If eight out of ten cats prefer Whiskas (at least according to advertising lore), what proportion of your employees enjoy working for you?
Employee engagement is one of the key drivers of productivity. A major Gallup study into employee engagement in 2020 found when comparing top and bottom quartile businesses on various outcomes that there was an 81 % difference in absenteeism, 28% difference in employee theft, 10% difference in customer loyalty and 23% difference in profitability.
If that doesn’t make a business case for improving or maintaining good employee engagement, we are not sure what does.
To improve something effectively though, you first need to know its current state, and that is where employee surveys come in.
What is an employee survey?
There are different ways of getting feedback from employees. At the informal end of the spectrum: “Heard it on the grapevine” or having an open-door policy. However, a more structured approach is the employee survey. This is a planned, well-considered set of questions, designed to yield you targeted information.
So, what kind of things may you wish to find out in an employee survey? It will entirely depend on your business, but in most cases will be ultimately linked back to employee engagement. Ideas include:
- Career progression
- Recognition
- Pay and benefits
- Safety
- Work/life balance
Such a survey will best be delivered in specialist software which will manage issues such as the creation and administration of the survey itself, privacy and analysis of the data collected. It may be something that you do in-house, or you can get a third-party expert like us in to guide you, do the heavy lifting and help you make sense of the information you collect.
Why run an employee survey?
We have already looked at the importance of employee engagement which is a big motivation for running an employee survey.
You may decide upon an employee survey because you know or suspect that something needs addressing.
You may do one because you want to shout about something you are doing right, and want the stats or testimonials to back it up – say for a recruitment drive.
It could simply be that you want to ensure your employees have a voice – although, if this is the case, make sure you listen to what they say and act upon it if necessary.
Top tips on how to use employee surveys
- Plan carefully – You don’t want to go through the time and effort of producing an employee survey without having a specific objective in mind. Think about what you are trying to accomplish and ensure that the questions you choose will deliver the right information.
- Vet every question – Will employees feel comfortable answering them? Are they relevant to your goals? Are they easily comprehensible?
- Allow a suitable time window for completion – Take into account factors like annual leave and busy times of year to ensure there is opportunity for all to complete it; but balance this against it providing you with the data in a useful time frame.
- Use the survey results – Once the results are in, make sure you act upon them accordingly and in line with your goals. If they were not what you expected, perhaps revealing an unknown problem, it may be a shock at first; but think of it as an opportunity to put things right and make your business stronger in the long run.
Ask us for help
As we mentioned, we can help with all aspects of employee engagement from designing and delivering a bespoke employee survey to advising on how to act upon the findings. Get in touch with your local HR Dept office today.
