Diversity, Equity & Inclusion surveys are your mirror and compass for culture. With the right diversity and inclusion survey questions you see where people feel belonging, where fairness is missing, and where voice is shut down – long before issues show up in turnover or formal complaints.

Survey questions

All closed items use a 5‑point Likert scale: 1 = Strongly disagree, 2 = Disagree, 3 = Neither agree nor disagree, 4 = Agree, 5 = Strongly agree. Tags at the end show recommended use: [Annual], [Pulse], or both.

Belonging & Respect (Q1–Q7)

Psychological Safety & Voice (Q8–Q14)

Fairness & Opportunity (Q15–Q21)

Leadership & Role Modelling (Q22–Q28)

Team Culture & Everyday Interactions (Q29–Q35)

Policies, Processes & Flexibility (Q36–Q42)

Recruitment & Onboarding Experience (Q43–Q49)

Overall Inclusion & Change Readiness (Q50–Q56)

Overall rating / NPS‑style question

Open-ended questions

Decision & action table

Key takeaways

Definition & scope

This DEI survey measures how people experience Zugehörigkeit, psychologische Sicherheit, Fairness and voice at work – not legal compliance. It is designed for all employees in DACH (and beyond) and focuses on behavior, processes and culture, not detailed demographics. Results guide decisions on leadership behavior, training, policy updates and talent practices, and can sit alongside your existing engagement or employee experience surveys. For broader engagement topics you can reuse ideas from employee engagement survey question libraries.

Survey blueprints

You rarely need all 57 closed items at once. Below are four ready blueprints you can run immediately.

a) Company-wide DEI baseline survey (12–15 items)

b) Team-level Inclusion pulse (10–12 items)

c) Leadership & Inclusion survey (12–15 items)

d) Post-change DEI pulse (10–12 items)

Use after restructuring, policy changes, or leadership shifts to check inclusion impact.

Scoring & thresholds

Use simple, transparent rules so leaders and Betriebsrat can quickly see where action is needed. The 1–5 scale should be interpreted as:

For Q57 (0–10), calculate an Inclusion NPS: promoters (9–10) minus detractors (0–6). A value >20 is strong, 0–20 is okay, <0 is a warning. Translate scores into decisions with simple rules: if any dimension <3,0, you plan a follow‑up conversation and at least one documented action; if gaps between groups exceed 0,5–0,7 points, you investigate patterns in processes such as performance management or promotions. You can align these thresholds with your broader talent processes described in resources like the performance management guide.

Follow-up & responsibilities

No DEI survey should end with a PDF report. Decide upfront who acts on which signal and by when. Clear ownership avoids “HR owns everything” frustration and helps leadership see DEI as part of good management.

Set response times: critical feedback about harassment or discrimination (in comments) triggers HR review within ≤24 h. Low but not critical scores (e.g. 3,0–3,2 on belonging) trigger action planning within 30 days. Use a simple tracking sheet or a talent platform like Sprad Growth to assign actions, owners and deadlines, and to check completion rates in your regular people reviews.

Fairness & bias checks

One core purpose of DEI surveys is to uncover invisible gaps. In DACH you must balance this with Datenschutz and small populations. Work with coarse, voluntary demographic questions and clear anonymity thresholds (for example, no breakdowns below 10 responses, or combine small groups).

Typical patterns you might spot: women rate psychological safety 0,6 points lower than men in one business unit; remote workers in a certain country score 0,8 points lower on belonging than on‑site colleagues; part‑time employees rate opportunity and visibility lower than full‑time staff. In each case, respond with targeted listening (focus groups), process checks (e.g. meeting practices, promotion criteria) and support for the affected managers.

Examples / use cases

Example 1: Low belonging for remote LGBTQ+ employees

A tech company saw overall Belonging at 3,9, but remote LGBTQ+ staff scored 2,7 on Q1–Q7 and left multiple comments about isolation in hybrid meetings. Leadership treated this as a red flag. They launched virtual community spaces, trained managers on inclusive meeting facilitation and created guidelines for remote‑first collaboration. In the next DEI pulse, Voice scores in that group rose by 0,9 points and participation in team rituals increased visibly.

Example 2: Fairness gap in promotions

A business unit in a manufacturing company scored 4,0 on average Fairness, but women rated Q15–Q20 at 3,1 compared to 4,2 for men. An audit showed that “stretch assignments” were often given informally to people already in the in‑group. HR and leadership introduced transparent criteria, formal nomination processes and cross‑department mentoring. Within one year, promotion rates and scores for Fairness & Opportunity between men and women converged, while engagement and retention improved. You can connect this work with initiatives around internal mobility and talent development, as outlined in the talent development guide.

Example 3: Policy confusion after hybrid work changes

After rolling out new hybrid work rules in Germany and Austria, one company saw Q36 and Q42 drop below 3,0. Comments showed that line managers interpreted the new policy differently, creating perceived unfairness. HR simplified guidelines, added Q&A sessions for managers and works council, and communicated clear examples of “good practice.” A short DEI pulse 3 months later showed scores back above 3,8.

Implementation & updates

Think of DEI surveys as part of your regular people cycle, not a one‑off project. In DACH this means aligning with Betriebsrat, GDPR, and your existing employee survey program. A helpful starting point is the checklist for anonymity and data handling in resources like the employee survey templates with GDPR checklist.

Track a small set of metrics each cycle: response rate (target ≥60 % for company‑wide, ≥50 % for pulses), average scores per dimension, largest subgroup gaps, Inclusion NPS, action‑plan completion rate and voluntary turnover by key groups. Discuss these numbers regularly with senior leaders, similar to how you treat performance and succession metrics or how you would manage engagement using a framework like the employee engagement & retention guide.

Conclusion

Done well, a DEI survey becomes your early‑warning system for culture. You see where Zugehörigkeit and psychologische Sicherheit are fragile, where Fairness in opportunities is drifting and where voice is muted – long before that shows up as attrition or reputational damage. You also get a structured way to celebrate and scale what already works.

The real value, though, comes from what happens after you close the survey: honest conversations with teams, focused actions with clear owners and deadlines, and transparent updates about progress and setbacks. That combination improves conversation quality between managers and employees, narrows your list of priorities to a manageable set and signals that leadership takes inclusion seriously.

Concrete next steps: pick one of the blueprints and adapt the questions to your context; clarify governance with Datenschutz and Betriebsrat; load the items into your survey tool; and agree in advance how you will share results and who decides on actions. Once the first cycle is done, use the follow‑up pulses and thresholds in this template to keep improving – steadily rather than only when a crisis hits.

FAQ

How often should we run this DEI survey?

Most organizations run a full DEI survey annually and 1–2 shorter pulses in between. Annual surveys give enough data to see trends and evaluate bigger changes like policies or leadership programs. Pulses use 10–12 targeted questions to check if actions are working, for example in teams with low scores on belonging or psychological safety. Ensure you have capacity to act on each wave before adding more pulses.

What should we do if scores are extremely low in one team?

If scores fall below 3,0 across several DEI items or comments describe acute issues, treat this as a priority risk. HR should review the data quickly, speak to the manager’s manager, and plan immediate listening sessions with the team. Where comments hint at harassment or discrimination, involve Employee Relations or Legal and follow existing procedures. Document every step and communicate next actions transparently without exposing individuals.

How do we handle sensitive demographic data under GDPR?

In DACH, treat any data about ethnicity, religion, health or sexual orientation as special category data. The safest approach is: make demographic questions voluntary, use broad categories, explain purpose clearly, and never publish results where fewer than 10 people are in a group. As one overview from Considerati on D&I and GDPR suggests, strong anonymisation and data minimisation are key. Work with your Datenschutz and, if applicable, Betriebsrat.

How can we encourage honest responses from employees?

Trust comes from three things: clear communication, visible action, and robust anonymity. Explain who will see raw data, how small groups are protected, and how long data is stored. Share past examples where survey feedback led to real change. Make sure managers never see individual‑level answers, only aggregates that meet your anonymity threshold. Finally, keep surveys focused and short enough so people feel their time is respected.

How do we update the question bank over time?

Use each survey cycle as input for the next one. Review which items correlate strongly with outcomes you care about (turnover, engagement) and which draw many comments. Retain those as core. Retire questions that show little variation and do not inform decisions. Add 2–3 experimental items per year on emerging topics, such as AI and Fairness, and decide after one or two cycles whether to keep them. Document changes so you can still interpret trends correctly.