Communication is the key in any company or business. The best way to get to know and understand how your employees are feeling at work is by providing employee engagement surveys.
Employee engagement surveys provide employers with substantial benefits including the opportunity to identify issues, measure employee satisfaction as well as monitor employee morale. Employee feedback from surveys becomes more valuable when employees provide answers honestly and having the true intentions in helping the company to be better.
“Understanding your employee’s perspective can go a long way towards increasing productivity and happiness.”
– Kathryn Minshew (@kmin)
However, it is rather challenging for you to get effective survey results that you would need to ensure that your employees respond to your survey questions honestly. While is it difficult to force employees to answer employee engagement survey truthfully, you could cultivate a healthy culture within the workplace and assuring your employees to provide valuable employee feedback.
Here are some suggestions that you could try at your workplace.
Share the report
When you first introduce the employee feedback survey to your employees, it is best to explain to them on how the management would be collecting the feedback and what will be done to it. Show them an example of the report and explain to your employees what management will be doing with the collected feedback.
You could bring it up in your weekly production meeting and explain:
- The purpose of the survey
- How the survey would help both the company and employees
- How the report will be presented to management
- What management will be doing with the feedback
“Employee loyalty begins with employer loyalty. Your employees should know that if they do the job they were hired to do with a reasonable amount of competence and efficiency, you will support them.”
– Harvey Mackay @HarveyMackay
Ensure that employee feedback received remains anonymous
Employees will be more sincere in providing employee feedback when they believe that their responses are confidential. So you should do everything possible to keep the data received anonymously.
Have a company meeting or send out an email to your employees to explain the measures that you will be taking to ensure privacy. This includes on how the data is being collected and how the results will be reported. You could also let employees know that you are taking these precautions because truthful responses are extremely important.
When your employees realise that you are taking time off your busy schedule in order to explain to them the importance of the employee feedback and how it will be used, employees will take it seriously and will provide valuable employee feedback for the company.
Have your survey company send the surveys directly to your employees
Now that you have explained to your employees the security and privacy of the employee feedback, it is time to make sure you promised what you have delivered to your employees. In order to collect valuable employee feedback from employees, you need to make sure that the survey company will send the surveys directly to your employees. This will reassure employees that your management team is not tracking their individual responses.
Look out for survey companies that provide added security for your employees. Ask them questions and even sign up to their trial to see if it is suitable for your company.
Provide individual employee feedback session
You can gain valuable employee feedback by organising a routine one-on-one session with your employees and have a word with them. Employee engagement surveys are a great tool that would provide instant results which can be used as a gauge for employee satisfaction. While it is recommended to have weekly meetings of 20 minutes with each employee, it is generally up to you.
Some employers would find it time consuming and would not even do it. You need to make these sessions regularly in order to provide assurance to your employees that their one-on-one meetings are not just a once off. Employees will feel that their employer cares about their career advancement and well-being within the company.
“Create caring and robust connections between every employee and their work, customers, leaders, managers, and the organisation to achieve results that matter to everyone in this sentence.” – David Zinger (@davidzinger)
Give examples of changes that have been made based on survey results
After collecting a couple of weeks or months’ worth of employee feedback, try and make those changes that your employees have been asking for. Your employees will be more honest if they notice that their responses will be heard by their employers and changes have been made.
Send them an email explaining that their request or their feedback have been heard and changes have been implemented. When you show or informed your employees of the changes made, they will know that their feedback are being heard and taken into considerations or have made the improvement.
Employees will then take the employee engagement survey seriously when they know that their opinions play an important part in the company.
In Summary
Valuable feedback is supportive and it not designed to attack the employers. It should be designed to assist both the employer and employees. Employee feedback should be designed to be constructive, open and honest.
You will encounter some employees who may worry that responding truthfully will result in negative repercussions. Just remember to reassure your employees and they will feel obligated and empowered to be part of the company. By using the suggestions listed above, it will result in employee feedback that are as honest, accurate and as valuable as possible.
Good luck!
