In this article you will find out…
- What resistances may arise
- How you ensure that respondents WANT to answer your employee survey
- Examples of what should be communicated
Quicksearch has been conducting relationship surveys for over 20 years and are experts in statistics, survey methodology and analysis.
Ensuring that the employee feels anonymous can be an effective way to get more employees to participate and answer an employee survey. In October I wrote a blog post about how we ensure anonymity. The positive response I received to the blog post during the past six months has been both interesting and instructive to take part in. Anonymity is a constantly recurring issue that we at Quicksearch obviously take very seriously. Another question that can be linked in many ways to anonymity and response rate is:
What resistances can arise?
The majority of the companies we work with choose to conduct an employee survey annually, every two years, every three years, alternatively a heart rate measurement spread over, for example, three times a year. A lot of time and money is spent on measuring the employee index (MI) and the willingness to recommend the workplace (eNPS). It is not uncommon for those responsible for the employee survey to encounter resistance from employees such as:
- Why answer an employee survey when nothing happens anyway?
- I have not received any feedback on last year's employee survey.
- I do not feel that I am anonymous and therefore choose not to answer.
How can you as HR manager contribute to the fact that employees actually WANT to answer employee surveys?
What we at Quicksearch have seen is that the communication throughout the project to the parties concerned is extremely important and has a major impact on the response rate. It is important that you go out in good time and inform management, managers and employees that you intend to conduct an employee survey within the organization.
Examples of what should be communicated in employee surveys:
- When you intend to carry out the employee survey.
- Why do an employee survey and what is the purpose.
- What has happened since the last measurement. Give some examples!
- A description of the process before and after the completed survey. This gives the employees an understanding of the work that is carried out in connection with sending out an employee survey.
- What is expected of you as an employee and, later, of your boss.
Again, don't forget to inform about anonymity so that every employee feels safe to give their opinion.
Participating in an employee survey is voluntary, but when the value of participating is conveyed in a clear way, the desire to influence one's work situation increases. By getting the employees to understand the purpose and goal of the survey and making them feel involved in the process, the foundation is laid for a high level of employee engagement in the process.
Many feel that the examination itself is good, but that handling and follow-up of the results often fail. Change work is complicated. If you want to achieve results and credibility, you need to be clear and consistent in both your actions and communication.
We at Quicksearch do not believe that you gain anything by doing a survey. But we believe that well-executed work with the results of the survey as a basis can create minor miracles and we can measure the effect of that. The survey should ask the important questions that make a real difference. It should be: "Need to know" not "Nice to know".