Engagement Surveys: There is a Middle Path

It’s not unusual for companies to conduct an annual, company-wide survey. But it’s also not unusual that these surveys leave you and your employees with more questions than answers. Here are a few familiar scenarios that you might encounter during your annual company survey, the questions you’ll get asked, and why your current approach might not be working. 

Too Little Too Late

You've sent your costly annual employee engagement survey to the entire company. You tell yourself, "This year will be different." Morale has been low so you suspect there will be a lot to improve this year, but you’ve prepared. You have a game plan and are eager to get your results. 

Then a week goes by. And another. And another. You start getting comments and questions from your employees asking about the status of the survey. You hear things like, “"I thought corporate was going to do something once they received our feedback" or "Are they making any changes based on our suggestions?"

Eventually your workforce has lost all confidence that the survey will yield any change at all. Now it’s, "So much for the survey. It's been a month and nothing has happened. Just like last year. I don't even know why I fill out these things anymore."

Weeks later when you finally receive your survey results, you’re getting up-sold by your survey company with promises of more data, competitive benchmarks and consulting services. Talk about defeating the purpose. Now you’re the one asking, "Why do I even bother with these things?"

Groundhog Day

You might still be optimistic even if previous years’ surveys didn’t result in much action. You learned your lesson last year and this time around, you’re using a free tool.

You tell yourself, "This year will be different,". Overspending and delayed survey results won’t be an issue anymore, right? This year you’re delivering a company-wide survey, getting the results quickly and taking immediate action.

The survey goes out. The results come in.

"How'd we do?" Well, now you’re not sure, because you no longer have benchmarking data against which to compare the current data. Plus, the free tool you used had a constricting format, so you were limited in what you could ask and how you could splice the data.

Darn it. Once again, your attempt at getting actionable employee feedback through a survey was a bust.

The Middle Path 

Good news: there’s a better way to use an employee survey to get meaningful, honest, actionable feedback from your workforce. Engagement platforms like HighGround include survey functionality that is inexpensive, delivers immediate results, is customizable and collects company benchmark data. Once a survey tool like this is in place, you can improve your organization's engagement scores year over year.

Survey tools set themselves apart by providing polling and pulse surveys, so engagement conversations are just that – conversations. You should approach surveys as one piece of a larger feedback loop. They’re part of a continuous dialogue with your employees- showing that you are listening, and their feedback will result in real progress.

Of course conducting regular pulse surveys and polling are just two survey tactics that can help boost employee engagement. To have a truly robust engagement program, you need real-time performance management and recognition programs as well. To learn more about how comprehensive tools like HighGround can help your employee engagement programs, click here.