Dashboard Reports: Ranking questions

Employee surveys often reveal that several answers matter to employees. However, when employees can select multiple choices, it can be difficult to understand what should be prioritised first and where organisations should focus their actions.

Ranking questions helps uncover clear priorities by asking employees to select and rank their preferences between options. This creates a defined picture of what matters most, helping leaders make more informed decisions and focus actions where they are likely to have the greatest impact.
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Platform administrators can add Ranking questions to employee surveys and view results through the dedicated Ranking question report when an employee survey contains one or more Ranking questions. Questions should be phrased positively for effective scoring in the results report.

Two Ranking question types are available

Rank all - Employees rank every item in the list based on their preferences. This option is useful when you want employees to provide a complete order of priority across all available choices.

Select and rank - Employees choose a prescribed number of items from the list before ranking their selections. This option is useful when you only want employees to identify and rank their highest priorities.

Configuration

When configuring a Ranking question, administrators can:

Ranking questions are designed to be simple and accessible for participants.

Employees can build and revise their rankings using clear numbered positions and can interact with the question using drag-and-drop, click, tap or keyboard controls. Progress guidance helps employees understand how many choices still need to be ranked.

Ranking question results are available through the dedicated Ranking question report.

The report combines every ranking position to show overall employee preferences. Options that are consistently ranked higher receive greater weighting than options ranked lower.

Each option receives points based on its position in an employee’s ranking. If employees rank all five items, the first-ranked option receives five points, the second receives four, and so on, with the fifth receiving one point. If employees select and rank three items from a list of five, the first-ranked selection receives three points, the second receives two and the third receives one. Unranked options receive no points. The report totals the points awarded by all respondents to calculate each option’s overall preference score. Options placed higher, or ranked by more employees, therefore achieve a higher overall score.

Users can:

This helps organisations move beyond understanding what employees support and gain clearer insight into what employees prioritise.

Ranking question results use a points-based scoring system.

Each ranking position is assigned a number of points based on the number of available options being ranked. Options placed higher receive more points than options placed lower.

For example, if employees are ranking five options:

The points for each option are then added together across all survey responses. The option with the highest total score is considered the most preferred overall.

For select and rank questions, points are also based on the number of items employees are asked to rank rather than the total number of options available. The total score reflects the number of positions available in the ranking.

For example, if employees are ranking three options: