seen in our work and through industry research that following up makes all the difference [4]. Automated real-time follow-ups, like those offered by Specific’s AI-powered surveys, don’t just save time (no more endless back-and-forth emails). They’re smart: the AI listens to every answer and gently nudges for context, probing appropriately, just as a skilled interviewer would.

  • Employee: “My manager supports me sometimes.”

  • AI follow-up: “Can you share a recent example when you felt supported, or maybe a time when you wished you had received more support?”

How many follow-ups to ask? Usually, 2-3 follow-up questions are ideal before moving on to the next topic. Being persistent helps, but so does respecting the respondent’s time—Specific lets you control this so you capture just the detail you need.

This makes it a conversational survey, not just a static form. Respondents stay more engaged, and you get far better data as a result.

AI survey response analysis: Even if you collect hundreds of open-ended replies, you don’t have to sift through endless text. AI makes analysis easy and quick.

Automated follow-up questions in surveys are still new—but they work. Try generating a survey with Specific and see the difference for yourself.

How to prompt ChatGPT for great manager support survey questions

Want to brainstorm questions using ChatGPT or another GPT-based AI? Start simple, then add context for better results. For a basic list:

Suggest 10 open-ended questions for employee survey about manager support.

But when you give background—like your role, company culture, or what you hope to learn—the quality skyrockets:

I’m leading a team at a fast-growing tech company and want to improve how our managers support their teams. Suggest 10 open-ended questions for an employee survey about manager support, especially about growth conversations and feedback culture.

Once you have a long list, ask:

Look at the questions and categorize them. Output categories with the questions under them.

Then, dive deeper on what you actually care about:

Generate 10 questions for categories “career development” and “feedback culture”.

What is a conversational survey?

A conversational survey is exactly what it sounds like—a survey that feels like a friendly chat instead of a cold, rigid form. Instead of rattling off questions one by one, the AI survey agent listens, adapts, and responds to each employee's input. This keeps people engaged, surfaces rich stories, and transforms routine feedback into a two-way interaction—which often leads to more honest responses.

Traditional surveys are static: you ask, they answer, and that's it. AI survey generation changes that. The AI survey generator approach fuses automation with conversational intelligence—the survey adapts based on what people say, and even the analysis feels more like a chat than a spreadsheet drill-down. The creation process itself is radically faster, too.

Manual Surveys

AI-Generated Conversational Surveys

Static list of questions, no real conversation

Dynamic, adaptive Q&A—feels like chat

Hard to edit or personalize

Easy edits via natural language conversation

Minimal engagement, lower completion rates

Higher engagement, richer feedback

Manual analysis of open-text

Instant AI-powered summaries & insights

Why use AI for employee surveys?
With an AI survey example—especially via a conversational survey builder—you unlock richer data, less frustration, and systemic engagement. The difference is visible: higher completion, better insights, and human-friendly feedback sessions.

Specific offers best-in-class user experience for conversational surveys, making both survey creators and respondents happy. If you want a step-by-step guide, read our guide on creating surveys for manager support.

See this manager support survey example now

See firsthand how an AI-powered conversational survey reveals actionable feedback on manager support—rich insights, real-time follow-up, and seamless analysis all in one place. Make your next move count by elevating your employee feedback process today.

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Sources

  1. Insight7. 5 reasons why open-ended survey questions provide deeper insights

  2. Teamflect. The power of open-ended survey questions for employee engagement

  3. CultureAmp. The science of open-ended vs. multiple-choice questions

  4. Entropik. The importance of open-ended questions: how to make the most of them

Adam Sabla - Image Avatar

Adam Sabla

Adam Sabla is an entrepreneur with experience building startups that serve over 1M customers, including Disney, Netflix, and BBC, with a strong passion for automation.

Adam Sabla

Adam Sabla is an entrepreneur with experience building startups that serve over 1M customers, including Disney, Netflix, and BBC, with a strong passion for automation.

Adam Sabla

Adam Sabla is an entrepreneur with experience building startups that serve over 1M customers, including Disney, Netflix, and BBC, with a strong passion for automation.