Conducting an employee engagement survey regularly is definitely a good first step toward creating a positive workplace culture. But the real test comes after the survey: Are you doing something with the results?
Unfortunately, at many companies, the answer is no. Or, if they are paying attention to the results, employees don’t see it. In fact, only about 20% believe that their manager will act on the team’s survey responses, according to Officevibe. What’s worse, that’s not just an inaccurate perception: More than a quarter of managers (27%) never even review survey results!
Luckily, that’s not the case within our BHN Rewards team and across the greater Blackhawk Network organization. Our leaders take every employee engagement survey seriously, sharing results and taking action. And with good reason. Getting insights on how to improve employee engagement is a smart goal, considering that companies that report high employee engagement see, on average, 81% lower absenteeism, 23% higher profits, and 43% lower turnover, according to Gallup.
If those statistics aren’t enough to convince you, here are three more reasons our managers value employee surveys and always pay attention to the results.
READ MORE: 50 Expert-Recommended Questions to Ask in Your Employee Feedback Surveys
Because any employee engagement survey we conduct is anonymous, team members feel more comfortable giving candid feedback, good and bad. In general, respondents are often more willing to answer honestly in an anonymous survey as opposed to speaking directly with a manager or bringing up certain issues in performance reviews.
Since we do a short employee engagement survey every quarter, we have lots of data to compare. Rather than simply looking at the numbers themselves, our managers like to look at the quarter-over-quarter change for each question, because that can offer a lot of insight into new or changing issues. They can try to address any concerns right away, before they become bigger challenges. Comparing quarterly and yearly results also shows seasonality — for instance, Q4 questions sometimes reflect the fact that the holiday season is a busy time of year for the company as a whole (because everyone loves getting gift cards!). With that insight, though, our teams can take proactive steps to adjust, such as starting holiday initiatives earlier.
Sometimes, the results from the survey show a potential issue in a particular area but don’t tell us enough to take action. That’s why some managers choose to follow up with a second, more targeted survey. It’s still anonymous, but it gives an opportunity to dig a little deeper into certain points of interest, particularly after a shorter pulse survey. This follow-up tends to have a mix of multiple-choice and open-ended questions, so employees can give more context about their scores.
Need better response rates for your employee engagement survey? Contact us today to learn how incentives can help!
Hannah is a reformed journalist who has more than 15 years of experience and now focuses on content marketing for innovative tech companies.
Hannah is a reformed journalist who has more than 15 years of experience and now focuses on content marketing for innovative tech companies.
