Our survey says – we love working here!
What does ‘employee engagement’ mean to your company? It can seem like a vague term that doesn’t really mean much in the real world, however if we told you that:
- Companies ranked in the bottom quartile for employee engagement had 30 – 50% higher employee turnover (Robert Half)
- Engaged employees are happier and work harder, ‘raising sales by 37%, productivity by 31%, and accuracy on tasks by 19%’ (HBR)
- Disengagement costs between $450 – $550 billion a year in the US alone (The Conference Board)
It becomes fairly obvious that engaging employees is much more than a nice-to-have and becomes a necessity if your organisation is going to succeed. These hair-raising stats aren’t the only consequence of employee engagement. Higher levels of innovation, staff becoming brand ambassadors in the wider community and an empowered workforce all point towards employee engagement as a fundamental requirement if a workforce is to reach its full potential.
Staff surveys – how to measure employee engagement
So, while you may recognise the need to engage your staff and perhaps you are actively working towards this aim, how do you ensure your HR engagement policies are working?
The annual staff survey has been around for years, and still serves an important purpose. It is invaluable as a benchmark to compare big-picture trends and tendencies. HR needs to work, with the backing of senior management, to ensure that the goal of such surveys is clear, and that crucially, any findings are acted on. Nothing is more demoralising to a workforce than thinking their opinions are being heard for there then to be no significant feedback once they’ve had their say.
Experts advise that comprehensive annual surveys should take the format of up to 75 questions that are clear and neutral and take no more than 20 – 30 mins to respond. It pays to avoid leading questions such as ‘is staff size too small?’, as well as adding some negative questions to ensure responses don’t paint an unrealistically positive picture. The timing of release is also something to be aware of: don’t expect staff to answer an in-depth survey over peak periods, for example. It may seem counterintuitive, but sending surveys during periods of change or drops in business can actually improve employee engagement, demonstrating to staff that management care about their wellbeing and are aware of difficulties experienced.
Take the pulse to see where it’s at
Recent years have seen an accompanying move into shorter, more focussed studies alongside larger annual reviews as technology has allowed the real-time ‘pulse’ survey to grow in importance. Rather than a big-picture look at the organisation as a whole, pulse surveys can give management instant feedback and insight that the larger annual survey is unable to provide. Weekly or monthly surveys mean that managers can take action as problems arise – rather than after they have transpired when they may be harder to resolve. The principles for building a quick weekly survey are aligned with those of the annual survey. Know what you want to find out, make questions clear and concise and ensure that you act on the responses received. It is telling that when employee feedback is obtained on a regular basis, staff turnover levels are 14.9% lower than for employees who receive no feedback (Gallup), demonstrating significant savings these organisations not having to find, onboard and train new staff as disillusioned employees move on.
Schoop’s flexible Forms and Surveys feature – do it your way
However you want to do it, learning more about your workforce’s perceptions of their workplace and opinions on their jobs and management will only help, as long as you are acting on your findings. Schoop’s Employee Engagement app is designed to make it easy to build any type of survey you require. With unlimited questions, you can carry out an annual deep-dive, making questions multiple choice, ranking by number or even leave space for unlimited text responses. Not everyone will rush to respond to questions, so forms can be set to push recipients to return their responses, ensuring that everyone gets their say. And when all the results are in, analytics in the form of charts and graphs deliver a clear understanding of responses that can be used in reports.
We’d love to show you all the features of the Schoop Employee Engagement app and how it can boost your employee engagement policy. Click below for a free online demo!
