How often do assigned deadlines compete with each other?
Find the deadlines that collide and the period of overlap; workload totals can hide specific scheduling conflicts.
People at work / Survey guide
People at work · Practical field guide
Workload balance survey
Identify conflicting priorities and work that exceeds available capacity.
Opens product registration. Example questions are not imported automatically.
QUESTION WORDING LAB
Assumes a positive answer
Would you agree that workload balance was a completely positive experience?
Ask about the actual situation
How often do assigned deadlines compete with each other?
The initial wording assumes a positive evaluation. The revised question asks about the actual situation so a respondent can describe difficulty, uncertainty, or a different experience.
A useful starting point
A questionnaire for workload balance.
Identify conflicting priorities and work that exceeds available capacity. Choose the questions that fit the experience you are investigating; avoid asking people to evaluate a step they did not encounter.
If nothing was unclear or difficult, say so. Skip questions about steps you did not experience; use not applicable where appropriate.
Which activity takes time without adding enough value?
Identify low-value recurring work and who uses its output before suggesting that it be removed.
What could be stopped or deferred this month?
Invite a concrete candidate for deferral; do not assume the respondent has authority to cancel a commitment.
Which recurring deadline needs a clearer trade-off?
Expose the decision between competing deadlines so the team can state which outcome takes priority.
Who helps decide what to defer when capacity is limited?
Check whether capacity decisions have an owner; avoid placing the responsibility for incompatible demands on individual employees.
If nothing was unclear or difficult, say so. Skip questions about steps you did not experience; use not applicable where appropriate. How often do assigned deadlines compete with each other? Which activity takes time without adding enough value? What could be stopped or deferred this month? Which recurring deadline needs a clearer trade-off? Who helps decide what to defer when capacity is limited?
Download the questions as text ↓
Examples to adapt, rather than a validated research instrument.
Choose the response format
Make room for the explanation.
| Question | Suggested format | What to preserve |
|---|---|---|
| How often do assigned deadlines compete with each other? | Short open text | Find the deadlines that collide and the period of overlap; workload totals can hide specific scheduling conflicts. |
| Which activity takes time without adding enough value? | Short open text | Identify low-value recurring work and who uses its output before suggesting that it be removed. |
| What could be stopped or deferred this month? | Short open text | Invite a concrete candidate for deferral; do not assume the respondent has authority to cancel a commitment. |
| Which recurring deadline needs a clearer trade-off? | Short open text | Expose the decision between competing deadlines so the team can state which outcome takes priority. |
| Who helps decide what to defer when capacity is limited? | Short open text | Check whether capacity decisions have an owner; avoid placing the responsibility for incompatible demands on individual employees. |
Make questions optional where appropriate. If you add a rating scale, label its endpoints, keep one idea per question, and retain a follow-up for reasons. These examples are not a validated measurement instrument.
Before you send it
Check what your wording assumes.
Would you agree that workload balance was a completely positive experience?
How often do assigned deadlines compete with each other?
The initial wording assumes a positive evaluation. The revised question asks about the actual situation so a respondent can describe difficulty, uncertainty, or a different experience.
Read the answers carefully
What the answers cannot tell you.
Measure workload conditions rather than diagnosing stress or health.
Illustrative answers identify three urgent requests with no shared priority owner. This is an illustrative interpretation problem rather than a real customer result. Name the person who can resolve competing deadlines and publish the deferred work.
A worked interpretation example
From a comment to a practical next step.
Illustrative scenario. These are not customer results.
Keep the finding specific
Illustrative answers identify three urgent requests with no shared priority owner.
Choose an action to test
Name the person who can resolve competing deadlines and publish the deferred work.
Check the experience again
After testing the action, revisit this original observation: Illustrative answers identify three urgent requests with no shared priority owner. Repeat the relevant experience prompts with people who encountered the change. Compare specific explanations and sample differences; do not claim causation from the before-and-after responses.
From question to next step
Make the feedback useful.
Set the decision
Write down the decision you want this questionnaire to support: identify conflicting priorities and work that exceeds available capacity.
Invite relevant voices
Invite people who experienced the relevant situation. Explain response handling and include an optional skip or not-applicable route. Measure workload conditions rather than diagnosing stress or health.
Choose an action
Name the person who can resolve competing deadlines and publish the deferred work.
Before you send it
Questions, answered.
What should I learn from this workload balance questionnaire?
Identify conflicting priorities and work that exceeds available capacity. Start with one decision you can act on rather than using the survey to confirm a preferred answer.
What should I look for in the answer to “Which activity takes time without adding enough value?”?
Identify low-value recurring work and who uses its output before suggesting that it be removed.
What would a practical next action look like?
Name the person who can resolve competing deadlines and publish the deferred work. This is an example action to investigate, not a guaranteed improvement.
When should I send this questionnaire?
Ask after respondents have experienced the specific situation in the first prompt: “How often do assigned deadlines compete with each other?” Allow enough time after a proposed change for people to experience it before repeating the questionnaire.
What should I check after changing the process?
After testing the action, revisit this original observation: Illustrative answers identify three urgent requests with no shared priority owner. Repeat the relevant experience prompts with people who encountered the change. Compare specific explanations and sample differences; do not claim causation from the before-and-after responses.
Can I use these questions in SurveyTeams?
Copy the questions or download TXT, CSV, JSON, or a Markdown worksheet and adapt them in your own survey. The product CTA opens registration and does not import the example. Verify the features and terms available in your account.
Does the product screenshot contain this questionnaire?
It shows a separate synthetic event-feedback example used to demonstrate the real builder. Copy or download the questions on this page and adapt them in your own draft. Registration does not import them automatically.
Inside the product
Build and preview your questionnaire in SurveyTeams
Give the feedback request a clear purpose and explain who will read the answers before you add questions. The actual product screenshot shows a separate synthetic post-event demonstration; the example questions on this page are not already loaded in the product.
- Start a manual draft with a title that tells respondents why you are asking. Identify conflicting priorities and work that exceeds available capacity.
- Copy or download the relevant example questions above, then create and add the questions in your draft. Review the question notes before deciding which prompts to keep.
- Check the respondent preview, especially this wording: “How often do assigned deadlines compete with each other?” Include a way to say none or not applicable, and review your response-handling instructions.
Screenshots demonstrate creation and preview. Distribution and results are separate steps; availability varies by account and plan.
Build with SurveyTeams
Build your own workload balance questionnaire.
Use these examples to draft your questionnaire. Create a survey draft, add questions, and check the respondent preview in SurveyTeams. Additional features depend on your account and plan.
Create your survey in SurveyTeams
Opens product registration. Example questions are not imported automatically.
Learn about the product ↗Continue exploring