The Ultimate Guide to Employee Engagement Surveys That Will Grow Your Business
How To Use Your Employee Engagement Survey To SHAPE Your Culture, Not Just Measure It
Surveys can be used to train your employees on your mission, your goals, your culture, and your expectations for management and leadership. Here is the ultimate guide to Employee Engagement Surveys.
Most inexperienced survey designers do not realize that surveys are not just about gathering information.
Take for example a survey for employees, with the question matrix below, and with answers of 1=Yes, 2=No:
Is it possible for TPS:
To have 3 more locations within the next 4 years?
To have 115 employees within the next 4 years?
To have 100% of our applications internally sourced within the next 4 years?
To have 5% or less annual turnover within the next 4 years?
To increase our prospect-to-sale ratio from 5% to 25% within the next 4 years?
To grow revenue by 10% each year for the next 4 years?
To increase costs by (only) 5% each year for the next 4 years?
You may rightly assume that these questions are directly related to this company’s goals, actions, and metrics defined in their blueprint. As you can see, these questions serve as a marquee reminder – “alert! this is what we plan to do and will be doing for the next four years!”
Now imagine that this survey, and these questions, are given yearly to company personnel. The repetition will continue to serve as a marquee reminder on precisely what actions and goals staff should be unified in working towards.
Now take for example these matrix questions, on the same survey, with answer choices of 1=strongly disagree, 2=disagree, 3=agree, and 4=strongly agree:
TPS employees are professional. We treat everyone with respect and kindness.
TPS employees are committed. We work hard to get the job done right.
TPS employees are accountable. We keep people informed and own our decisions.
TPS employees are grateful. We say thank you and mean it.
TPS employees care. We leave things better than how we found them.
You may rightly assume that the company founder is assessing how well the company is performing regarding the designated organizational values, as well as effective training TPS employees by reminding them of what is expected: to be professional, committed, accountable, grateful, and express care.
Imagine the same survey with these matrix questions:
The leaders at TPS have communicated a vision that motivates me.
The leaders at TPS demonstrate that people are important to the company’s success.
The leaders at TPS keep people informed about what is happening.
I have confidence in the leaders at TPS.
My manager gives me useful feedback on how well I am performing.
My manager keeps me informed about what is happening.
My manager is a great role model for employees.
My manager genuinely cares about my well-being.
Other departments at TPS collaborate well with us to get the job done.
Most people here make a good effort to consult other staff where appropriate.
At TPS there is open and honest two-way communication.
Workloads are divided fairly among people where I work.
I feel I am part of a team.
We hold ourselves and our team members accountable for results.
This survey effectively teaches staff to know that good management and leadership practices matter, and that they should expect a culture of excellence in that regard. It also shows they expect a climate of accountability, collaboration, fairness, honesty, and a few other elements of culture that stand apart from the company’s scripted values.
Because all survey results, and follow up actions, will be shared, the survey thus becomes a tool that not just assesses culture and climate, but an instrument that has the potential to build it.
Why You Should Never Use a “NEUTRAL” Category on an Employee Engagement Survey
Take for example the question, “Are you satisfied working for the GO KAYAK company?” where 1=Strongly Disagree, 2=Disagree, 3=Neutral, 4=Agree, and 5=Strongly Agree. Now, imagine you survey 75 employees and come back with an average of 3.2. What have you learned?
You’ve learned that people are sort of satisfied working for GO KAYAK company. That isn’t good news if you want to knock employee satisfaction out of the park. Yet that is not terrible news either. At least you have an understanding that there is room for improvement.
Typically, when clients request help with a survey effort, they come to Lion Leadership prepared with a list of questions they want to ask. This seems like the right place to start. Yet it often is not. The proper way to start a survey is to disentangle “the question you think you want to ask” with what it is that “you actually want to know.”
Envisioning the statement that you can generate based on the survey answer you want will drive you to the proper question; not the other way around.
Let’s take this example question deeper because there are some important problems with it.
First, given this 3.2 datapoint, what now are you going to do? The question is not actionable as it only gives you vague guidance. Second, the question allows people to “fence sit.” This means expressing a ‘neutral’ opinion is an option instead of forcing an answer of ‘yes’ or ‘no.’ Third, and most problematic, is that this average of 3.2 doesn’t tell you if a lot of people put ‘neutral’ or whether you have a polarized group – with many saying ‘strongly disagree’ and just as many saying ‘strongly agree.’ That is significant information to know, and it is muted with the design of these answer choices.
Last, and to the point of messaging, “Most people are neutral when it comes to their satisfaction working at GO KAYAK” really doesn’t make for a great sound bite.
Most likely the owner of GO KAYAKS would like to say something along the lines of, “94% of our employees agree or strongly agree that they are satisfied working for the GO KAYAK company.” By removing the fence-sitting ‘neutral’ response you are more likely to get that valuable quote. This is why it is best to envision what you wish to say when you are reporting out the data before writing the question or designing answer choices.
Imagine further two ideas: 1) What if only “yes” or “no” answers were used? And 2) What if we asked more targeted questions that could spur clear action? Take for example the items below.
Would you recommend working at GO KAYAK to a friend? 1=Yes, 2=No
Do you envision yourself working at GO KAYAK in 2 years’ time? 1=Yes, 2=No
My GO KAYAK manager gives me constructive feedback that is motivating. 1=strongly disagree, 2=disagree, 3=agree, 4=strongly agree
I feel as though people at GO KAYAK respect my contributions. 1=Yes, No
The work that I see others do at GO KAYAK inspires me to work hard. 1=strongly disagree, 2=disagree, 3=agree, 4=strongly agree
Yes, these are more actionable and likely suit the owner’s intentions better. In fact, wouldn’t we all love to say: “98% of employees say that the work they see others accomplishing at the GO KAYAK company inspires them to work hard.” Now – THAT – is an engaged workforce. On the other side of positive results, not much more will spur direct action than having this statement come out of a survey: “74% of employees feel as though people at GO KAYAK do not respect their contributions.” And – THAT – is motivation for change.
How To Ensure 100% of Employees Participate in Your Company Engagement Survey
Since we are talking about surveys, when was the last time you took a survey? Ha! Exactly.
Busy people rarely make time to take surveys unless they really 1) care about the person administering it, 2) are invested in the results that it potentially could produce, 3) have a lot of time to share their very polarized opinions, or 4) know that they will somehow personally, and directly, be rewarded by participating.
Even something as simple as a college course evaluation can illuminate these ideas.
Should a teacher want 100% participation, all they need to do is 1) build relationships so that students care about providing feedback to them, 2) emphasize the importance of evaluations in the tenure/termination processes and their professional future, and 3) offer extra credit.
It’s not rocket science, but it does take intention – and of course – we all remember professors in high school or college who offered nothing for taking the survey, promised nothing in terms of change or improvement, and barely advertised the opportunity. Sure enough, these teachers only received feedback from very polarized, opinionated people with extra time to spare.
To avoid the survey bias that naturally results from self-selection, leaders need to even the playing field by convincing all possible survey takers that the results not only will be helpful to senior leadership yet to them, the person investing the time in completing the survey. Leaders also need to ensure that everyone will personally benefit by taking the survey – not down the line in time – but immediately. This does not mean “you’ll get entered into a drawing.” This means that every, single person taking the survey 100% gets something and immediately.
We find that most all people will take a survey in exchange for a $30.00 visa card.
Sometimes people will even take a survey for other promotional gifts – like coolers, fold up chairs, backpacks, etc. What does this mean? It means that surveys will cost you something. Yet your return on investment should exceed the cost of not investing at all. What else does this mean? It means that logistically we will jump through a few hoops. If people indicate their name to get an individual incentive, answers cannot technically be anonymous, and this is important. Nothing kills survey participation quite like the fear of having your boss find out what you said.
Let’s talk for a minute about what ‘anonymous’ means. An anonymous survey is where the employee can take the survey, omit their name, and, consequently, no one, not even the survey administrator, can figure out who said what. A confidential survey is where the employee can take the survey, also indicate their name, and, while the survey administrator can figure out who said what, they also can ‘strip’ names from answers so that they are protected from other powers that be.
This brings us to a few choices when it comes to giving anonymous or confidential surveys, and whether rewarding everyone who takes the survey is the best direction after all.
Choice #1 is to make the survey anonymous, and therefore to not offer individual incentives, because you wouldn’t know who to give them to.
Choice #2 is to provide gifts to everyone ahead of time, and hope that the nature of reciprocity works to your benefit.
Choice #3 is to give the survey, make it anonymous, and then ask people to honestly disclose on another unconnected survey or form whether they participated or not.
Choice #4 is to give the survey, ask your people to identify themselves so that you can provide their incentive, yet explain exactly how confidentiality will be handled.
We are a fan of choice 4. And this is another reason why it is wise to leverage a 3rd party for survey administration. A consultant can serve as an outsider and remove all the names from the data before sharing with senior leaders. At the same time the consultant can save names of participants for proper incentive distribution.
We have used this tactic for years at Lion Leadership with great success.
We wish you the very best of luck with your 2023 employee engagement surveys. If you would like to be matched with a consultant to help you along, email us at info@lionleadership.com.
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