Are Employee Surveys Effective?

A successful organization must understand every aspect of its operations and situation. Productivity and profits are exciting reasons for optimism regarding your company’s future. However, decision-makers and leaders must look beyond metrics and growth and be aware of daily conditions in the workplace, such as employee satisfaction and organizational culture. Learning about the general feelings of your employees can be critical for short- and long-term success. Hence the need for employee surveys.

Why Should Companies Survey Employees?

An effectively composed employee survey can reveal invaluable information about the inner workings of an organization that might otherwise remain in leaders’ blind spots. Understanding how your workforce feels on a day-to-day basis, as well as their outlook on recent developments and long-term plans, can garner the following benefits:

• Increased workplace camaraderie

• Better employee morale

• Improved staff well-being

• Higher retention rates

• Greater recruitment opportunities

Even if a survey’s results are relatively ambiguous, distributing it in the first place can help employees feel as if their views matter and they have a voice within the organization.

How to Maximize Survey Effectiveness

Ideally crafting and distributing surveys is essential. When planning these processes, consider the following steps:

• Have a goal in mind. General surveys covering too many topics may produce results that are difficult to analyze. Consider focusing surveys with a specific aspect of the workplace in mind, such as how employees feel about benefits programs, interdepartmental communication and organizational culture.

• Consider actionable steps. Getting a read on how employees are feeling can be helpful, but you should also survey them with direct questions, such as with prompts like “What can the company do to improve your work-life balance?” or “What equipment or tools could help increase your efficiency?”

• Be mindful of context. Although surveys might help employees feel valued, insensitive or poorly timed questions can have the opposite effect. For instance, if your company recently had to announce a freeze on raises, posing a question about employees’ satisfaction regarding their compensation could drum up bitter feelings.

• Offer incentives. Employee surveys may lack validity unless a sizable percentage of your workforce responds. Consider possible rewards for respondents, such as entering them into gift card drawings.

• Avoid excessive surveying. Getting your employees’ opinions and feedback can be valuable, but sending out too many surveys can backfire. If your staff is asked to devote too much time to giving input, they may become disengaged and provide hasty or less thoughtful responses.

We’re Here to Help

Contact Lyceum Insurance Services to learn more about optimizing employee surveys and improving your workplace.

This blog is intended for informational and educational use only. It is not exhaustive and should not be construed as legal advice. Please contact your insurance professional for further information.