Maintaining highly\u00a0engaged employees\u00a0at all levels in an organization is an important factor in achieving a competitive advantage. High employee turnover is a sure sign a business is headed for trouble. So, in a nutshell,\u00a0surveying your employees\u00a0does matter.<\/p>\n
The insights gained from surveying ensure that your company is able to\u00a0attract and retain\u00a0the best talent vital to your company\u2019s success! The best surveys are written in clear language and have unbiased questions. Following are some key do\u2019s and don\u2019ts to help you get the most out of your employee survey and lead to improved employee satisfaction<\/a>\u2014among many other benefits.<\/p>\n Do Set the Stage<\/strong> Do Have the Expertise to Design the Questionnaire<\/strong> Do Have a Communication Plan<\/strong> Do Communicate the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly<\/strong> Do Create a Post-Survey Action Plan<\/strong> Do Embrace Change<\/strong> Be ready to embrace change from the bottom up. Identifying areas of improvement<\/a> is just the first step; managers need to act on the feedback.<\/p>\n Do Be Open, Honest, and Objective<\/strong> Do Be Clear<\/strong> And finally, remember, follow up and follow through is the key to successful implementation\u2014and how your employees will judge the success of your survey efforts.<\/p>\n Key do <\/strong>takeaways<\/em><\/p>\n Don\u2019t Survey Everyone Just Because They Are There<\/strong> Don\u2019t Assign Equal Importance to All Survey Questions<\/strong> Don\u2019t Conduct a Survey Unless Your Leadership is Committed to Listening and Acting on the Feedback<\/strong> Don\u2019t Try to Change Opinions<\/strong> Don\u2019t Sacrifice Confidentiality<\/strong> Key don’t<\/strong> takeaways<\/em><\/p>\n![\"employee](\"https:\/\/www.sogolytics.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/employee-survey-increase-response-rate.jpg\")
<\/p>\nThe “DOs” of Getting it Right<\/h2>\n
\nIf you are conducting a follow-up survey, promote specific actions, successes, and progress made since the last survey.<\/p>\n
\nEnsure the questions are relevant to the group taking part in the survey. Engaging an external provider, or utilizing an online survey platform<\/a> like Sogolytics, can support you with this as well as provide assurance that the responses given will remain confidential and anonymous<\/a>.<\/p>\n
\nCommunicate the results promptly. The longer the gap between the survey and feedback, the greater the risk of inactivity. So, share the results and what steps the business proposes to take as quickly as you can.<\/p>\n
\nInclude an executive overview that summarizes and simplifies the information, clearly detailing the headlines and key messages. Be sure to include the more challenging results as well as the positive outcomes. Remember, there are some things that just can\u2019t be changed, but you can build trust among employees by explaining the reasons why.<\/p>\n
\nAfter your survey results have been collected it is important to follow up with action that will generate positive outcomes for your company. Management needs to act on the\u00a0opportunities for improvement\u00a0within the organization. This will send the message that\u00a0they are listening\u00a0to your employee engagement <\/a>feedback and believe it is valuable. One idea is for managers to include a \u201csurvey action plan\u201d agenda item during their department meetings for a minimum of six months to provide a conduit for employee feedback.<\/p>\n
\nAfter a survey, the tendency is to over-promise and under-deliver. If you succumb to this well-intended impulse, you run the risk of creating a skeptical work culture<\/a>: \u201cThey told us they would do this but nothing has changed!\u201d<\/em> When creating a post survey action plan keep it simple and hold managers accountable for implementing and monitoring their department\u2019s action plans.<\/p>\n
\nBeing open and honest is vital. Don\u2019t attempt to position results as better or worse than they are. Talk openly about the results. How you communicate survey results sets the tone for receiving continued employee feedback\u00a0and their ideas for improvement\u2014being open builds trust. Do your best to play the role of an impartial observer; communicate the findings without intermingling personal opinions.<\/p>\n
\nEmployee survey results can be difficult to understand. Be as clear and concise as possible when sharing the results with employees. Avoid jargon and commentary that will create confusion.<\/p>\n\n
The “DON’Ts” of Getting it Right<\/h2>\n
\nA company-wide survey that tries to be all things, to all people, and asks the same questions every year, will not yield the most accurate insights. Targeted one-time employee surveys<\/a> of specific units, processes, or roles will always produce deeper insights into the critical, current issues for those groups.<\/p>\n
\nFor a survey to deliver actionable insights, you must first know which factors matter most<\/a> and why. For example, salary, growth opportunities, supervisor support, and open communication\u2014will have the biggest impact on employee engagement and retention.<\/p>\n
\nIf you ask your employees what they think and then do nothing with the results, you will foster cynicism and skepticism with your employees. In fact, you\u2019ll be worse off than if you didn\u2019t conduct a survey at all.<\/p>\n
\nCommunicating employee survey results isn\u2019t a time to persuade employees to change their opinions, but rather a time for humility. You need to open up communication about results to find out what changes need to take place in the company first.<\/p>\n
\nEmployee engagement survey responses should be confidential<\/a>. When reviewing employee survey results, the conversation should never turn into speculations about who said what. This diminishes the credibility and integrity of a confidential survey process.<\/p>\n\n