Staff survey

Making sure your staff survey makes a difference

Employee surveys are becoming more and more popular with employers. The continual development of research technology has improved the economics of employee opinion surveys so much that more and more employers, large and small, now have an annual employee survey.

Edgecumbe Research can not only help you with an online opinion survey, we still run surveys on paper and frequently we use both online hosting and paper to collect survey responses. With the investment we have made in analytical software, the logistics of running a staff survey and producing interesting and insightful reports are in many ways the easier part of the process. And yet, in our experience many employers place a disproportionate amount of effort to ensure the data collection and analysis stage works well, compared to the effort and sometimes investment needed in the post survey period.

We see some outstanding examples of clients getting tremendous value from the survey process, but sadly, and sometimes frustratingly, there are some employers who fail to get full value from their employee survey.

For top employers the staff survey, whether it be a culture survey or an employee engagement survey, is a continuous process of communication, measurement and management. For others, it's like stepping on the bathroom scales. You see that you are overweight and then do nothing about it. Why bother getting on the scales? Or are you the type that might deal with the bad weight news, by deciding that compared to others you are not too bad, as most of us are overweight and at least you are not obese and you can think of others a lot fatter than you? Or perhaps you vow to take action- plan a strict diet, announce an exercise regime but then do not quite get round to starting it? Or maybe if you do get started but give up pretty quickly and drift back to old habits.

There are a growing number of employers who have mastered the staff survey process. They avoid the most common pitfalls of:

• Persuading themselves that poor or average results are acceptable or even good;
• Feeling daunted by or simply incapable of dealing with the challenge presented by the results;
• Falling at the first hurdle by failing to get support within the organisation;
• Trying to change too much and finding it unsustainable.

At Edgecumbe Research we do not believe our work is done until we are satisfied that our clients are clear about what their survey results are saying and are committed to a plan to take the organisation forward.

From an analysis of our own clients, the staff survey is more likely to make a difference when:

• Senior management regard the survey as a continuous process of improving employee engagement.
• Ownership for the staff survey lies with Senior Management and not in HR. Therefore we expect key measures from the annual survey to figure in the 'organisation dashboard'.
• Managers throughout the organisation are measured, and maybe even rewarded, on their performance in related areas that are deemed to be of priority.
• The results of the staff survey are clearly and openly communicated and that wherever feasible employees are involved in some way in decisions and actions that are taken as a consequence.
• A culture of continuous improvement exists.

Working with an external advisor can often make a big difference by helping to foster the beliefs and establish the practices needed to ensure that your employee survey really makes a difference.