Glint’s Steven Buck examines how the employee satisfaction survey can be a valuable tool…
Every organisation wants their employees to feel happy with their day-to-day demands and work-life balance. These, after all, are essential ingredients to boosting productivity levels. But how can HR get a real sense of satisfaction levels in the workplace?
Traditional survey techniques have for the most part been hobbled by simplistic software offerings and a lack of employee enthusiasm. But, the good news is that new platforms have emerged that make the process of harvesting and analysing employee feedback less of a burden, providing more timely and accurate insight.
If you would like to have the same effect in your organisation, here are the key planning, design and participation pitfalls to be avoided when it comes to properly capturing employee engagement.
Inadequate survey planning
Many companies are unaware of what valuable data they have at their disposal that can be turned into applied and actionable content. It is imperative you assessyour data sources during the outreach planning stage and recognise any data protection, such as GDPR, or union concerns. At the same time, it is essential to get the right stakeholders involved to ensure you are strategically well placed from the off.
Weak survey design
There is a tendency for question overload in survey design, which puts employees off. So look to utilise any new HR technology such as comment sentiment analysis, so you can get extra insight from well-crafted questions. Don’t try to be too specialised either.Today’s employee listening platforms can run ‘hot topic’ surveys on an ad hoc basis, leaving the more expansive surveys to be analysed differently.
Survey participation hurdles
Remember that forcing people to respond to surveys creates a negative behaviour. Employees should always see the impact over time of their feedback, for themselves and their companies. Look at using modern survey platforms on mobile devices to more readily engage them, as well.
While deeper levels of analysis are helpful, remember that trying to base business decisions on results from a team of five, when one person is 20% of the vote, will distort the general picture. It is therefore beneficial to have a clearer understanding of higher level trends. To achieve this you need to see surveys as any other type of management intelligence, driving improvements in performance, collaboration and conversation.
Employee engagement has emerged as a critical driver of business success in today’s digital marketplace. And when used appropriately, modern employee feedback processes can provide a precise real-time viewof how engaged your employees are, enabling you to ensure they are kept motivated, fulfilled and connected.
The author is Regional Director (EMEA) at employee engagement leaderGlint
