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Guide to Performance Culture Quadrant™ Outcome Questions and Alternatives

An overview of the eight Performance Culture Quadrant outcome questions, why we recommend asking them as written, and the alternatives you can use when a question doesn't fit your organization.

Written by Sterling Rayment

An overview of the eight Performance Culture Quadrant outcome questions, why we recommend asking them as written, and the alternatives you can use when a question doesn't fit your organization.

To set up the PCQ in your survey, see Setting up and using the Performance Culture Quadrant™ (PCQ). For the research behind the two outcomes, see The Science Behind Culture Amp's Performance Culture Diagnostic™ (PCD) and Performance Culture Quadrant™ (PCQ). For traditional engagement questions, see Guide to Culture Amp Engagement Questions and Alternatives.

About the PCQ outcome questions

The Performance Culture Quadrant (PCQ) plots two outcomes against each other: Workplace Engagement, measured by five questions, and Performance Confidence, measured by three.

Workplace Engagement

Recommend

I would recommend [Company] as a great place to work

Future Commitment

I see myself still working at [Company] in two years' time

Enthusiasm

I really enjoy the work that I am doing

Immersion

I often find myself immersed in my work here

Belonging

I feel like I belong at [Company]

Performance Confidence

Future Performance

[Company] is in a position to really succeed over the next three years

Performance Consistency

At [Company], we consistently meet or exceed the high goals we set

Market Competitiveness

The products and services [Company] provides are as good as, or better than, our main competitors

We recommend asking all eight PCQ outcome questions as written. We designed and tested them as a set, with each question covering a different part of its outcome. Together, they give a reliable measure of Workplace Engagement and Performance Confidence. Your results on those two outcomes place your organization in one of the four performance culture states, and you can see which state each demographic group sits in. Keeping the wording also lets you compare your results with Culture Amp benchmarks and with your own past surveys.

However, we know that not every question fits every organization as written. A public sector organization may not have competitors, for example, and a consultancy may provide services but no products. For situations like these, we have designed question alternatives that stay as close as possible to what the original questions measure.

Important: Whichever wording you choose, keep your outcome factors named Workplace Engagement and Performance Confidence. The quadrant appears only when your survey has factors with these names.

Workplace Engagement

Workplace Engagement looks at two kinds of connection: to the organization and to the work itself. Our traditional engagement outcome looks at connection to the organization, and two of its questions (Recommend and Future Commitment) are also included in the Workplace Engagement questions. If you already ask them in an engagement survey, you can keep the wording you use now and their trend carries on.

I would recommend [Company] as a great place to work

This question asks whether people would advocate for [Company] as a place to work. Both alternatives are already established for this question in engagement surveys, and both are benchmarked.

Alternatives

I would recommend [Company] as a great place to work to friends and family

An established alternative for this question in engagement surveys. If your survey uses this version, you can carry it across.

I would recommend [Company] as a great place to suitable colleagues

An established alternative for this question in engagement surveys. If your survey uses this version, you can carry it across.

I see myself still working at [Company] in two years' time

This question looks at longer-term commitment: whether people plan to stay, beyond how they feel about [Company] today.

Alternatives

I imagine I’ll still be working at [Company] in two years’ time

  • This is already an established alternative for this question in engagement surveys.

  • If your survey uses this version, you can carry it across.

Given the opportunity, I see myself working at [Company] in two years’ time

  • Helpful where staying isn’t always up to the individual, for example during a restructure.

  • It also works well for contractors.

I really enjoy the work that I am doing

This question looks at the enjoyment people get from their day-to-day work. It works well across most organizations, so it doesn't have an alternative.

I often find myself immersed in my work here

This question reflects how absorbed people feel in their work.

Alternative

I often find myself very focused in my work here

  • Consider this if the meaning of immersed could be unclear to your employees.

  • We recognize that focus and immersion are different constructs. However, it's the closest widely understood alternative, and allows you to keep the benchmark comparison.

I feel like I belong at [Company]

This question asks whether people feel accepted at [Company] and feel they fit. This question is also in our Inclusion survey template. If you already ask it, you can keep the wording so its trend continues. It works well across most organizations, so it doesn't have an alternative.

Performance Confidence

Performance Confidence measures how confident people are that [Company] will succeed. It reflects what employees believe, not an objective measure of how the organization is performing.

Two of its questions, Future Performance and Market Competitiveness, are also driver questions in the Engagement survey template. If you already ask them, you can keep the wording so their trend continues.

[Company] is in a position to really succeed over the next three years

This question asks how confident people are that [Company] is set up to succeed in the years ahead.

Alternatives

[Company] is well positioned for success over the next three years

  • Asks the same thing in slightly different words, if the original doesn't feel quite right for your organization.

[Company] is in a position to really succeed over the next [number] years

  • This may suit organizations whose strategy runs over a longer period.

  • The time frame you choose needs to be longer than three years. Three years is the minimum in Culture Amp's definition of sustainable high performance.

  • This version is still compared with the three-year benchmark. Longer time frames can feel more speculative to answer, though, so the comparison may be less reliable.

At [Company], we consistently meet or exceed the high goals we set

This question looks at whether [Company] reliably meets or exceeds the ambitious goals it sets. It works well across most organizations, so it doesn't have an alternative.

The products and services [Company] provides are as good as, or better than, our main competitors

This question captures how people see the quality and competitiveness of what [Company] provides.

Alternatives

The products and services [Company] provides regularly meet or exceed the expectations of our customers

  • Designed for organizations that don't have competitors, such as local councils, government agencies and sole providers in their market.

  • You can use constituents or members instead of customers, whichever fits best.

The services [Company] provides are as good as, or better than, our main competitors

  • Works well for organizations that provide services but not products, such as consultancies.

FAQ

Can I write my own version of an outcome question?

We recommend choosing from the alternatives in this guide instead. They stay close to the original questions, while new wording can shift your outcome factor scores, where you plot on the quadrant and can remove the benchmark for that outcome. If none of the alternatives fits, ask the original question as written. The original questions and these alternatives work for most organizations. If you're unsure whether they fit yours, reach out to your Culture Amp contact or our Support team.

Do I need all eight if I'm adding the PCQ to my current survey?

We recommend all eight, whichever way you add the PCQ. If you already run an engagement survey, you may already ask some of them, such as the Recommend, Future Commitment, Future Performance and Market Competitiveness questions. Add the ones you don't ask yet, and keep the wording of the ones you do, so their trend continues. See Setting up and using the Performance Culture Quadrant™ (PCQ) for how to set this up.

Can I rename the outcome factors?

No. The quadrant appears only when your survey has factors named Workplace Engagement and Performance Confidence, spelled exactly that way and in English, even if your survey is in another language. Capitalization and spaces at the start or end of the name don't matter.

➡️ Next steps

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