How to get more out of your employee engagement surveys
Employee engagement surveys or pulse surveys are a great way for organizations to gauge the levels of engagement of their employees. Research has shown time and time again that employees who are engaged and motivated often perform better and are more likely to remain with the organization. In a nutshell, employee engagement means taking the appropriate steps to ensure that employees are motivated to put their best foot forward in the workplace.
This is why engagement surveys are a great way to gather information from all employees in order to provide HR professionals with the information they need to enhance employee engagement processes.
In this article, we discuss 5 ways in which organizations can make the best out of their employee engagement surveys and provide you with the 20 essential employee engagement survey questions that you must ask.
1. Being more specific with survey questions
In order for your employee engagement survey to be truly effective, it needs to ask the right questions at the right time to the right people. One of the most common mistakes made by HR professionals is including questions that are ambiguous, vague or sometimes downright confusing.
For example, you include a question that asks employees to rate on a scale of 1 - 10 how satisfied they are with the performance of their department’s leadership / management team. To nobody’s surprise, the results of the survey have indicated that a large majority of the department is unhappy with how they are being led. All you managed to determine was that your employees are dissatisfied with their leaders however this data is useless as there is nothing for the HR team to act upon.
Instead, surveys should ask more specific questions that encourages employees to provide details of their grievance. If employees are unhappy with the management, get specific details; are they unhappy with how work is distributed? Are they given sufficient support from their managers? Are managers unprofessional? If so, how?
Notice how more specific questions provide additional information that can be acted upon by the HR department? These additional insights allow HR professionals to act upon the information gained in order to improve employee engagement.
2. Sharing results with employees
Transparency at the workplace is crucial if an organization is to succeed. In the absence of clear and transparent communication, rumors and hearsay thrive and this can result in employees becoming demotivated and disengaged.
Failing to communicate the results of the organization’s employee engagement survey is another common mistake made by HR professionals. Keeping employees out of the loop of communication will result in the organization’s employees feeling distrustful and eventually affect the participation rates of all future surveys.
Instead, HR professionals should share the results and data gathered from the survey in an objective manner with all parties that have been involved. Firstly, the representatives from the HR department should meet with managers to discuss key points raised by employees. For example, negative feedback given by employees needs to be analyzed and provided with a solution on how to deal with such feedback.
Next, the information gathered from the survey and meetings with the HR department should be shared with employees via a town hall. During this session, leaders can take the time to address the concerns shared by employees while also celebrating the positive feedback that was received from the survey. Thus, this indicates to employees that their feedback is appreciated and acted-upon by leaders within the organization.
3. Getting the support of leaders and managers
Let’s face it, nobody enjoys receiving negative feedback or criticism of any sort. This is why employee engagement surveys can be a prickly affair. When conducting an engagement survey, the HR department needs to secure the support of its organization’s leadership and management team.
In a situation where the engagement survey does not have the tacit approval of the CEO and senior managers of the organization, response rates are bound to suffer and the survey is destined to fail. This is because, leaders within the organization may be of the opinion that the survey is a mere formality to be crossed off their to-do-list and some may even feel that their subordinates are in no position to question their behavior or decisions.
In order to ensure that a survey is effective, HR professionals will need to work closely with leaders and managers within the organization in order to gain their support. This can be done by educating them on the importance of employee engagement and its effect on the organization. Along with this, demonstrating how data gathered can be used to better improve the organization and employee’s performance is crucial.
4. Acting upon the survey results
To really make an impact on the data gleaned from the latest employee engagement survey, an organization needs to quickly identify the key drivers and follow-through with a course of action. Forget about taking big leaps forward, the most sustainable method of follow-through is by taking small steps in the right direction which adds to the bigger picture.
From changing the behaviors or mannerism of managers and leaders to implementing new work processes, all of these efforts needs to be sustained in order to be truly effective. Along with this, the HR department should continually measure the engagement and check-in on these changes to ensure that all parties are satisfied with the changes that have been implemented.
By taking these steps, employees can be assured that their feedback is appreciated and that action will be taken accordingly to ensure a better work environment.
5. Adopting a more holistic approach
Oftentimes, employee surveys are conducted on an annual basis which means that they are often dismissed and forgotten after several months. In order to be truly effective, HR professionals should consider conducting quarterly or even monthly engagement surveys.
This approach improves employee engagement as employees feel that their feedback is appreciated and has value within the organization. Along with this, conducting surveys several times throughout the year allows HR professionals to analyze the effectiveness of new initiatives and programs as they are able to study the feedback provided by their employees.
Download the “20 essential employee engagement survey questions” that you need to ask below followed by the 5 steps above when conducting your next survey and you’ll be on the right-track for better employee improvement and engagement.