The employee survey process is really simple.
In fact, the whole process can be completed in as quickly as 2 to 3 weeks with the assistance of a market research company and if the organization is able to move quickly.
Steps include holding a kickoff meeting with leaders, designing the employee survey, sending a pre-notification email about the survey to employees, sending the survey to employees, analyzing the results, and debriefing on the results.
Here's more on the employee survey process.
The toughest part of the process for some companies is opening up for real, unbiased, confidential feedback from employees. Criticism can be tough. Most employees, however, go through annual reviews where supervisors critique their performance. So, it's only fair the review goes both ways, right? Successful company agrees! Learn more below.
Our Voice of Employee (VoE) research company explains 5 reasons why employee engagement surveys are critical for driving organizational change and achieving business success.
Reason #1: Gather unbiased feedback
Organizations set themselves up for success by gathering high quality and unbiased data using a third-party employee survey company. After all, the best kind of data is high quality and unbiased!
A lot of problems arise when employers do not use a third-party and conduct an employee survey in-house. Even if all employees are extremely satisfied, they will be less likely to share the whole truth or even respond at all if they know their name can be tied to the results.
Remember, confidentiality and anonymity matters - even at organizations with the reputation of it being an awesome place to work.
Think you are the best employer? Maybe you are! Regardless, employers should never conduct employee surveys in-house.
Learn what to look for in a third-party employee survey company.
Reason #2: Use benchmarks
Benchmarks, benchmarks, benchmarks... Benchmarks separate lax organizations from conscientious organizations.
The benchmarks among employee survey results could refer to two metrics.
The first type of benchmark measures the difference between the latest survey results from previous survey results at the same organization. This helps organizations understand how satisfaction has changed (or not changed). It can be particularly helpful for organizations that want to understand what improvements had the most impact on employee satisfaction.
The second type of benchmark measures the organizations survey results to its industry (i.e., manufacturing, non-profit, hospitality, etc.) This helps organizations understand how it compares to competing employers. This can be helpful to understand where other employers are excelling and how to better compete for top talent in the industry.
Here's more info about employee benchmarks and how to use them.
Reason #3: Identify drivers of satisfaction
Through effective survey writing, employers get powerful information. When employee surveys are written and conducted effectively, this form of research can answer questions like, "What drives employee satisfaction?"
An employee survey company will use correlation and regression to understand drivers to satisfaction. Correlation measures the presence of change between to variables. Regression measures the impact of change between two variables.
Moreover, correlation can help determine which variables to run regression analysis on. At the end of the day, regression tells employers what has the largest impact on employee satisfaction. This means efforts to improve the factor will increase employee satisfaction the most.
Reason #4: Identify strengths and weaknesses
Knowing what factor(s) impact employee satisfaction is important, but what about strength and weakness areas? Employee surveys also tell organizations priority areas to address and areas to keep the status quo.
Employee survey companies can create a core competency matrix. This shows four areas which include
- Areas of high satisfaction and high importance (i.e., core competencies)
- Areas of high satisfaction and low importance (i.e. status quo)
- Areas of low satisfaction and high importance (i.e. priority areas)
- Areas of low satisfaction and low importance (i.e. improvement opportunities)
Reason #5: Compare the results between job roles and departments
In addition to using benchmarks to compare employee results, the results can be analyzed by different employee characteristics like job roles and departments.
No matter how large or small an organization is there are always differences and trends between workers. Perhaps recently hired employees have a most positive perception of the company, than those of tenured employees. Or, employees working in sales are more satisfied with their role in the company than those who work in the marketing department.
Employee surveys identify those trends using employee feedback.
Reason #6: Do something
The last and most important reason successful companies use employee satisfaction is because leaders act on the results.
It's critical employees see action is being taken with the feedback they provided. In addition to notifying employees about the study ending and thanking everyone who participated, employees need to know what next steps leadership is planning to take.
For example, a message could include telling employees what the priority areas to improve are and what next steps the company plans to take to improve.
Want more? Check out more employee survey benefits.
Contact Drive Research
Drive Research is a national employee survey company. Our firm is equipped with best practices and recipes for success to ensure employee satisfaction research is effective. Our team is dedicated to providing actionable, data-driven next steps.
Interested in learning more about our market research services? Here's how to reach out to our team:
Message us on our website
Email us at [email protected]
Call us at 888-725-DATA
Text us at 315-303-2040