Strategic Employee Surveys
How to create employee surveys that have real impact and value
Employees are often keen and insightful observers of their work environment. HR Directors, perhaps more so than any other functional head, will understand that great value can be obtained by capturing the thoughts and feelings that employees have about a wide range of issues, such as their motivation, job satisfaction, the effectiveness of management, policies, the corporate values, their commitment to the organisation and the emphasis they see placed on aspects such as training, innovation and customer service.
Since the 1930s, organisations have attempted to capture information of this kind through employee surveys. By giving a voice to employees, the received wisdom is that leaders will be able to bring about changes that will engender greater success in the future.
The problem is: it’s not that easy. For example, in my organisation - the global consumer packaging group, Rexam - we ran a survey in 2007 which simply provoked a response of ‘so what?’ Whilst the information was interesting and useful at the time, with hindsight we realised that it was a backward-looking snapshot and all it really told us was how we were tracking against our core values.
The lesson we learned then was that if you want to make sustainable improvements, you have to ensure that what gets measured matters - and that the results are actually used. At last, a book has been written that gives chapter and verse on how to do just that.
‘Strategic Employee Surveys’ is not about the logistics of running a survey. Instead, it examines why organisations conduct surveys and how to design and implement one that supports the strategy of the organisation, measures what is important and provides actionable information. Importantly, it also explains how to follow up the survey with effective action planning.
Jack Wiley, the author - who has 35 years of experience as a survey practitioner/researcher and is executive director of the Kenexa Research Institute - states that an employee survey should be consciously regarded as part of the business strategy. He argues that only from a strategic standpoint can the best decisions be made about what to measure, when to measure it and how to use that measurement for the greatest gain.
‘Strategic Employee Surveys’ is divided into two parts, the first of which highlights the principal reasons why organisations conduct surveys (as warning indicators; as programme evaluation measures; as a measure of ‘employer of choice’; as leading indicators of business success and as a hybrid blend of the last two). Of course, there is a place for all of these types of survey. It’s really a question of whether your organisation wants to be reactive or proactive. Do you want to know what has happened in the past or do you really want to drive change in the future?
The book also introduces a useful ‘high performance-engagement’ model, which outlines the organisational values and leadership practices that can achieve the complementary goals of creating a high performance organisation and developing and sustaining an engaged workforce.
The overriding lesson from Part One is the need to think through the purpose of your survey, because when the goals are clear - and when they’re aligned with the overarching strategic objectives - it is then much easier to ask the right questions!
For example, at Rexam - learning from our past experience - we’ve just run another survey but this time, we decided to be proactive and forward-looking. Our strategy drove our careful selection of 33 questions. If you offer your key stakeholders too broad a choice of questions that are not linked to strategy, you’re opening up Pandora’s Box. You could end up with a time-consuming survey of 100 questions that doesn’t enable you to be specific in your actions.
Part Two of ‘Strategic Employee Surveys’ focuses on how to use the survey results to affect change in your organisation. It features a proven, seven-step model for establishing priorities and implementing responsive actions. It also covers how to use the survey results to set improvement goals for the future and the leadership characteristics required to sustain both the survey and the resultant improvements over time.
The goal setting chapter is particularly useful. You may know what your priorities are but how do you set the goals for improvement? The ‘gap closure method’ detailed in the book helps you to set milestones over a number of years.
The overriding lesson from Part Two is the importance of understanding why people have said what they’ve said. Jack Wiley likens a survey to a thermometer: it may indicate that a patient has a fever but it can’t identify the source of that fever. How can a doctor treat a patient without knowing the root cause of the problem?
At Rexam, we’ve taken this onboard and we’re committed to running focus groups and further interviews to better understand why our employees have responded in the way that they have. From our experience, I would reiterate that transparency and ongoing, two-way communication are critical for an effective survey. You also need to be realistic about how much your organisation can and cannot do at a particular point in time. I would also add: don’t be afraid to take small steps first.
Furnished with case studies, examples, observations, models, research findings (including the drivers of both retention and employee engagement), methodologies, summaries and sample survey questions, this is an indispensable guide for sponsors and practitioners involved in, or considering, an employee survey.
Written in an authoritative yet straightforward and readable style, ‘Strategic Employee Surveys’ contains all of the secrets of successful survey initiatives. Armed with the learning from this extremely pragmatic book, you will not only be able to improve the acceptance, impact and perceived value of your employee survey, your organisation will also be much more likely to bring about tangible, beneficial and lasting change.
Rochelle Chopamba is Group Director of Organisational Capabilities at Rexam, which provides a broad range of packaging services and solutions, and employs 23,000 people in more than 20 countries. A FTSE 100 company, it has a turnover of approximately £4.9 billion.
Published by Jossey-Bass - Price £26.99
Available from: www.amazon.co.uk
Created on: 03-Feb-11 15:50
By: Rochelle Choopamba
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