The 2025 Employee Engagement Surveys is now open:

What is the King County Employee Engagement Survey? The survey is one of two surveys for nonprofits that allow organizations to compare pay levels, benefits, and employee satisfaction. The other survey is a Wage & Benefits Survey. Both surveys are sponsored by the King County Veterans, Seniors, and Human Services Levy (VSHSL) and conducted by 501 Commons. The Employee Engagement Survey asks participants to rate their work experience in terms of standards such as supervisorial support, work environment, compensation, leadership diversity, and others.

What kind of survey is an Employee Engagement Survey? Employee Engagement Surveys (sometimes called climate surveys) are used by nonprofits and businesses to better understand employee opinions about things that they might not feel comfortable saying aloud. They've been demonstrated to provide vital information to support managers since responses are anonymous. Read the Harvard Business Review article "Employee Surveys Are Still One of the Best Ways to Measure Engagement."

Who can participate in the survey? Full-time and part-time employees of all nonprofit organizations located in or serving King County, as well as all employees of nonprofits outside of King County but who reside in King County, are invited to participate. Volunteers, board members, interns, and subcontractors cannot participate.

How can I participate? You can access the Employee Engagement Survey by using this link or through your employer if they have chosen to participate. You (and your colleagues) can still take the survey even if your employer is not promoting the survey to staff members. Individual responses are entirely confidential and are submitted directly to 501 Commons survey staff.

Why should I participate? Your answers will help employers learn from you and your peers about what influences your job satisfaction and makes you feel supported at work. Using this information, employers can compare employment practices across all nonprofits in King County and identify any needed changes.

Results from the 2021 and 2023 surveys helped inform a new workforce stabilization strategy that was included in the 2023 renewal of the VSHSL. The strategy invests $57 million to improve staff recruitment and retention within nonprofit organizations providing human services in King County. King County has also used the results to encourage public and private funders to provide better compensation for nonprofit workers.

When does the survey begin and end? You will be able to take the survey beginning February 24, 2025. The survey closes May 25, 2025.

How long does the survey take to complete? It should take about 15-20 minutes to complete.

Are surveys available in languages other than English? Yes, the online survey is available in both English and Spanish. When you access the survey you can choose the language you prefer. Please reach out if you have a need for a text-only version of the survey in the following languages: Amharic, Arabic, Simplified Chinese, Korean, Russian, Somali, Ukrainian, and Vietnamese.

Was this survey conducted before? Yes, the the Employee Engagement Survey was previously conducted in 2021 and 2023. The reports for the Employee Engagement Survey (and the companion Wage & Benefits Survey) are available on the Putting People First page.

Will I be able to see the results of the survey? Yes, aggregate survey results will be posted on the 501 Commons website in the fall of 2025 once all the responses have been analyzed. Previous years' reports are available on the Putting People First page.

How will the information be used? If more than 5 people in your organization participate in the survey, your leadership will receive an organizational report with valuable information about how employees feel about their jobs, their satisfaction with compensation, and their overall perceptions of the workplace. The results allow your organization’s leadership to identify issues they could address to improve employee engagement and services to clients. Organizational reports will include only summary information so your response will remain confidential (see Will my responses be confidential? for more information).

All responses to the survey will also be summarized in an aggregate county-wide report that will be available online for free. This report gives employers the opportunity to hear the perspectives of nonprofit employees across several King County organizations and learn what factors affect job satisfaction for people working in the sector as a whole.

Who is conducting the survey? The survey is sponsored by the King County Veterans, Seniors, and Human Services Levy (VSHSL) and conducted by 501 Commons. 501 Commons is a nonprofit organization that provides expertise through 30+ consulting and capacity building services to nonprofits in the Pacific Northwest and beyond since 1989. We have been providing employee survey services for many years.

Will my responses be confidential? Yes, all survey responses are confidential. Your responses will be submitted directly to 501 Commons' survey staff. Individual employee responses will not be provided to your employer or to King County.

All survey responses will be summarized in an aggregate King County-wide report. This report does not include any individual responses or organization names, so your participation is completely anonymous.

When enough employees participate, organizations will receive a tailored organizational report with summary results for their employees. To ensure confidentiality, 501 Commons will not provide an organization with a report unless at least five employees participate in the survey. No individual responses are included in the organizational report. Results are only reported in the aggregate, which means visual charts will look like the example below. As you can see, it's not possible to see what someone in a specific demographic group (e.g. age) answered for other questions.

Since organizational reports have fewer respondents, some visuals from the county-wide report will not be in the organizational reports. For example, we will not include any visuals where responses to a question are split by a demographic, like age group (e.g. Reasons People Would Leave Their Position by Age). Some very specific demographic questions, like transgender identity, will also be excluded from the organizational report to provide greater anonymity for respondents.

Where can I go to get help with the survey or ask additional questions? You can contact Jenny Lundqvist at jenny@501Commons.org for assistance. All inquiries will be confidential.