This article will guide you on how to create an employee survey about training and development, using proven strategies and tools that save time. With Specific, you can generate a tailored survey in seconds and get right to the feedback that matters.
Steps to create a survey for employees about training and development
If you want to save time, just generate a survey with Specific. It's genuinely that easy—AI takes all the guesswork out, leaving you more time for what matters.
Tell what survey you want.
Done.
You honestly don't even need to read further if you use AI surveys. The AI leverages deep domain knowledge to build expertly crafted questions, and it even follows up with employees to collect deeper insights automatically through conversational, dynamic prompts.
Why running a survey on training and development matters
Let’s be blunt: if you’re not listening to your employees on training and development, you’re leaving profit, productivity, and loyalty on the table. Start with this stat—**companies that prioritize comprehensive training programs report a 24% higher profit margin** than those that don’t invest in development [1]. That’s a margin most leadership teams can’t ignore.
Plus, the productivity gains are real: **organizations with ongoing training see a 37% boost in productivity** [2]. So employees who feel heard about their training needs are contributing more, and they’re sticking around longer. In fact, **94% of employees say they would stay longer at a company investing in their learning** [3].
If you’re not running these feedback loops, you’re risking higher turnover (40% of inadequately trained employees leave within a year [4]) and watching your people fall short of their true potential—**74% feel they aren’t reaching it due to lack of development** [5]. A great survey gets you ahead of these problems. That’s why optimizing surveys for the importance of employee recognition, ongoing feedback, and actionable data is a big deal for any organization.
What makes a good employee survey about training and development?
Building a genuinely valuable survey on training and development means never settling for generic, impersonal forms. Use survey best practices like:
Clear, unbiased questions: Avoid jargon, leading wording, or double-barreled questions.
Conversational tone: Make employees feel comfortable to encourage honest, thoughtful responses.
The key measure of a good survey is the quantity and quality of responses. Ideally, you achieve both—lots of high-quality answers that give you actionable insight. Here’s a quick table to spot the difference:
Bad Practices | Good Practices |
|---|---|
Vague questions (“How is training?”) | Specific questions (“What’s the most useful training you’ve received this year?”) |
Complicated multiple-choice only | Mix of open-ended and structured questions |
One-size-fits-all format | Conversational, adaptive follow-ups |
What are question types with examples for employee survey about training and development?
Open-ended questions are fantastic for uncovering new insights, letting employees express their thoughts in their own words. Use them when you need specific examples or context:
What additional skills or knowledge do you wish were covered in current training programs?
Can you share a memorable experience from a recent learning session?
Single-select multiple-choice questions help you quantify feedback and spot trends. They’re best when choices are clear, making data easy to analyze:
Which training format do you find most effective?
In-person workshops
Online modules
Peer-to-peer coaching
NPS (Net Promoter Score) question is perfect to benchmark how likely employees are to recommend your company’s training. You can generate an NPS survey for employees on this topic instantly. Example:
How likely are you to recommend our training and development programs to colleagues? (0 = Not at all likely, 10 = Extremely likely)
Followup questions to uncover "the why" are where the magic happens. They’re essential after both open and closed questions when you want more depth or clarity—for example, if a respondent gives a low rating or provides a short answer, ask:
What was missing from the training you attended?
Want more inspiration and question ideas? Dive into our collection of best questions for employee surveys about training and development, with practical tips for crafting each type.
What is a conversational survey?
A conversational survey feels like a human conversation—dynamic, adaptive, and natural. Unlike traditional surveys that ask a string of disconnected questions, conversational surveys use AI to create a flowing dialogue, making feedback less of a chore and more of a chat. When you build surveys using an AI generator, the survey adapts to each answer, feels intuitive, and does the heavy lifting—saving you from manual setups and one-size-fits-all forms.
Manual surveys | AI-generated surveys |
|---|---|
Static, fixed order | Dynamic, context-aware |
Hard to personalize | Personalized follow-ups |
Time-consuming to analyze | AI-powered instant insights |
Why use AI for employee surveys? With AI, you get expert-crafted questions, instant follow-ups, seamless editing (see the AI survey editor), and the ability to analyze even complex feedback at scale. Check out this guide on analyzing responses from employee surveys about training and development—it shows just how much easier feedback analysis has become with AI. “AI survey example” and “AI conversational surveys” are more than buzzwords—they’re a game changer. And yes, Specific nails the conversational survey experience, so both the survey creator and every employee participating actually enjoy the process.
The power of follow-up questions
Follow-up questions transform surveys from checklists into real conversations. With automated AI follow-up questions, you don’t just collect data—you uncover stories and actionable insights. The platform’s AI asks the right question at the right time, based on what an employee just said, unlocking smarter context and richer answers without endless emails back and forth.
Employee: “The last training was okay.”
AI follow-up: “What could have made the training more valuable for you?”
How many followups to ask? In our experience, 2–3 targeted follow-up questions are enough to reveal the full picture, especially when you enable a soft “skip” to respect the respondent’s time. Specific gives you control over this setting, allowing for depth without fatigue.
This makes it a conversational survey: the experience feels like a real dialogue, not just a form—so you get depth and honesty in responses.
AI survey response analysis: analyzing rich, unstructured feedback is simple with AI. Curious how? Read our piece on AI survey response analysis, or try chatting with responses directly—every insight at your fingertips.
This automated, real-time follow-up approach is still new—try generating a survey and see the difference for yourself.
See this training and development survey example now
Get the insights you need from employees—instantly and conversationally. Create your own survey today and turn feedback into your competitive edge.