Clearly define the survey objective
A survey is a tool that should be imbedded in a "wider" strategy, i.e. retention, employee empowerment, continuous improvement, etc.
- Does the organization need answers to a particular question, for example, "Why are employees leaving our company?"
- Have changing business conditions caused a need to assess how employees are feeling?
- Does the organization simply want to assess the overall "state of mind" of the workforce?
Define the survey process
Having a clear idea of: 1) what needs to be done, 2) by when, and 3)
who needs to be involved will allow the survey to be conducted more smoothly.
- If the survey is to be completed electronically, provide each employee
individually with a confidential communication specifing the website
URL and the passcode for entry of their responses.
- Determine up-front who will have the access to survey results and open-ended comments.
- Test each step of the process to ensure that confidentiality is maintained.
- Work with your Employers Group Project Manager to discuss any questions, or assistance you may need.
Establish senior management participation and ownership
Senior Management should own the survey process, with Human Resources
providing the guidelines and tools.
- Meet with senior management to ensure that they fully understand and are comfortable with the survey instrument, survey questions, and process for submitting data and obtaining results.
- Fully define activities required by management as part of the survey process, such as:
- Their own participation in the survey;
- Face-to-face communication with employees both before and after the survey;
- Other forms of communication, such as thank-you letters, newsletter
articles, etc.
- Discuss and negotiate these activities fully so that senior managers are certain of what is expected of them, and comfortable with their required role in the process.
- Ensure a management commitment to act on some portion of survey issues identified, and to communicate this commitment.
Involve employees as much as possible, and establish ongoing employee communications throughout the survey process.
Employees' trust in the process will result in more participation, candid
responses, and greater willingness to share open-ended comments providing
rich data.
- Determine whether a team of employees involved as "champions" of the survey process is appropriate for your organization.
- Before employees are asked to complete surveys:
- Emphasize confidentiality and management's desire for candid responses
- Discuss timeframe for reporting of results
- State management commitment to the sharing and use of results
- Once results are available:
- Share results in small group meetings
- Provide a forum that promotes employee questions
- Reiterate management's commitment regarding use of the results and share any action plans with timing
- Provide periodic updates on action plans until completed
Ensure that any individuals reviewing data understand how to use and interpret the survey results
Misinterpretation of the data or taking results out of context creates
resistance and misunderstanding that negates the value of survey results.
- Establish a forum for management discussion of survey results before communicating with employees, to ensure a unified and consistent message
- Work with your Employers Group Project Manager to resolve any questions regarding survey reports
Conduct a formal process debrief once the survey and results reporting have been completed, to assess survey usefulness and identify any changes for future survey processes
