What’s the point of employee engagement surveys?

Employee engagement surveys are a great tool to assess what is working well and what needs some work. If you have implemented engagement strategies in the past, it can help you monitor them to see if they are meeting the intended aims.

The survey gives you the opportunity to find out how satisfied employees are in their job role and working for the company, but also how they feel about the company’s values and goals, work practices and procedures, work environment, culture and leadership.

Conducting these surveys can be time-consuming and involve considerable resource, but you shouldn’t be put off. Employers really do miss a valuable trick by not using this data, along with feedback gathered from clients or service users, to shape business decisions and organisational strategies.

How should I go about conducting an employee engagement survey?

Here are 11 steps to follow:

1  Think about the purpose

Like most projects, it requires planning and thought. To obtain the best results, it is important to think about what you want to get out of the survey and how that information will be used.

2  Craft your questions carefully

Once you have decided on the purpose, you can target those specific areas and ask relevant questions. It is a good idea to have a combination of open and closed questions to get the most amount of data possible and use clear and simple language.

3  Hold their interest

It is best practice to keep the survey short and concise. If you make it too long, people will very quickly lose interest.

4  Get everyone involved

It is beneficial to invite all members of staff to get involved. Rather than just focus on core functions, think about getting the views of those in sales, marketing, finance, etc. If an employee doesn’t have much input in a particular area, they can always leave it blank. However if you do not include them, you run the risk of overlooking some vital insight.

5  Give them sufficient time to answer the questions

Sending the survey at lunchtime and expecting them to fill it in by close of play will probably only solicit a few responses. Give them a week or two to do it so they can give it the attention it deserves.

6  Encourage your employees

It is useful to demonstrate how committed senior leadership are to the survey’s results and how willing they are to make changes based on the findings. Managers can explain the value of the survey in group meetings or one to one sessions. They can also remind employees to participate by putting a notice in communal areas and/or sending an email.

7  Make sure the survey is anonymous

It is key for employees to be able to provide their honest thoughts and opinions, therefore ensure their answers are anonymous.

It is also important to think about the design of the survey. For example, if you ask them for their gender and team size, they may be disinclined to answer if there are only three people in their team and they are the only male employee.

8  Analyse the results

You will then need to examine the results of the survey. From the data gathered, you will be able to see if there are patterns or trends affecting the business or specific teams.

9  Communicate the results

Tell your employees what has come out of the survey. They will be interested to see what their colleagues have said and whether it aligns with their thinking.

10  Take action

Do not just let the results be forgotten on a spreadsheet. Crunch the numbers and see what practical initiatives can be taken to improve certain aspects.

11  Monitor progress

Once you have implemented a measure or strategy, you need to make sure that you keep track of its impact and whether it is reaching its aim. If it isn’t, you may need a change of approach.

Need help?

Whether you are doing annual surveys, quarterly surveys or weekly pulse surveys, our experienced and qualified HR Consultants can help you and make it tailored specifically to your organisational context and resources. Explore our HR consultancy services by giving us a call.