How Important Are Employee Surveys?
In today's competitive world it's necessary for companies to do whatever they can to keep their employees happy and motivated
. Many of them facilitate the use of surveys in an attempt to find out information on staff morale, create internal policies, and plan the company's future.
If conducted with the necessary forethought, surveys can send out an important message to existing employees, namely that their input and concerns are valued and taken into consideration when the management team makes particular decisions concerning the organization. This message can create a higher sense of moral and loyalty, as well as providing employers with important information regarding the future.
Surveys can either be analyzed in-house or outsourced to a RPO service. Online survey software is universal these days and quite easy to use, you can even develop your own questionnaire inputting specific questions to highlight a particular issue or concern you may have. There are all types of surveys online that can help you with employee satisfaction. It's best to do some research yourself as you know best what will fit in with your company and style. Be clear on what you want the survey to achieve, perhaps you want to assess the morale in the workplace, evaluate how employees feel about recent changes, or just want a general overview so improvements can be made.
Your ultimate aim from the survey is to get as much relevant feedback as possible, and to succeed there are certain aspects that need to be considered. First, and foremost, it's necessary that the forms are anonymous, if employees understand that they can say absolutely anything they like without putting their name to it, then they will be confident to speak the truth without fear of reprisal.
Don't make the survey too long as employees will just become bored and this could lead to incomplete answers, best to keep them short and simple and angled at the topic you are interested in. If there are various issues then it may be a good idea to split them into several surveys and present them at different times.
Successful employee surveys should vary from 20 to 40 questions, no more than this is advised, and its objective to reveal what you need to know about your employees. Surveys can use yes/no questions or a scale -1 agrees completely whilst 5 totally disagrees with the statement. Once the survey is complete the results have to be compiled using a database that analyzes the results and converts them into bar charts or other graphics where they can be interpreted easily.
After the results are analyzed, it's important you provide feedback to your employees, if they don't see anything happening they are likely to conclude that their opinion is irrelevant and this can only result in lowering morale. If they have expressed concerns or doubts about something in particular then management has to address these issues if they are to gain the confidence of their employees and improve the work situation.
Hopefully, some of the survey results will point out areas of high employee morale and so won't need significant attention. You need to focus on those areas where employee morale gets low scores as they have the most potential for improvements. Develop an action plan and put it into practice, before you do this however ensure your employees are informed, or even involve them directly. Involving employees in any changes can lead to positive results and creative solutions to recognized challenges.
Focusing on the weak areas in your company where employee morale is low can accomplish measurable increases in employee morale, productivity, attendance and loyalty from employees.
If money is tight then use survey software to create and administer your surveys, they're quite easy to use guiding you through the process of developing your own unique surveys geared toward evaluating various aspects of employee attitudes. Either custom make your own or choose from a library of existing surveys templates covering a wide range of topics.
Another option is to incorporate the resources of employee survey firms who specialize in developing and administrating surveys. Hiring a consultant also guarantees employees that they have anonymity. This assurance will increase the probability that employees will complete the surveys with honesty because they have no threat of reprisal.
Employee survey companies can be found online that will develop, administer and analyze survey results for you, these can relate to topics such as employee satisfaction, relations between management and employees, benefits, training, or company policies and procedures.
by: Andrea Watkins
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