Points to Consider Before Conducting an In-House Employee Survey
If you're considering implementing a company-wide survey, then you'll want to consider the following points before proceeding.
1) Which employees will be contacted?
2) How will you ensure that they are contacted in a timely fashion?
3) What criteria will be used to determine who is contacted and when?
4) How long is the survey going to last?
Assessing these points before initiating any surveys can help provide more accurate surveys in-house, which can lead to increased profitability for your business. Successfully completing an employee survey provides important feedback for management individuals as well as valuable insight about your company as a whole.
Here are a few examples of questions to ask yourself before assessing points 1-4.
1) Who is the audience? If you're business isn't top brass, then it's your employees who will be answering your questionnaires. You must keep this in mind when deciding who exactly should be answering the questions. It'd be misleading to gather feedback from employees who don't have direct contact with customers or even other employees in order to get a more accurate picture of a problem or issue which needs solving (i.e.: an employee survey can't solve all problems).
2) How are you going to get the information? You might want to consider using a company-wide survey or email every employee. Or perhaps you want to concentrate on a specific department or department that is exhibiting a problem. Which of these ways will be best for you?
3) What are the criteria that will be used to determine who is contacted and when? After taking into consideration both points 1 and 2, you can now decide which employees should be included in your company-wide survey. You should have an idea of what type of questions/criteria the questionnaire will contain prior to completing the survey so that everyone can follow along.
4) How long is the survey going to last? The length of time your survey will be running can also be determined before starting the questionnaire. With this in mind, you can now decide how much time you want to allow your employees to spend answering questions about their jobs and work in general.
By answering these points before conducting an employee survey, you'll be able to gather more accurate data which will lead to increased productivity within your company.
The more information you have about your workers, the better!
Ask yourself these important questions before getting started on your survey:
Employee surveys are a valuable resource for gaining insight into workplace culture. They can be used to learn if improvement is needed or to see how satisfied employees are with their work environment. It is critical that employee surveys are done in a timely and professional manner so they won't be perceived as a waste of time or an annoyance by employees. There are many online survey companies that offer survey templates and questionnaires, which can make creating one easier. It may seem best to have an outside company create your employee survey for you but this could actually be detrimental to the results you ultimately receive. This is because there will be no basis for employees to share opinions or concerns with if they're going to complete it anonymously. It is best to have the survey created and distributed by your employees, rather than an outsider. If a significant amount of employees are being asked to complete the survey, in-office distribution would be preferable. This will allow participants the opportunity to ask questions and get clarification on the questions that are being asked.
Once your employee survey has been created and distributed, it's important to carefully examine the data you receive. There may be a few stragglers who want to make sure they don't participate in something they feel could negatively affect their position within your company so these results may not always be accurate. Make sure to take note of any questions that have a high number of "I don't know" responses in the data you receive. These are the areas that need to be addressed by management. If a significant amount of employees are unsatisfied with their workload, then a company policy change may be in order.
Employee surveys have been proven to be immensely beneficial as long as they are administered correctly and with good intentions. The results can be used to help improve the culture within your company, increase productivity, and provide valuable insight for management. However, it is important not to overlook any potential pitfalls which may surface if not done correctly. If you want to be sure your employee survey is going to be a success, ask yourself the following questions prior to conducting one:
Which employees should take part in the survey? Will it be a company wide survey or should everyone on staff take part? The best method of distributing the questionnaire depends on what kind of results you would enjoy coming out of the survey and how quickly you need feedback. If everyone in your company should participate then an in-office distribution would work best. If a company wide survey is too much to ask from employees, consider using a 10-20 percent sample. This method can help to get an idea of the overall feelings for your entire staff without overwhelming them with too many questions.
How will you handle anonymity? If you are requiring all employees to answer the questionnaire, then it should be done anonymously. By having an outside party create your employee survey for you, the results are more likely to be misinterpreted and not have proper context due to each person's unique point of view. It is important that you have a set list of criteria that can be answered by each individual so they're all on even ground.
How will you get the information? If you are using an outside company or individuals to create your survey, make sure they have a set format to follow. This will allow for results that can be easily compared if multiple surveys are being conducted at once or if it's being repeated in the future. The questions should all be similar so no one is receiving any questions they don't need to answer.
Can you explain the criteria? In many cases, employees aren't clear on what their role is within your company and the work that it entails.
Conclusion
The more questions you ask, the more you'll learn about your employees and the better your company will run. The best way to form a questionnaire that will convey the data you're looking for is to ask yourself what you can do with it. The information obtained through a company-wide employee survey can be used for many different things in order to improve your business as a whole. This is why it's important to carefully consider how you plan on implementing the data from an employee survey once it has been collected. If properly executed, this method of data gathering can help to shape your business culture in a positive way and foster a strong work environment between employees and management alike.