This article will guide you on how to create an Employee survey about Return To Office Experience. Specific makes it effortless—use our AI survey generator to build your own in seconds and start gathering real insights.
Steps to create a survey for employees about return to office experience
If you want to save time, just click this link to generate a survey with Specific now.
Tell what survey you want.
Done.
That’s it—you don’t actually need to read further, but we’ll go deeper so you understand the value. AI uses expert knowledge to craft your survey, and it even asks respondents follow-up questions for rich, actionable insights in a conversational way. If you ever want to start from scratch or create something custom, you can also use our AI-powered survey builder for any topic or format.
Why employee surveys on return to office experience are essential
Running surveys about return to office experience isn’t just a formality—it’s a strategic move. We all know how workforce expectations have shifted, but quantifying those sentiments gives you real leverage.
Understand evolving preferences: Employee preferences aren’t what they used to be. 37% of U.S. job seekers want fully remote roles, and 60% prefer hybrid arrangements—that’s a majority looking for flexibility [1]. Ignoring these voices means risking disengagement and misunderstanding team needs.
Optimize productivity & performance: Surveys help you go beyond gut feelings. Gallup data confirms that remote and hybrid employees show higher engagement than those fully on-site [1]. If you’re not checking in with your people, you’re missing out on vital insights about what drives motivation.
Retain your best people: High engagement leads to higher retention. Employees who feel heard and involved are less likely to look elsewhere. If you’re not running these surveys, you risk missing early warning signs of churn and frustration.
The importance of employee recognition surveys and actionable employee feedback can’t be overstated—these tools put the human experience first, so your RTO (return to office) strategy resonates, not falls flat.
What makes a good survey about return to office experience?
Quality matters—great surveys are clear, unbiased, and use a conversational tone that invites honesty. You want people to open up, not clam up.
Clear questions: Ambiguity confuses respondents and muddies your data. Always ask direct, simple questions that get to the real issue.
Unbiased phrasing: Leading or loaded questions corrupt the results. Neutral language fosters trust and increases accuracy.
Conversational tone: People respond to authenticity. Phrasing questions like a real chat invites honest, casual input—especially effective in conversational AI surveys.
Bad practices | Good practices |
|---|---|
Why do you dislike being in the office? | What is your experience with returning to the office? |
Don’t you think remote work is better? | How do you feel about remote vs. in-office work? |
The only true barometer of survey quality is quantity and quality of responses—aim for both to get the full value from your feedback.
What types of questions work best for employee surveys about return to office experience?
Open-ended questions deliver rich, qualitative feedback—perfect for capturing the voice of your employees and uncovering unexpected themes. Use these when you want stories, challenges, or honest advice. Examples:
What was the biggest challenge you faced returning to the office?
How has your day-to-day work changed since coming back on-site?
Single-select multiple-choice questions make data easy to analyze and compare. They’re ideal for measuring sentiment or tracking trends. For example:
How would you describe your current work arrangement preference?
Fully remote
Hybrid (some days in-office, some remote)
Fully in-office
No preference
NPS (Net Promoter Score) question is a classic for understanding advocacy and loyalty. Run one whenever you want a simple, quantifiable score. You can generate a NPS survey for employees about return to office experience instantly. Example:
On a scale of 0 to 10, how likely are you to recommend our company’s return-to-office policy to a colleague?
Followup questions to uncover "the why" are great for adding depth. When a response feels incomplete or vague, ask a followup to get context, motivations, or additional detail. Example:
If someone answers “Hybrid”, you could ask: What makes the hybrid model work best for you?
If you want more ideas or to see the best questions for employee surveys on return to office experience, check out our comprehensive list for tips on wording and structure.
What is a conversational survey?
Conversational surveys are interactive and feel like a natural chat between two humans. Instead of filling out static forms, respondents answer questions one at a time, with the AI steering the conversation based on previous answers. This creates a more inviting, less transactional experience.
Manual survey creation | AI-generated conversational survey |
|---|---|
Manual question writing | AI drafts expert-level questions instantly |
Pre-set linear questions only | Dynamic follow-ups based on real answers |
Slow, task-heavy process | Survey is ready in seconds |
Boring, form-like UX | Feels like a real conversation |
Why use AI for employee surveys? Frankly, it’s a game changer. With AI generation, you move from form-building drudgery to fast, expert-quality output. AI survey example flows adapt to every answer, probe deeper where needed, and cut through the noise with smart, relevant followup questions. If you want the best-in-class conversational experience for both creators and respondents, Specific is the way to go. You can even edit your survey by simply chatting with our AI survey editor.
If you want a deeper walkthrough, see our article on how to create a survey and analyze responses—it covers everything from setup to insights.
The power of follow-up questions
One overlooked factor in survey design is the transformative power of follow-up questions. Instead of stopping at the first answer, you drill for the “why” behind every response. Our automatic AI followup questions feature lets Specific’s AI act just like a skilled interviewer: it listens, probes deeper, and builds context in real time. That’s what makes a survey truly conversational—and game-changing for high-quality feedback.
Employee: “I prefer hybrid because it’s less stressful.”
AI follow-up: “Can you share what aspects of being in the office feel stressful compared to working remotely?”
How many followups to ask? Usually, 2-3 carefully crafted followups are all you need for rich detail, without fatiguing the respondent. The system should allow respondents to skip to the next main question when enough information is collected—Specific supports this out of the box, so you stay efficient.
This makes it a conversational survey: When you let answers trigger natural followups, you’re creating a two-way dialogue that’s both respectful and insightful.
AI survey response analysis and analyzing unstructured feedback sounds daunting, but with AI-powered analysis tools it couldn’t be easier. You just ask the AI what you want to know, and it synthesizes all the qualitative data—no manual sorting required. Want a step-by-step process? We break down how to analyze employee survey responses in detail.
Automated followup questions are still new to many—try generating a survey and experience the difference yourself.
See this return to office experience survey example now
Get actionable feedback, higher participation, and real clarity—see how a well-designed, conversational AI survey on return to office experience can transform your employee insights and decision-making.