Are Employee Engagement Surveys Worth It? (Survey Says: "Nope")

Or, "How I Learned to Better Relate to My Employees, Part III."

If you've read my previous two articles, then you know that I have some fairly stark (some would say "blasphemous") opinions about workplace practices.

I'll say it up front: just about every company I've ever worked for gets employee relations wrong. Employees put up with it for combinations of reasons, the most common of which is they're generally happier than not, and can't easily leave their jobs.

And yet, when more mobile employees leave, these companies always act like it's such a shock, and that's been on full display this year as part of The Great Resignation of 2021. "What gives?" leaders wonder when people have walked away. "We did everything right!"

Sorry to burst your bubble, folks, but: no, you didn't. I can tell you where you went wrong, and how to fix it--but, like some previous comments of mine, it will only work if you're willing to step up and admit you have a problem.

The Bad Approach, Defined

One of the leading ways that companies like to assess how they're doing is by sending out employee engagement surveys (these can also be called "pulse checks," "touch points surveys," or just "employee surveys in general").

These surveys, usually sent out via broad-spectrum e-mail, tend to ask employees questions like, "On a scale of 1 to 10, with one being unacceptably bad, and ten being a perfect score, how are things?" And they'll have a series of radio buttons, which allow the respondent to select a value.

Some questions might be more complicated, and include phrases like "Select ALL values" above a series of check boxes, encouraging employees to offer multiple responses if applicable.

Some surveys even include open-ended questions with text fields (some large, some small) that encourage a respondent to answer the question in their own words. While the previous two approaches are fairly objective--either something is this value, or that value, or multiple values of a range--these responses are entirely subjective, and can be harder to quantify.

A Tale of Two Perspectives

All this sounds like a sound approach in theory, right? Yes, the theory is fairly sound, but it ignores some fairly glaring workplace realities. Let me tell the same story from two different perspectives, Roshomon-style, to give you an idea where you're going wrong.

Side 1: The Employer

(Disclaimer for this one: I'm putting the best possible spin on this scenario, that of an employer who seems genuinely interested in getting feedback. This doesn't take into account those that only do things like this because they're told to, or other hollow reasons.)

So there you are, having been told by your boss or by outside consultants that you're disconnected from your employees, but that luckily they have the answer: you need to do more surveys! These surveys, they tell you, can be sent out anonymously, letting employees speak their mind without fear of retaliation, and can give you a better glimpse at what your employees are thinking than a face-to-face conversation can.

What's that? You want to know how to respond effectively to feedback if you don't know who's saying what? Pish posh, you'll never need to follow up on an employee engagement survey. You can get complete, honest answers that will tell you everything you say you want to know.

So you spend time, pulling together lists of questions and choosing what type of response to ask for, and then out the survey goes. You sit back, wait for responses, gently "reminding" employees to complete the survey if they haven't a few times before the deadline.

When the responses come in, they tell you what you were hoping to hear--everyone's happy, everyone's engaged, no one has any issues they want to raise, nobody feels like there are any problems whatsoever.

And so, patting yourself on the back, you congratulate yourself for creating a terrific work environment, confident that no one wants to leave.

Then, weeks or even days later, suddenly you get someone's two-week notice (or worse, they just quit and don't give notice at all). You're blindsided and in shock--how could this happen? I just heard that I was doing a great job. What went wrong?

Side 2: The Employee

Now let's look at the same situation from the employee's perspective. (Again, disclaimer here: I'm taking the vantage point of an average employee who doesn't simply ignore the survey or go through the motions.)

So there you are, minding your own business and going about your job, chipping away at tasks just like you do every day. Then you hear the soft chime of an incoming e-mail (or maybe a loud buzz, depending on how you have your mail client configured). You shift away from whatever you were working on to see what the noise portends.

That's when you see it: the dreaded "Employee Engagement Survey."

"Not another one," you think to yourself. "Didn't I just do one of these last year?"

That's followed closely by: "And since when did they care what I think anyway? Nobody ever bothers to ask my opinions, so I just figure they're not interested."

Warily, you open the e-mail and read about how much the company values your inputs and wants to hear from you. They claim you can speak your mind freely, and that all these surveys are anonymous.

"Really?" you think to yourself doubtfully. You look farther down the message, where you find a link or a button that you're asked to click to start the survey.

Wanting to be a good employee, you get ready to click the link or the button--maybe it'll be a short survey, and in any event the sooner you start the sooner you can get it over with. But, before you do, all the cyber-security training you've taken comes to mind, and you mouse-hover over the object just to make sure this isn't a phishing e-mail (or worse).

When the link appears, you may see your company's name as the website's domain name--it matches the URL of the company's actual website, so it looks legitimate. (In some cases, your company may outsource this type of function, so you may see the authorized third party's name instead; if you see anything other than your company's domain name, I'd double check with leadership or your company's security division to make sure it's genuine, even if they told you to expect it, just to be absolutely sure.)

So, having done your due diligence, you're sure the link is genuine. But just as you're about to click it, you notice something else: part of the URL has what appears to be a personalized identifier.

With an inward sigh, you think to yourself, "So much for this being anonymous. There's nothing stopping them from figuring out which e-mail address that went to."

That's when you have to make the decision: to speak your mind or not?

On the one hand: "This is an opportunity for me to share my thoughts about things in the workplace that maybe I'm not comfortable saying face to face. Maybe this could lead to some things changing and getting better."

But then you think better of it: "What if I say something that they don't like, and it turns out they CAN backtrack and figure out who I am? Yeah, this is company e-mail on company gear, on a company network--too many ways for them to target me if they want to. Nope, best play it safe and just tell them what they want to hear. No sense making waves.

You send your responses, and then you go back to your day job. You're sure glad that useless survey is behind you--but it made you start to think about all the problems you see that you wish your company would fix. If only you could be certain you wouldn't be retaliated against for speaking up about issues!

Weeks go by, and then out of nowhere, a recruiter from another company contacts you, and asks if you'd be interested in a job with their company. "Well why not at least hear what they have to say?" you muse, and so you set up a call. During that call, when they ask what you want to know, you casually ask them about some of the bigger issues you see at your current company. "Not a problem here!" they say to you, and you're hooked. Throughout the rest of the interview and hiring process, you think to yourself how much better off you'll be in a place that's free of the issues you asked about.

Then when the offer comes, you drop your two weeks notice (or, if you're concerned they'll just walk you out right then, you hand in your corporate assets and walk out immediately). You start with your new company, and that's just that.

Persistence of Disconnection

See the problem? I've heard from countless employees that simply delete surveys like this when they come in, because they don't think the results ever get read, or if they do, they don't think it'll make a difference.

And a disproportionate amount of employees that do respond, think exactly like our hypothetical employee here. They're worried about being set up and/or could face retaliation by their employer for honest responses.

Think that doesn't happen? Think again. I've watched employers come up with some extremely creative ways to fire people they dislike, and more than once I've seen it start right after pulse surveys go out. (Think: have you ever seen someone suddenly start having "performance issues" or be declared a "poor cultural fit" right after a pulse survey?)

The central problem is that businesses have a much longer track record of unethical behavior than not, and employees know that. (Again, don't tell me this doesn't happen--I've watched it happen more than once.)

The problem, of course, is that there's no easy solution to this problem. At a glance, an unethical company looks just like an ethical one, and I've heard some employees make the comment that you can't necessarily trust your eyes even when a company seems ethical. (I've had that experience myself so I can vouch for it.)

So what do you do? How do you prove that you're one of the good ones?

Stop Getting Employee Engagement Wrong!

I offered some insights in a previous article about employee engagement, and I reiterate those insights now. The first thing you do is ask your people regularly--face to face, informally--if they're happy or if there's an issue you can help fix. Getting honest responses face to face is a tricky proposition, since people may be no more comfortable answering face to face than they are electronically, but it's better than anything electronic because people can read your facial expression and body language.

I've been asked this question by people whose nonverbals communicated that they were listening and receptive, and I've also been asked this question by people whose nonverbals communicated hostility and all but dared me to say anything, much less complain. (There's a lesson in that about not putting people in leadership roles that lack leadership skills, but I'll save that for another time.) I've also been asked that question by duplicitous people that seemed to have their own agenda and were all but untrustworthy.

The times when I spoke my mind were, obviously, those when the other party seemed to be listening and genuinely interested in what I had to say. (Those are rare.) The rest of the time, I defaulted to "I have no issues" and tried to end the conversation as quickly as possible.

About half the time, when I spoke my mind, nothing happened, which made me shrug and stop offering my inputs. The other half of the time, even if nothing happened, I heard my concerns addressed and at least realized I'd been heard--which encouraged me to speak my mind more.

(And it goes without saying--but I'll say it anyway--that if pulse surveys were the only time anyone showed an interest in what I thought, I'd see it more as someone trying to check a box than someone attempting to actually listen, and respond accordingly; likewise if I got asked face to face. Someone who really wants to listen will consistently make the effort, not just once a year. Seriously, all it takes is a simple "How's everything going? You good? Anything I can help with?"--it ain't rocket science, people.)

See the pattern? Listen to understand, and then show people that you at least tried to address their concerns. You'd be surprised how far transparency can go--if you can't fix a problem, either because the budget isn't there or those above you won't let you, you need to be up front about it. Making people feel heard is probably the single most important aspect of employee engagement.

(Small wonder so many companies are having problems right now, isn't it? How many companies are lecturing and demanding as opposed to listening and engaging?)

So, there you have it. What do you have to say about all this? Let me know in the comments below.