Your employee engagement survey results have just arrived but now what? Gone are the days when you could conduct a poll just to tick a to-do box and ignore the results or skim over the negative parts.
Whether positive or negative, employee engagement surveys offer a treasure trove of information that HR departments and management can use to better engage and motivate employees at all levels. To do so, you need to first correctly interpret the survey findings, of course.
The employee survey data gives you an identifying of the main areas to focus on, which is the first step in creating a successful employee engagement action plan. No company can be expected to respond with every bit of feedback. Instead, People Insight suggests utilizing the findings of your employee survey to highlight a few areas to improve – the things that are most important to your staff.
In this article, we will discuss exactly how to do this, and the various assumptions and biases one must be aware of when analyzing employee engagement survey results.
Why Analyze Employee Engagement Survey Results?
Employee surveys are a direct approach to learning what your employees think of your company, the issues they experience, and the changes your company can make. The effectiveness of these enhancements is determined by your ability to read and analyze employee survey findings.
Unfortunately, the majority of organizational initiatives are ineffective. In reality, according to the data, just 25% of employees believe that their company takes highly efficient responses to the feedback they offer.
Taking the wrong action or disregarding (even unintentionally) employee input can have serious ramifications for your company. When their firm does not act on their input, for example, approximately 1 in 5 staff becomes disengaged. Employee disengagement may have a detrimental influence on your workplace culture as well as productivity and profitability. Do not fall victim to this. Make data-driven modifications based on the input you get and share the outcomes with your staff. You maintain open channels of contact with your staff by looping back thereafter.
Staff opinions concerning issues impacting your organization such as bad attitudes, employee attrition, and lower productivity, are captured in several employee engagement surveys. Here are a few types of employee engagement survey results:
Employee Satisfaction Survey
Employee Satisfaction Surveys are useful for determining overall happiness as well as staff satisfaction following a specific change like a layoff, merger, or business relocation.
Business Improvement Survey
Business Improvement Surveys might reveal difficulties you didn’t realize you had, such as managerial or training concerns. Such surveys can also raise staff morale by demonstrating that you respect their input.
360 Degree Feedback Survey
360 Degree Feedback statistics tell you and the employees how others see him and how he perceives himself, as well as offer ideas for growth. The survey also shows the employee that you value his previous work and acknowledge his talents and achievements.
Exit Interview Survey
This sort of survey helps in figuring out why workers depart and how to minimize future attrition by making operational changes. This survey can also assist you in reversing a valuable employee’s choice to quit by revealing that the staff is inclined to remain provided you make certain modifications to his work demands, training, promotion possibilities, salary, or general working circumstances.
Key Metrics and Indicators in Employee Engagement Survey Results
In employee engagement survey results, several key metrics and indicators provide insights into the overall health and satisfaction of the workforce. Some of the essential metrics include:
Overall Employee Engagement Score: A composite score that reflects the overall level of engagement across the organization. It is often calculated based on responses to key survey questions.
Job Satisfaction: Measures employees’ contentment with their roles, responsibilities, and the work environment. It can be an indicator of overall morale and happiness at work.
Employee Net Promoter Score (eNPS): Assesses employees’ likelihood to recommend their organization as a good place to work. It provides an indication of employee loyalty and advocacy.
Communication Effectiveness: Evaluates how well information is communicated within the organization. It assesses the clarity, transparency, and accessibility of communication channels.
Leadership Effectiveness: Measures employees’ perceptions of leadership, including trust in leadership, communication from leaders, and confidence in leadership decisions.
Recognition and Rewards: Assesses whether employees feel adequately recognized for their contributions and if the rewards system is perceived as fair and motivating.
Career Development Opportunities: Indicates employees’ satisfaction with opportunities for professional growth, skill development, and career advancement within the organization.
Work-Life Balance: Measures how well employees feel their work and personal lives are balanced. It reflects the organization’s commitment to employee well-being.
Team Collaboration: Assesses the effectiveness of teamwork and collaboration within the organization. It provides insights into team dynamics and cooperation.
Employee Feedback and Performance Reviews: Gauges employees’ satisfaction with the feedback and performance evaluation processes, including the frequency and quality of feedback received.
Employee Inclusion and Diversity: Assesses perceptions of inclusivity and diversity within the workplace, reflecting the organization’s commitment to creating an inclusive environment.
Intent to Stay/Retention: Measures employees’ likelihood to stay with the organization. It can be an early indicator of potential turnover issues.
Analyzing these key metrics in employee engagement survey results helps organizations identify areas of strength and areas that require improvement, guiding strategic initiatives to enhance overall employee satisfaction and engagement.
How to Analyse Employee Engagement Survey Results?
It’s critical you act quickly when your staff survey has ended. This demonstrates that people’s voices have been heard and valued. Employee engagement survey results must be shared and implemented across the firm and among team members for maximum impact.
1. Quantify the information
Results that are quantified (numeric scores) are a clear and meaningful approach to conveying them. Everyone can recall numbers. This also facilitates data comparison.
For example, displaying the percentages of various respondents’ responses to a survey item might help us better grasp the general trend.
2. Dissecting the data
Everyone’s employment experience is different. By fragmenting your data by staff groups and demographics, you may gain a better understanding of the issues that various workgroups face. This will help to compare the performance of different teams and take some action where it is really needed.
3. Look for trends and patterns
Look for patterns in your survey data. What is significant to one individual may be meaningless to another. It’s striking when 80 percent of respondents indicate they’re unhappy with the overtime pay-off policy. Maybe not so much when a few employees want an additional short break during the day.
Are the replies uniform throughout the company?
Are there any distinctions between FTEs and hourly employees?
What about experienced employees versus new hires?
These questions will assist you in identifying changes that will have the greatest impact.
4. Pay attention to qualitative replies as well
Don’t only focus on the figures. Make sure you pay equal attention to both quantitative and qualitative comments. These reactions are significant because they go deeper than quantitative (numerical) data. It’s what makes the narrative come alive.
Numeric responses without context can be inaccurate since they don’t account for other aspects. Motivations, cognitive processes, and attitudes may all be captured using a qualitative technique.
5. Trust your intuition
Don’t overlook your first-hand experience and instincts when conducting data analysis. You are also an important element of your company.
Consider whether the data makes sense in light of the company’s culture and conditions. While objective analysis is important, don’t disregard your instincts.
Look into any differences between your personal observation and the results. To learn more about the statistics, think about sending an open-ended follow-up survey or hosting a small focus group. This will assist you in grasping the larger picture.
6. Compare and contrast your survey findings
Benchmarking your performance can help you gain a better understanding of how your company is performing and discover opportunities for improvement.
7. Set priorities for the changes you wish to make
It’s time to prioritize your results after you’ve reviewed your survey data. To begin, go over each item in the questionnaire and assign it to one of three categories:
“Strong,”
“Neutral,” or
“Needs Work.”
Having a solid mix of improvements is also a good idea. Concentrate on both short-term successes (1 to 3 months) and long-term gains. This will demonstrate to your personnel that you are going to act and will enable you to take on greater tasks.
8. Visualize your information
Data visualization aids in capturing the attention of your staff and stakeholders. Our brains comprehend visual information more quickly and are less prone to mistake it. There are various sorts of graphics that may be used to represent survey data, such as pie charts, bar graphs, etc.
It’s time to address back once you’ve ‘digested’ the facts. Taking action is the most critical component of assessing your survey data. Your employees will become accustomed to the procedure and appreciate your candor if you report your survey answers on a regular basis. Even if you’re not happy with the outcomes, communicate them. Consider it a chance to encourage openness and staff participation in the solutions.
What methods of communication are most effective in your workplace? Does everyone use the same platform? If not, use different communication methods to spread the message.
Consider going through the adjustments and improvements you made in answer to the survey. Make a note of whether or not scores are growing over time. This demonstrates the company’s dedication to employee input.
Conclusion
Are you ready to start driving effective employee engagement at your organization? We’ve created a comprehensive white paper on exactly how you can do that. Download now.
Terrific numbers equal great employees. Numbers are entirely objective and will protect us from partiality and nepotism. A good score is crucial, especially for people in the service industry. Top scores can be used to create a survey. The findings of an employee engagement survey are one of several tools available to small company owners to help them improve interactions with their staff and develop their enterprises.
Do you want to know how Engagedly can help improve engagement at your organization with these best practices? Book a live demo with us.
Employee disengagement is a global problem. Gallup’s study on workforce engagement found that, globally, 85% of employees are disengaged at work. It means they are not working at their full potential and do not add much value to the business.
The effect of disengagement has been compounded by the changing business landscape and the economic downturn, which have struck hard on employees and businesses alike.
How do organizations then plan to stay productive and throttle at their full potential?
Enters employee engagement surveys, which help measure employees’ involvement and commitment to their jobs and provide insights into the various aspects of workplace engagement.
Interested in knowing how to effectively use engagement surveys to increase the productivity, efficiency, satisfaction, and commitment of employees? Then read on to the end to find out how to fix employee disengagement.
In this article, we will discuss the intricacies of employee engagement and discuss the following:
What is Employee Engagement?
Employee engagement is a measure of the level of dedication, enthusiasm, and passion that employees have for their work and the organization. It is the zeal and desire that employees have to go above and beyond their job roles.
Engaged employees are invested in their jobs and contribute more to the success of the company than their disengaged counterparts. They are more productive, more likely to stay with the company, and deliver high-quality work.
“Employee engagement is often considered the cornerstone of business success. Engaged employees show more commitment towards business goals and values and help organizations succeed. They are ready to go the extra mile when needed, and they believe in making a difference through their efforts.” Srikant Chellappa, Founder & President, Engagedly
It is the responsibility of the leaders to engage their employees in order to be successful in a dynamic marketplace. They can enhance engagement by establishing proper communication channels, making employees feel a part of the organizational journey, providing regular feedback, and offering rewards for excellent performance.
A sense of belonging and inclusion in the workplace
By promoting employee engagement, organizations can foster a positive and productive work environment, which ultimately leads to better business outcomes.
An employee engagement survey is a tool used to measure the engagement level, commitment, and satisfaction of employees within an organization.
The survey typically includes a set of standardized questions that employees are asked to answer anonymously. The various aspects that surveys focus on are employee experience, communication, work-life balance, recognition, and career development opportunities.
It is important for organizations to regularly measure and monitor employee engagement to enhance the employee experience and help them stay productive. Implementing engagement initiatives such as employee recognition programs, professional development opportunities, and open communication channels can help boost engagement at different levels of the organization.
Importance of Employe Engagement: Global Data on Employee Engagement
The following facts and figures demonstrate the clear link between employee engagement and business outcomes and highlight the importance of investing in employee engagement for organizations.
Engaged employees are 21% more productive than their disengaged counterparts. (Source: Gallup)
Companies with engaged employees experience 2.5 times less turnover. (Source: Aon)
Engaged employees are 87% less likely to leave their company. (Source: Gallup)
Companies with high levels of employee engagement have a 41% lower absenteeism rate. (Source: Aon)
Engaged employees are more likely to drive innovation, as they are more willing to share new ideas and take initiative. (Source: Harvard Business Review)
Companies with engaged employees experience a 20% increase in sales. (Source: Dale Carnegie)
Engaged employees are more likely to be customers’ advocates, leading to increased customer satisfaction and loyalty. (Source: Gallup)
Engaged employees are more likely to stay with the company long-term and are less likely to seek new opportunities. (Source: SHRM)
What is the Purpose of Employee Engagement Surveys?
To remain competitive in a dynamic and ever-changing business environment, organizations need a dedicated, engaged, and productive workforce. This has led to a surge in the use of employee engagement surveys to collect qualitative and quantitative data to make consistent improvements in employee engagement and experience.
Studies have shown that employees who actively participate in employee engagement surveys tend to be more invested in their jobs and actively contribute to the growth of the organization.
On the other hand, disengaged employees show decreased productivity and can even lead to negative customer experiences.
“Engaged employees are the driving force behind any successful organization, they are the ones who bring passion and purpose to their work, and ultimately drive the growth and success of the company. Investing in employee engagement not only improves morale and productivity, but also leads to higher retention rates and a stronger bottom line.” Jayashankar Balaraman – Founder CEO
There could be various reasons for disengagement, such as dissatisfaction with the job role, a lack of trust in the survey process, distrust in management, a lack of communication skills, or a fear of giving honest feedback.
Disengagement is costly, and to combat it, organizations conduct employee engagement surveys that serve multiple purposes, such as:
Understanding the drivers of employee engagement and dissatisfaction
Identifying opportunities to improve communication and collaboration
Measuring the success of engagement initiatives
Identifying opportunities to improve the employee experience
Understand the drivers of employee retention
Identifying the initiatives that are working well
Driving behavioral changes in employees
Keeping a pulse on employee sentiment
Predictor of employee behavior
What are the Benefits of Employee Engagement Surveys?
Employee engagement is critical to the success of an organization. It helps businesses improve their overall performance by creating an engaged, dynamic, and committed workforce. Much research has shown that engagement is an indicator of progress, and companies with higher engagement indices do well, even in unprecedented situations.
An employee engagement survey touches upon all aspects of a business and is known to benefit the following:
Identifying areas of improvement: They help identify specific areas where employees feel disengaged or where the company can improve.
Measuring engagement levels: Surveys can provide a quantitative measure of engagement levels, allowing organizations to track progress over time.
Understanding employee needs and expectations: They help understand the needs and expectations of their employees, which can inform decision making and improve employee satisfaction.
Improving communication and transparency: Surveys can help improve communication between management and employees, and increase transparency in the organization.
Boosting employee morale and retention: Engaged employees are more likely to be satisfied with their jobs and stay with the company longer, which can help boost morale and reduce turnover.
Avoiding Catastrophic Mistakes: Disengaged employees are more likely to make errors that can cause revenue loss. Conducting engagement surveys can help avoid such scenarios.
Best Practices to Create Employee Engagement Surveys
When creating employee engagement surveys, it is important to consider the following best practices:
Keep it short and focused: Use a limited number of questions that are directly related to the objectives of the survey.
Use open-ended and closed-ended questions: Use a mix of open-ended questions to gain qualitative insights and closed-ended questions to gain quantitative data.
Use clear and simple language: Avoid using jargon or complex language that might be difficult for some employees to understand.
Ensure anonymity: Make sure that employees feel comfortable providing honest and candid feedback by maintaining their anonymity.
Use a validated survey instrument: Use a survey instrument that has been validated and tested for reliability and validity.
Use a consistent format: Use a consistent format throughout the survey to make it easy for employees to understand and complete.
Allow for free-form feedback: Allow employees to provide free-form feedback, as it can provide valuable insights and context.
Provide context and background: Provide employees with context and background information about the survey and how the data will be used.
Consider the timing of the survey: The timing of the survey is of great importance in order to get a higher response rate and data accuracy.
Consider the frequency of the survey: Some organizations conduct surveys annually and then wait for a year to collect input from their employees. Much has already happened in the gap, and if their surveys are not accompanied by action, then it might result in disgruntled employees. Therefore, human resource managers must conduct engagement surveys regularly in order to send a message that employees’ input is valued.
Be responsive: Take action based on the survey results and communicate the actions taken to employees.
Use employee engagement software: Use a specialized tool or software to facilitate survey creation, distribution, and analysis.
How to Create and Conduct Employee Engagement Survey
Creating an employee engagement survey is a tedious task. It requires months of planning to address the areas that the survey should touch upon and the involvement of employees from every level of the organization.
To yield actionable results from surveys, HR managers should consider forming a cross-functional team of experts to look into different aspects of survey creation.
The following points highlight the extensive process of creating employee engagement surveys:
Asking the right questions in employee engagement surveys is crucial, as it ensures that the survey addresses pressing issues, provides valuable insights, and solicits employee feedback.
Clear, relevant, and unbiased questions help to gather accurate data, identify patterns and trends, and inform actions for improvement.
Additionally, it also helps to establish trust and confidence among employees that their feedback is valued and taken into account. You can refer to the below questions while drafting the survey:
On a scale of 1 to 5, how satisfied are you with your job?
How well do you feel your job aligns with your personal values and goals?
How well do you feel your immediate supervisor supports and encourages your professional development?
How well do you feel your ideas and suggestions are heard and considered within the company?
On a scale of 1 to 5, how strongly do you identify with the company’s mission and values?
How well do you feel your contributions are recognized and valued within the company?
How well do you feel you are able to balance your work and personal life?
How well do you feel your workload is managed and that you have the necessary resources to complete your tasks?
How well do you feel you are able to communicate with your coworkers and other departments within the company?
How well do you feel the company promotes a positive and inclusive work environment?
How well do you feel your job security and benefits meet your needs and expectations?
How well do you feel your job provides opportunities for growth and advancement?
How well do you feel the company’s management team responds to and addresses employee concerns?
How well do you feel the company’s training and development opportunities meet your needs?
How likely are you to recommend this company as a good place to work to others?
Employee Engagement Template
An employee engagement template is a tool that organizations can use to measure and track employee engagement levels. It typically includes a set of questions and/or surveys that employees are asked to complete, as well as a framework for analyzing the data collected and identifying areas for improvement.
Here is an example of an employee engagement template’s components:
Introduction: Provide an overview of the employee engagement survey and its purpose.
Demographics: Collect basic information about the employees taking the survey, such as job title, department, and length of time with the organization.
Engagement Factors: Ask questions related to the key factors that influence employee engagement, such as internal communication, leadership, recognition, and work-life balance.
Open-ended questions: Provide employees with an opportunity to share additional feedback and suggestions.
Action Plan: Use the data collected to identify areas for improvement and develop an action plan to address them.
Follow-up: Schedule a follow-up survey or meeting to check in on progress and measure the impact of the action plan.
It’s important to note that employee engagement surveys are not a one-time solution; they are an ongoing process. It’s important to track progress over time and make adjustments as needed.
Additionally, it’s also important to use a comprehensive employee engagement survey that is validated and benchmarked. With a validated survey, you can be sure that the results are reliable and meaningful.
What to do with Employee Engagement Survey Results
The employee engagement survey forms the baseline for creating an action plan and implementing it across the organization. The real job starts after collecting the responses of employees in various key focus areas.
Response data has to be thoroughly analyzed and subjected to various tests to check for validity and accuracy. To get the most out of the survey results, management must follow the following steps to create a strategic action plan:
Employee Engagement Survey with Engagedly
Employee engagement is a crucial metric for any organization, impacting productivity, retention, and overall success. However, accurately gauging employee sentiment and identifying key drivers of engagement can be challenging. Engagedly’s employee engagement survey offers a comprehensive and objective approach, empowering organizations to:
Gaining a Nuanced Understanding of Employee Sentiment:
Customized Surveys: Engagedly’s platform allows tailoring questionnaires to your specific organizational context and needs. This ensures the data collected is relevant and reflects your unique culture and challenges.
Multi-level Perspectives: Gather feedback from various levels of the organization, from senior management to individual contributors and across different departments. This holistic approach provides a richer understanding of employee sentiment and reveals potential blind spots.
Confidentiality and Trust: Engagedly prioritizes anonymity and data security, encouraging honest and unbiased feedback. This fosters trust and open communication, ensuring the data accurately reflects employee sentiments.
Identifying Key Drivers and Areas for Improvement:
Data-Driven Insights: Engagedly’s platform analyzes survey data using sophisticated algorithms to identify key drivers of engagement, satisfaction, and dissatisfaction. This reveals areas where your organization excels and pinpoints potential areas for improvement.
Benchmarking and Comparison: Compare your engagement metrics against industry benchmarks and best practices to understand your relative strengths and weaknesses. This allows you to prioritize improvement efforts effectively and focus on areas with the most significant impact.
Actionable Reporting and Visualization: Data is presented in clear and concise reports and dashboards, making it easy for everyone to understand the findings and take informed decisions. This promotes transparency and facilitates collaboration in addressing identified issues.
Fostering a Culture of Continuous Improvement:
Communication and Transparency: Share survey results and insights openly with employees, demonstrating your commitment to addressing their concerns and feedback. This builds trust and encourages engagement in the improvement process.
Action Plan Development: Work collaboratively with employees to develop actionable plans based on survey findings. These plans should outline specific steps, responsibilities, and timelines for addressing identified issues and improving engagement metrics.
Ongoing Monitoring and Evaluation: Implement pulse surveys and other feedback mechanisms to track progress and measure the effectiveness of implemented actions. This ensures continuous improvement and allows for adjustments to the plan as needed.
Engagedly’s employee engagement survey is not a one-time event; it’s a catalyst for positive change:
Enhanced Employee Motivation and Retention: By actively addressing employee concerns and improving the work environment, you can boost morale and reduce turnover, leading to a happier and more productive workforce.
Improved Productivity and Performance: Engaged employees are more productive, contribute more effectively, and are more likely to go above and beyond. This translates to increased organizational success and achievement.
Data-Driven Decision Making: The insights gleaned from the survey can inform strategic decisions across various areas, from talent management and compensation to communication and training programs. This data-driven approach helps you optimize your practices for long-term success.
Engagedly’s employee engagement survey is more than just a tool; it’s an investment in your workforce and your organization’s future. By providing valuable insights, driving actionable plans, and fostering a culture of continuous improvement, it empowers you to create a thriving work environment where employees feel valued, engaged, and motivated to contribute their best.
“When people are financially invested, they want a return. When people are emotionally invested, they want to contribute.” – Simon Sinek (Author, Start With Why).
In the era of digital transformation, changing technical landscape, and increasing competition, how do organizations keep their employees productive and aligned with organizational goals? The answer to the question lies in finding the organizational activities that contribute towards employee engagement. One of the ways that organizations use to understand the concerns and expectations of their workforce is through employee engagement surveys.
Introduction
Through the decades, HR managers have used employee engagement surveys as a core strategy to comprehend staff engagement levels, initiate behavior change, and drive higher output. Not only do the surveys help organizations to create an impact on human resource management, but they also provide employees with a medium to share their experiences and views on the practices being followed. Furthermore, with the data revolution and digitization, surveys have become more effective and process-oriented.
There has been a significant improvement in the engagement of US employees over the last decade, with an overall 36% of employees engaged in their work. (Gallup – Employee Engagement Report, 20211)
As the world is still reeling under the stress of the COVID-19 pandemic, various aspects of employee engagement and productivity have changed in the last two years. Some progressive and innovative organizations have been making sincere efforts to keep their dispersed employees engaged and committed to the organization. Engagement surveys come in handy in such scenarios. They help in gauging employee engagement on different parameters and offer insights for leaders to take action.
Before we dive deeper into the intricacies of employee engagement surveys, let’s take a closer look at what employee engagement means to the organization and how engagement surveys provide actionable insights to leaders.
Employee engagement talks about the level of dedication, enthusiasm, and zeal that employees exhibit toward their jobs. Engaged employees are a real asset to the organization as they help in achieving organizational goals through exemplary performance. That’s the reason the majority of Fortune 500 organizations put great emphasis on employee engagement initiatives. Research has shown that some of the activities that help elevate employee engagement are reward and recognition, learning and development, diversity and inclusion, ownership, and employee experience.
By creating a workforce of engaged employees, organizations can become highly competitive and transform themselves into market leaders. Higher engagement is also linked to increased productivity, reduced turnover, effective leadership, higher ROI, and overall happiness of the workforce. Therefore, by working towards the engagement of employees, organizations can reap multiple benefits and can create a workforce of dynamic employees that is performance-driven and result-oriented.
Measuring Employee Engagement
Employee engagement surveys are a strategic technique that helps in measuring the motivation, commitment, and purpose of employees towards their job responsibilities and, thereby, towards the organization. The survey reveals important information regarding employee perceptions towards the organization. Such insights help leaders and managers make a shift in the workplace to enhance the overall employee experience.
Carefully designed surveys can help organizations understand how their employees feel about work, leadership, any barriers to engagement and higher productivity, the causes of low employee morale, and much more. Responsiveness of the organization towards employee feedback can help drive major changes in the organization. It leads to lower absenteeism, higher retention, better customer centricity, customer acquisition, higher revenue generation, and a satisfied workforce.
An organization undertakes an employee engagement survey to understand what factors lead to an engaged workforce and the hindrances to the process. Companies that are heavily invested in their employees are able to retain their best performers and build a brand that attracts job seekers. Let us try to understand the importance of conducting surveys and employee engagement in an organization through some statistics.
The number of engaged employees is significantly lower when compared to the overall workforce. In the US, the number of disengaged employees is just 64%, and globally, the number is down to 80%. (Gallup2)
Companies with higher staff engagement enjoy better productivity and profitability. The estimated productivity increase is over 20% or more. (Gallup3)
91% of the 1000 surveyed employees said that burnout affects the quality of work as well as their personal relationships. (Deloitte4, burnout report)
Gender diversity has a direct relationship with employee engagement. Employees who work under a female manager are more engaged than those working under a male manager. (Gallup5, Analytics and Advice for Leaders)
Country and age have a significant impact on employee engagement. US employees in the age group of 30-39 are less engaged than those in the age groups of 40-49 and 50+. (Sloan Center On Aging & Work6)
Employee engagement has a positive impact on all areas of an organization. Highly engaged organizations realize a 41% reduction in absenteeism, a 10% increase in customer ratings, a 20% increase in sales, and substantially lower employee turnover. (Gallup7)
90% of leaders think that engagement strategy has a great impact on business success, but only 25% have a strategy in place. (Muse8)
In the post-pandemic world, 8 out of every 10 employees would prefer employers that offer economic well-being. These include retirement plans, health, disability, and life insurance, paid family medical leave, and emergency savings programs. All the benefits have a direct relationship to employee engagement in the workplace. (Prudential9)
Employee Engagement Survey Purpose
Recent shifts in the global economy have put organizations at the forefront of employee engagement. To remain competitive in the current capricious circumstances, organizations need a highly engaged and productive workforce that can bring in results. Because of this, employee engagement surveys have gained prominence due to their ease of delivery, quick response time, qualitative and quantitative data, and feedback analysis.
It has been found in multiple studies that employees that actively respond to employee engagement surveys are enthusiastic about their jobs and want to share the feedback for the betterment of the organization. On the contrary, employees that do not respond to surveys are not engaged in their jobs. While there are multiple reasons for employees to not fill out the engagement questionnaire, some of the most prominent ones can be:
Dissatisfaction with their current role and responsibilities.
Lack of trust in the process of engagement surveys, i.e., they believe that feedback doesn’t matter in the current business environment.
Distrust in the management of the organization.
Lack of communication and interpersonal skills.
Employees are afraid to give their honest opinion.
An employee engagement survey serves multiple purposes for the organization in the following ways:
Drives Behavioral Changes In Employees
Psychologists have found that asking questions can prompt people to change their behavior. It is based on the fact that questions help people reflect on themselves. It helps with staying committed to a cause and changing personal traits and characteristics for future goals.
Coined as a “question-behavior effect,” the phenomenon was first published in the Journal of Consumer Psychology10. It states that asking questions about the future behavior of a person can speed up their process of being ready to change.
The same concept is used in employee engagement surveys. Questions prompt employees to understand their current behavior and the changes required to achieve their goals. The crux of the survey lies in initiating the behavior change process among employees.
Interacting with employees and taking their feedback sends a signal that their opinions matter to the organization. Sending out regular surveys and acting on them makes the workforce more engaged and dedicated towards their work. Let us look at the importance of hearing from employees using the below statistics.
86% of surveyed employees felt that people in their organization were not heard fairly or equally.
63% of employees felt that their managers ignored their voices in some way, which had a devastating effect on their performance.
Over 74% of employees felt more effective at work when their concerns were heard by the management.
Engagement is directly related to being heard in the workplace. Around 92% of engaged employees felt they were heard by more than 30% of disengaged employees.
The above statistics highlight the importance of hearing out the employees and taking appropriate action on that. Through employee engagement surveys, organizations can break the shackles and prompt their employees to share realistic feedback.
Predictor Of Employee Behavior
Employee behavior is central to the success of an organization. Much of how employees behave in their day-to-day lives predicts the culture of the company and ultimately drives results. Predicting employee behavior can result in multiple benefits for human resource managers. It helps in understanding the level of commitment of employees towards the organization and how long they are willing to serve them.
It has been observed that asking people in employee engagement surveys how long they are willing to serve the organization is twice as accurate in forecasting future turnover as a predictive analysis. Additionally, surveys also help in predicting the number of upcoming resignations. It has been found that employees who do not respond to annual engagement surveys are highly likely to leave in the next six months.
Employee engagement is critical to the success of an organization. By undertaking various engagement initiatives, organizations can improve their overall performance and create a dynamic workforce. Much research has shown that engagement is an indicator of progress, and companies with higher engagement indices do well, even in unprecedented situations.
Employee Engagement Surveys are a great tool to measure engagement at various levels of the organization. Let us look at some of its benefits.
Industry Benchmarks
Engagement is the result of multiple activities that an organization undertakes. The product of these activities vary across countries and industries. Consequently, organizations that are expanding to different geographies need to understand what engages their employees the most.
Knowing where the organization falls on the engagement spectrum provides a bigger picture of the organization’s policies and practices. With the help of employee engagement surveys, upper management can compare the organization with the industry leaders and focus their efforts on improving engagement.
Frequent surveying provides a glimpse of changing trends in employee engagement and experience. Thus, HR managers can understand which strategies are helping out the organization and which obstacles need to be removed.
Preventing Revenue Loss And Catastrophic Mistakes
An estimate by Gallup states that the US companies lose between $450-$500 billion12 due to actively disengaged employees. This is on top of the revenue loss due to the pandemic and the shift in the external business environment.
The statistics clearly indicate the importance of adopting employee engagement initiatives at all levels of the organization. The higher the level of employee disengagement, the higher the chances of making costly and catastrophic mistakes. Therefore, to prevent losing out on revenue, it is critical to hear employee feedback and take appropriate action to boost employee engagement in both the short and long term.
Employee Mental Health And Overall Wellbeing
Depression and anxiety are the leading causes of loss of productivity and employee engagement. It has a tremendous impact on the world economy; the world stands out on losing over $1 trillion every year due to a loss of employee productivity. (World Health Organization13)
Another survey14 by SHRM found that of 1,099 surveyed employees, around 40% felt exhausted, burned out, and despondent due to the alteration in their lives caused by the pandemic.
There is no doubt that the pandemic has taken a toll on the mental health of employees. Aggravated by the long working hours and stress of family and child healthcare, things have gotten even worse. Employee wellbeing has become a priority for employers, and organizations globally are investing heavily to counter the effects of the pandemic on the mental health of their employees.
But, how do organizations identify that their employees are stressed and in need of support? Employee engagement surveys offer insightful data to understand the employee’s wellbeing and the peculiar areas that are a cause of concern for them. Furthermore, employers can also focus on the departments or business units with highly disengaged employees and focus on their improvement to prevent breakdown.
Employee Turnover Data Analysis
The information collected in engagement surveys can be used to analyze the employee turnover data. By comparing the responses of employees with the turnover data, HR managers can comprehend the areas of employee experience that need improvement in order to contain attrition.
The process involves comparing the responses of employees who left the organization within 3–6 months of conducting the engagement survey. It reveals how employees felt about the organization and their overall experience before leaving. Furthermore, the perceptions of such employees can then be compared with the ones who stayed to gauge the reasons for employee turnover. Managers can then intervene in the areas that need improvement and strategize a plan to increase engagement and enhance the overall experience.
Connecting Engagement Initiatives To Key Business Results
Leaders throughout the world believe engagement to be one of the five most important strategies in creating a revolutionary organization. But the biggest challenge they are trying to solve is tying employee engagement initiatives to key business results. Having an engagement survey is not enough if it cannot produce the desired results. Therefore, to get the most out of the surveys, human resource managers need to develop them in accordance with the key business indicators, such as customer centricity, overall stakeholder value, company reputation, and brand building.
Such an amalgamation of business outcomes with employee engagement surveys helps in strategizing the operations across different departments. Furthermore, it can bring important insights that help in charting out how organizations utilize their employees in unprecedented situations, such as the sudden change in the business environment, regulatory compliance, new competitors, and changing customer expectations.
Creating an employee engagement survey is a tedious task. It requires months of planning to address the areas that the survey should touch upon, and the involvement of employees from every level of the organization. To yield actionable results from surveys, HR managers should consider forming a cross-functional team of experts to look into different aspects of survey creation. The following points highlight the extensive process of creating employee engagement surveys.
Define The Purpose of the Survey
Employee engagement encompasses various factors, and working on all of them in one go is not possible. Though it can be tempting to include multiple focus areas in the survey, it might confuse the employees and digress from the current state of the company. Thereby a result, providing inaccurate results.
At the time of discerning, it is crucial to identify three or four high priority objectives, especially where engagement and productivity are lacking. For example, if customer acquisition and retention, employee turnover, and decreasing sales volume are the areas of concern, then the survey should only focus on these factors.
Involvement Of Leadership
For the survey to produce any results, the involvement of leadership is a must. The dynamics of leader-employee relationships are not one-directional, and that’s why involving leaders in employee engagement exercises can give direction and purpose to the process.
In the initial phase of survey planning, human resources managers must reach out to organizational leaders to get their input on the objectives of the survey. This also ensures they have a vested interest in taking action on the survey results.
Review Previous Surveys
While designing an employee engagement survey, HR managers can refer to the previous surveys to inculcate best practices and improvise on the ones that did not work well. It can offer meaningful insights, such as which survey designs were liked by employees, the response rate, accuracy of results, core focus areas covered, actions taken on the feedback, timeframe adopted for the whole process, and the overall engagement score. Such action points will help in designing the survey to bring in better results from employees.
Consider The Timing Of Survey
The timing of the survey is of great importance in order to get a higher response rate and data accuracy. HR managers should consider the following do’s and don’ts when deciding on the timing of the survey.
Engagement Survey Frequency
The frequency of conducting a survey is of the utmost importance. Some organizations conduct surveys annually and then wait for a year to collect input from their employees. Much has already happened in the gap, and if their surveys are not accompanied by action, then it might result in disgruntled employees.
Therefore, human resource managers must conduct engagement surveys regularly in order to send a message that employees’ inputs are being valued.
Drafting Questions That Provide Actionable Results
Drafting good survey questions is time-consuming. It generally requires collaboration from multilevel, cross-functional teams to understand whether the surveys target the organization’s key objectives or not. The questionnaire must cover all the aspects that are relevant to the purpose of the engagement survey. The quality of questions has a statistically significant effect on the survey findings; hence, one must take the utmost interest and care while designing them.
The questions must be drafted in a manner that elicits an accurate response from the employees. Open-ended employee engagement questions must be included in the survey questionnaire. It helps employees voice their opinions and ideas. Furthermore, managers can analyze the collected responses and can dig into the areas that they would’ve never considered looking into.
Testing the questionnaire is also important to understand the relevance and accuracy of the collected data. Organizations use techniques such as focus groups, cognitive interviews, pretesting, and combinations of these to test the survey. Thereafter, the insights collected from testing are used to refine the questions.
Select The Best Employee Engagement Survey Template
An employee engagement survey template includes questions that measure the motivation and engagement of employees to perform their job duties. Additionally, the responses collected from the survey are useful in understanding the performance, competence, and satisfaction of employees.
A template comes in handy when conducting a survey, as it helps in gathering, organizing, and analyzing the data collected from employees. A good template should be customizable as per the needs of the organization and must highlight the areas that need improvement.
Designing Surveys to Inform Better Decisions & Drive Meaningful Outcomes
Survey design requires some art, but even more science. Some research estimates that employees are surveyed 1.5 times per year. Given this fact it’s important that we implement sound practices in the design of organization surveys that help inform key business decisions.
When it comes to survey design validity is essential, it determines what survey questions to use, and helps ensure that we are using questions that accurately measure the issues of importance. Validity ensures that we are measuring what we say we are measuring.
The Engagedly Team has spent time and effort constructing an engagement survey that is valid, supported by research, and reviewed by industry experts. Now our clients can confidently assess employee engagement within their organization in a few simple steps. This new product offering provides our clients with an easy-to-administer employee engagement survey built around evidence based practices. Additionally, we provide insights to better understand employee engagement within and across the company while highlighting key strengths and areas for opportunity as well.
Now more than ever we can all benefit from thinking more like a scientist by applying more rigor and critical thinking in the work that we do. At Engagedly that is our responsibility, to marry science and practice, wherever and whenever possible.
Once the engagement survey is created, it is time to get it rolling. There are a few things that managers need to consider before they decide to roll out the survey. Following the best practices for employee engagement surveys will help in getting accurate results. Some of the tactics to be followed are discussed below.
Communicate The Employee Engagement Survey Purpose
Effective participation in surveys happens only when employees are clear about the purpose of the survey. To encourage employees to participate in the survey, organizations need to clearly communicate the following to their employees:
What is the purpose of conducting the engagement survey?
What does the organization want to accomplish by taking feedback from employees?
What steps will the organization take upon completion of the survey and the anticipated results?
How will the survey help employees in their day-to-day activities?
The projected timeline of events starts with surveying and analyzing the results.
Emphasizing the importance of the survey to both employees and employers.
Maintain Employee Anonymity
It is important to keep the employee engagement survey anonymous. The reason behind this is that employees feel less anxious about the survey and are ready to provide open feedback without the fear of any retribution. Additionally, employee anonymity increases the likelihood of getting more responses.
By veiling the employee’s identity, surveys can prompt them to share their candid responses regarding the leadership styles, culture, interpersonal relations, support from managers, and other relevant areas that organizations want to mull over. Thus, it helps in gathering more responses with higher accuracy, leading to a better analysis of the data.
Commit To Taking Action
A sense of purpose is essential for an employee to work productively and contribute towards organizational growth. Without this, employers will lose their best talent to their competitors who value their employees more.
Taking action is the most crucial step in conducting a successful employee engagement survey. Employees value their employers more when they see their feedback is taken into consideration. Therefore, sharing key findings of the survey in a timely manner with the employees is important. By involving the workforce in survey findings, employers can make them feel valued and responsible for the solutions.
Please note that acting on survey findings also avoids “survey fatigue.”It refers to a lack of motivation to participate in assessments and can lead to fewer and (or) inaccurate responses. The fundamental reason behind survey fatigue, as found by McKinsey15 after reviewing 20 academic articles, is the perception that employers will not act on the results.
Often, employers do not tend to share the results or communicate with their employees after conducting the survey. This leads to an employee perception that employers do not value their responses.
On the contrary, sharing and acting on survey results leads to better response and participation from employees in future surveys. The below discussed best practices for employee engagement surveys will help in making surveys more effective and impactful.
Designing and conducting surveys takes a long time, and by not following the best practices, there is a good chance that it will not achieve its purpose. Asking questions that are ineffectively designed will lead to low response rates and inaccurate data. Thus, to avoid wasting time, effort, and money, it is pivotal to follow certain guidelines. The following points talk about employee engagement survey best practices that will help in designing and conducting surveys constructively.
Keep The Survey Short And Simple
Keeping the survey short and simple is an effective way to increase the response rate. The ideal number of questions to be kept in an engagement survey is around 75. And, it should not take more than 20 to 30 minutes for an employee to answer all the questions. Furthermore, try to avoid repetitive questions and confusing language. It may lead to vague responses if the employee is unable to understand the questions.
HR managers should also look into the previous surveys as well, to understand the optimal number of questions that got the highest response from employees.
Avoid Grouping Key Focus Areas
Grouping the key focus areas may confuse the employees and will result in uninterpretable responses. Avoid using double-barrelled questions regarding pay and benefits, growth and satisfaction, and learning and motivation. Even when the focus areas are closely related, grouping them will not be beneficial.
For example, an employee may find the pay satisfactory but not the benefits, or vice versa. In such a case, the surveyor will not be able to interpret the response, leaving no chance to create an improvement plan.
While building a questionnaire, managers should clearly segregate the categories and create questions around them. This will avoid any sort of confusion among respondents.
Involve Employees In Survey Design And Analysis
Before rolling out the survey to the whole organization, it is crucial to run it through a set of selected people to test its structure, consistency, and accuracy. It will help in redesigning unclear and ambiguous questions and will further refine the survey.
Involving heads of business units and departments in the design and analysis phases offers numerous benefits. They can highlight the areas that seem to be problematic and need to be addressed through surveys. Furthermore, they can help in laying down a strong foundation for examining the survey findings, leading to better analysis and actionable results.
Using Neutral Statements In Questions
The survey should have a mix of both positive and negative statements. Having plenty of positive statements such as “my manager understands my concerns” or “my team is quite responsive” will make the survey too rosy. Similarly, using too many negative statements will also subdue the intent of asking questions. Therefore, it is better to use neutral statements wherever possible, as they will elicit the best response from respondents.
Questions To Avoid
Management may want to include questions about age, gender, race, and other demographics to look into the trends or concerns of a group. For example, if women of color find the workplace to be responsible for their growth and development, or if employees in their 50s find the workplace more stressful. But such questions may raise one’s eyebrows, as employees might believe that management might use the data to target those specific groups. Thus, it is necessary to avoid or limit such questions in an engagement survey.
Another set of questions to limit is asking nice things about the management and focusing on the things that can be acted upon. Too many questions about management’s efficiency can put off the respondents. Instead, try to understand things from the employees’ perspective.
Question Behavior Rather Than Motive Or Thoughts
Questions about the thoughts, traits, and motives of an individual are disputable and will not provide any actionable data. The line of questioning should involve the observable behavior of the employee to understand their involvement and engagement. Thus, avoiding opinion-based questions in the survey will remove distortion from the results.
Another important aspect to work upon is removing personal bias from the survey. The questions should be drafted in a way that prevents any sort of bias from influencing the results. For example, asking questions about productivity and involvement of female employees can skew the purpose of the survey.
Include Some Verifiable Questions
Including questions with variable responses will help in establishing the validity of the survey. Such questions provide quantifiable data to understand if the responses collected are in line with reality. For example, a survey can include questions about the leadership of a particular department. The responses collected from the questions can be verified with objective measures like employee retention and overall departmental productivity. These measures will help in verifying the exactness of the collected data.
Another example could be asking questions about customer satisfaction from the client service department. The responses can be verified using metrics like call drops, frequency of calls from the same customer, and feedback submitted by the customer. The correlation of these metrics with the customer satisfaction index is a great measure to verify the survey responses.
What To Do With Employee Engagement Survey Results
The employee engagement survey forms the baseline for creating an action plan and implementing it across the organization. The real job starts after collecting the responses of employees in various key focus areas. Response data has to be thoroughly analyzed and subjected to various tests to check for validity and accuracy. To get the most out of the feedback results, management must follow the following steps to create a strategic action plan.
Share Employee Engagement Survey Results
There are multiple benefits to communicating employee engagement survey results. Firstly, it helps in building trust and shows employees that their responses are being taken into consideration. Secondly, it brings transparency to the system, which eliminates confusion, and thirdly, it creates a channel of communication between management and employees.
Sharing results with business heads helps them prepare to take action and hold discussions within the departments to find the root cause of the problems. Some issues will pertain to departments, and they can find the best solution by looking at the granular level of data.
The survey results usually provide insights about engagement, productivity, satisfaction, and other elements. Weaving them into a story will help employees understand the rationale behind the survey. Therefore, using a suitable medium like a presentation or an infographic, to highlight the results while narrating the importance of each focus area will be more effective.
Analyze & Identify Areas Of Concern
Analysis of survey results helps in finding the areas of concern and creating an action plan accordingly. Categorizing the results into different segments will help transform the data into actionable items. While some organizations rely on manual segmentation and analysis, some have transitioned to engagement platforms that come with tech-advanced algorithms to accurately analyze and interpret the data.
Such platforms help in providing a deeper understanding of every key focus area. For example, the survey results might show a positive organizational culture, but digging deeper into the data can reveal information about departments that are lacking support. Such an analysis is imperative for large-scale organizations with multiple business units and departments.
Facilitate Discussion Within Teams
Once the survey results are out, it is time to act on them and find solutions to the problems. By running post-survey meetings, organizations can ask people from different departments to brainstorm and come up with the right solutions. The purpose of these meetings is to involve people and give them an open channel to discuss issues and chart out an improvement plan.
Business heads or team leads must ensure that all employees participate in the process and establish a link between the survey results and employees’ perceptions. During the meetings, the problem statement must be clearly defined with the focus areas, and every employee must be given an opportunity to provide their thoughts on it. Through this process, employers can gather first-hand information directly from the employees who are facing trouble.
Make & Implement Decisions
The data gathered during engagement surveys and post-survey meetings helps in pinning down the problems. Leaders can utilize this information to create organizational-wide goals and cascade them to different business units.
Using Plan-Do-Check-Act cycle16 can help in streamlining the implementation process and providing observable changes and corrective actions to refine the processes. Introduced by Dr. W. Edwards Deming17 in the 1950s, PDCA is an iterative technique that helps improve business processes. It is used in designing and implementing decisions in the following manner:
Plan: It provides the framework for operations and is directly related to the goals and objectives of the survey findings.
Do: Also known as the action stage, the plan is set into motion and the insights are gathered for future evaluation. All the employees related to the focus areas to be worked upon are involved in this process. It may involve training, re-skilling, mentoring, coaching, and other significant activities required to improve staff engagement.
Check: Evaluating the action plan should be done in two steps. Once during the implementation process, as it helps in checking if the goals are correctly aligned, and twice at the end of the implementation to address the success and failure of the activities.
Act: At this stage, the reasons for the failure and success of the program are collected and used as feedback for running the next PDCA cycle.
Employee Engagement Survey Questions form the foundation of measuring engagement in multiple aspects. They should focus on solving organizational problems, get candid responses from employees, and intend to find the strengths and weaknesses of the organization.
Touching the core areas of engagement, such as satisfaction, leadership, culture, work environment, learning and development, organizational mission, and values, is imperative to have an overarching understanding of employee engagement. Let us look at some sample questions on different areas of engagement.
Sample Employee Engagement Survey Questions
Employee Work
I get a sense of accomplishment from my work.
I have access to all the tools and resources required to be productive at work.
The volume of work I have is manageable.
I feel my work is being valued.
Workplace Communication
My views and thoughts are taken into account while making decisions.
I can openly share my thoughts and experiences in my department.
I am well-informed about the organizational values and policies.
I feel the communication models used by the organization are effective and sufficient.
Organizational Culture & Strategy
I feel the organization is open to feedback and criticism.
The organization can adapt to the changing business needs.
The organization is equipped to meet the challenges.
New ideas and innovation form the core strength of any organization.
I feel that my job is secure.
Employee Manager
My manager encourages me to take action and initiative.
My manager provides honest feedback to me.
I need enough support from my manager to succeed in my role.
My manager is involved in my learning and development.
Leadership
I trust the leaders and their vision for the organization.
I see strong evidence of effective leadership in my business/unit head.
I see leaders committed to the organizational goals.
I am clear about the organizational mission and vision.
Learning & Development
I trust the process of learning and development being followed by the organization.
I have ample opportunities to grow and learn in my current job profile.
I get regular feedback from my manager.
The appraisal process is justified and helps me understand my quarterly and annual goals.
Employee Engagement
I am proud on the work that I do
I am immersed in my work
I find the work that I do provides me with purpose and meaning
Time flies when I’m working
I try my hardest to perform well on my job
I am fulfilled by the work that I do
Open Ended Employee Engagement Survey Questions
Open-ended questions provide deeper insights by encouraging employees to express their opinions and experiences. With the help of responses, it can become relatively easier to understand the cause of a problem. That’s why including such questions in engagement surveys is helpful. Check out the sample open-ended questions in the section below.
What improvements would you like to see in the organization?
Rate your overall experience on a scale of 1 to 10. Give reasons for the rating.
What changes would you like to see in the company’s policies?
What changes did you see in the organization since the last survey?
What strategies would you suggest the organization include for better work-life balance?
Final Thoughts
Much of the organization’s efforts in today’s world revolve around creating a dynamic, smart, adaptive, and engaged workforce. Organizations with a high engagement index are leading the way and utilizing various strategies for employee development.
Employee engagement surveys give employees a voice and assist employers in identifying areas for improvement. By considering employee feedback, organizations can dramatically improve their productivity and efficiency.
Employee surveys can be used as an effective employee performance management tool when utilized appropriately. The results of surveys can be used to build new strategies for organizational development.
Employee surveys should be designed in such a way that they drive employees to engage more and have a positive impact on them. Once you know how your employees feel, it will be easier to figure out how to better engage them and obtain employee engagement ideas.
Nowadays, organizations conduct different types of employee surveys, such as engagement surveys, to understand the level of engagement among employees and develop strategies to increase it.
In this article, we will answer questions like, “how to conduct an employee engagement survey?” and “why are employee surveys important?“. Stay tuned to understand the intricacies of employee surveys.
Here are eight steps to embrace when you conduct employee surveys.
1. Determine The Survey Objective
Determining the objective is the most important aspect of conducting a survey. Clarify the purpose of the survey by asking yourself, why it is important to the organization and what you aim to achieve through it. A clear objective gives your survey a direction and motivates your employees to take it more enthusiastically.
For instance, you can carry out a survey to gain insights into your employees’ perceptions of their work or to increase employee engagement. Similarly, you can also conduct an engagement survey to understand how engaged the workforce is. The point is that you need to have an absolutely clear objective before you give your employees a survey.
A survey without an objective is pointless and has high chance of failure as you will get responses that you will not be able to do much with.
2. Select Survey Methodology
It is important that you select the appropriate survey method. As there are different types of surveys, there are also different methodologies for conducting the surveys. The survey methodology depends on a few factors, like the number of participants in the survey, the ease of distributing the questionnaire, the ease of receiving the responses, etc. Online questionnaires are widely used now tools such as engagedly you can design and implement a survey rapidly. You can choose one of the two methodologies to conduct an employee survey.
Depending on the survey objective and the target audience, make a list of important topics to be included in the questionnaire. Make sure that any question doesn’t have a negative impact on the relationship of your work staff.
Try to formulate positive questions and avoid typical social norm questions which encourage criticism of their coworkers. You may want to have some questions that can bring out employee engagement ideas you may not have thought about. You might need to make multiple questionnaires and validate them before you can release the final version.
4. Communicate The Importance
Once you’ve figured out the objective of the survey, the next thing you need to do is make sure that your employees realize this survey is important. And that their participation is necessary. A lot of surveys tend to fail because the people taking them do not take them seriously.
In order for your survey to work, you need accurate and honest feedback. You can also use a third-party provider to administer the survey, to assure your employees of anonymity and fairness. Using a third-party provider increases the response rate and provides you with an unbiased end report.
5. Promote The Survey
Now that the questionnaire is ready, all you have to do is, get your employees to take the internal employee survey. To get responses across the board, you might have to promote the survey aggressively. Promote the survey within the organization by pinning a notice on the company’s bulletin board or sending an e-mail notification to everyone about the survey. If employees can know why they are doing the survey and how they will benefit from it, they will then be more amenable to doing the survey!
6. Communicate The Results
After the survey is conducted, make sure that you communicate the results to your employees. Don’t suppress the results. In fact, your employees deserve to know what the survey says and what the general consensus is. You can probably have a short presentation about the results of the survey and then discuss the results with your employees.
7. Act-On The Results
After presenting the survey results, make sure that you act on them as discussed with your employees during the presentation. Create a plan of action and a set of goals to be achieved through a staff survey. Also, involve your employees in the plan and assign them responsibilities so that they solve the issues themselves and feel empowered.
Carry out employee surveys at regular intervals. Any survey is of no use if it is conducted once a year or once every two years. You will only know how your employees feel if you make a habit of asking them.
Internal employee surveys are a prominent tool used across industries for various purposes, such as employee experience, engagement, and even issues related to the work environment. It is essential to create a strategy to get the best results out of this method. The discussed steps will help you carry out the survey efficiently.
Have you carried out surveys in your organization? Share your experiences with us in the comments section below!
What are pulse surveys? Well, these are surveys exclusively designed to measure employee engagement, employee satisfaction and to identify the areas that require improvement. Unlike other surveys, these are time efficient and cost-effective.
Our previous article 8 Steps To Effective Employee Surveys focused on how employee surveys help your employees engage better and build new organizational strategies. But before you proceed, take heed of the questions you should not include in an employee engagement survey.
Business Improvement Survey
Source: TenSpot
