An employee of the month survey is a short internal questionnaire that lets managers, peers, or entire teams nominate and vote for a coworker who stood out during a set period, usually a month. It typically asks who deserves recognition, what they did, and why it mattered enough to call out. Most companies use the results to pick a winner and to spot patterns in what good work actually looks like across the team.
Recognition has quietly become one of the more measurable drivers of retention, not just a morale exercise. Employees who feel overlooked are far more likely to start looking for another job, and the data backs that up in the next section.
In this guide, we’ll cover what an employee of the month survey should include, where the format tends to fail, and how to run one that feels fair. You will also find 15 ready-to-use employee of the month survey questions and a look at how this fits into a broader recognition strategy.
What is an employee of the month survey?
An employee of the month survey is a structured way to collect nominations, votes, or feedback about which employee, or team, most deserves recognition for a specific period. A nomination, in this context, is simply a short written case one coworker makes for another, naming a specific contribution rather than a general compliment.
Most versions of the survey ask respondents to name who they are nominating, describe a specific action or result, and rate that person against a short list of criteria such as teamwork, reliability, or communication. Responses are collected through a simple form, tallied by HR or a manager, and used to select a winner who is announced to the wider company.
The format sits closer to a lightweight recognition survey than a full performance review. It is meant to be quick to fill out and easy to read, not a substitute for ongoing feedback.
Employee of the month survey vs. other employee recognition tools
Several recognition tools get lumped together, but each one asks a different question and produces different data.
| Tool | What it measures | Best used for |
|---|---|---|
| Employee of the month survey | One standout contribution in a set period | Public, recurring recognition |
| Employee engagement survey | Overall motivation and connection across many factors | Ongoing culture and retention tracking |
| Performance review | Individual output against role and goals | Compensation and growth conversations |
| 360 feedback tool | Peer, manager, and direct-report input on one person’s skills | Development and coaching |
Knowing the difference matters because an employee of the month program cannot replace an engagement strategy on its own. It works best as one visible, human touchpoint inside a larger system that also includes regular pulse checks and honest one-on-ones.
Why employee of the month recognition still matters
Recognition affects whether people stay, not just how they feel that week.
Only one in three US employees strongly agree they received recognition or praise for good work in the past seven days, and employees who do not feel adequately recognized are about twice as likely to say they will quit within the next year, according to Gallup’s research on employee recognition.
That gap is exactly where a well-run recognition habit, including a public program like employee of the month, closes the distance between managers who think they show appreciation and employees who do not feel it. Running a workplace culture survey alongside the program can confirm whether staff actually notice and value the effort, rather than assuming they do.
A visible program also gives newer or quieter employees a clear look at what “good work” means at your company, since nominations usually explain the reasoning, not just the name.
Pros and cons of an employee of the month program
Before deciding to run one, it helps to see the honest trade-offs side by side.
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| Gives quick, visible recognition to good work | Can feel like a popularity contest if not structured well |
| Costs little to nothing to launch | Only rewards one person, which can discourage the rest of the team |
| Creates real examples of what good work looks like | Easy to repeat the same few winners without noticing |
| Works for both individuals and teams | Says little about long-term performance or growth |
| Easy to run through an existing survey tool | Can lose meaning fast if it becomes routine or predictable |
How to run a fair and effective employee of the month survey
The programs that hold up over time share a few habits: they ask for specifics, they rotate the pool fairly, and they change based on feedback.
- Segment the vote.
Run the survey by department or small team instead of company-wide, so a few high-visibility employees do not win by default every time.
- Ask for a specific example, not just a name.
A nomination that says “helped a client renew a contract after a rough onboarding” carries more weight than “great teammate,” and gives the winner something concrete to hear back.
- Open the category to teams.
Some months an entire team carried the outcome, so the survey should let people nominate a group instead of forcing a single name.
- Publish the criteria in advance.
Employees trust the result more when they know what they are being judged on before votes come in.
- Review and adjust every quarter.
Ask managers and staff what felt fair and what did not, then change the questions or the voting group instead of running the same format indefinitely.
One mid-size support team switched from a company-wide vote to department-level nominations after noticing the same three employees had won for five months straight. Complaints about fairness dropped once the pool was split and specific-example questions were added.
Employee of the month survey questions you can use today
The best employee of the month survey questions mix a short nomination form with a few multiple-choice criteria and two or three open-ended prompts that ask for specifics.
Nomination basics
- Who are you nominating, an individual or a team?
- What is the nominee’s full name and department?
- If nominating a team, which team or group are you recognizing?
- How long have you worked directly with this person or team?
Judging criteria
- Consistently goes above the expected scope of the role
- Reliable with deadlines and follow-through
- Communicates clearly with teammates and clients
- Takes ownership of problems without being asked
- Supports or mentors other team members
- Handles pressure or setbacks without affecting the team
- Represents the company’s values in day-to-day work
Open-ended prompts
- What specific action or result made this person stand out this month?
- How did this contribution affect the team, a client, or a project outcome?
- What would you like this person to keep doing?
- Would you like to add any other feedback about this nominee?
A ready-made employee benefits survey template can save time if you want to bundle recognition questions with a broader check-in the same month. Building this inside online survey software lets you add branching logic that automatically skips the individual-only questions whenever someone selects a team nomination.
Common mistakes that undermine employee of the month programs
Most employee of the month programs fail for a handful of repeatable reasons, and most of them are fixable.
- Letting the same few people win repeatedly, which signals the program only rewards visibility, not effort.
- Skipping the “why,” so winners and the rest of the team never learn what specifically earned the recognition.
- Rolling it out company-wide from day one instead of piloting with one department first.
- Treating it as a replacement for regular one-on-ones or broader employee engagement ideas instead of one piece of a larger effort.
- Ignoring negative feedback about the process itself, which erodes trust in every future round.
How to measure whether your recognition program is working
Track participation, nomination diversity, and a change in engagement or retention data over two or three cycles, not just who won.
- Nomination volume by department, to catch teams that never participate.
- The number of unique nominees per cycle, to catch repeat-winner patterns early.
- Whether junior staff nominate and get nominated at rates similar to senior staff.
A program that looks popular can still be failing if the same handful of names keep showing up or if only managers submit nominations. Running the employee of the month survey alongside a platform like QuestionPro Employee Experience makes it easier to see whether recognition scores move together with the nominations, instead of guessing from anecdotes alone.
One program will not fix a recognition problem
An employee of the month survey can genuinely move morale, but only when it is fair, specific, and open to change. On its own, it cannot fix a culture where day-to-day appreciation is missing. It works best as one visible layer inside a wider recognition habit built from regular feedback and honest conversations, not as the whole strategy.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
A survey usually collects votes or ratings from many people and produces a ranked result, while a nomination form is typically a single written submission. Many programs use a nomination form to gather write-ups, then a short survey to vote among finalists.
Monthly is the default, but quarterly works better for smaller teams where the same few people would otherwise win repeatedly. Slowing the cadence gives more employees a real chance at recognition and keeps the criteria feeling achievable rather than routine.
Votes should stay anonymous, but nominations should not. Employees write more honest, specific nominations when their vote is private, while public nomination write-ups double as recognition the nominee can actually read and keep.
Peer-to-peer recognition tools that let anyone praise a coworker in the moment, paired with a short monthly pulse survey, tend to reach more people than a single monthly winner and avoid the popularity-contest problem entirely.
Most teams can run one for free using a basic survey tool, since the format only needs a handful of questions and light logic. Costs rise only if you add advanced reporting, branching, or integration with a larger employee experience platform.
