Why Running Your Employee Satisfaction Survey Is So Important
You've heard of employee surveys. You've probably responded to a few.
But when you're in charge of measuring sentiment or running ANY employee survey it's completely different.
It's HARD to run a proper survey. Which is why some consultants get paid SIX FIGURES to run a proper survey for just a few thousand employees.
Today I'm going to show you why your survey is more important than you think.
The main reason is simple.
Happy employees are the key to happy customers. Let me explain.
Research Is Overwhelming: Surveys Win
A recent study found that a one-star improvement of a company’s performance on Glassdoor translated into a 1.3-point bump in customer satisfaction on a 100-point scale.
If you run a business that has high-paying customers, that can translate to a lot of money.
That's not all.
Satisfied customers are more likely to become LONG TERM.
Even if your loyal customers only account for 15% of your base, they can generate upwards of 70% of ALL your revenue. That's how important creating long term satisfied customers is.
That's where employee surveys come in. They're simple and they're effective.
If the goal of your business is keeping customers happy, you need to use employee satisfaction surveys to see if your employees are happy also.
If you ask the right questions you can figure out how to continuously optimize the employee experience.
When you do that you'll create a happier workforce and more delighted customers at the same time.
The Benefits of an Employee Satisfaction Survey
Your survey doesn't need to be complicated. The most important thing is you run one and FOLLOW THROUGH on the results.
It can be as easy as a short and timely questionnaire sent to team members to gauge how they feel about specific topics or work in general.
In the age of disruption, the employee satisfaction survey remains one of the most effective ways to measure employee engagement and employee sentiment—even when folks don’t fill them out to begin with.
For example, Facebook recently found out that employees who didn’t fill out either of the company’s two annual surveys are 2.6 times more likely to leave within the next six months.
That's how powerful surveys can be. And all you're doing is just running one.
Additionally, employee satisfaction surveys deliver a number of benefits to managers and leaders like you. They make it possible for you to keep your fingers on the pulse of the team.
When you understand how people feel on a continuous basis.
Ever wonder how certain leaders seem to know how their people are REALLY doing?
They always seem to be the fearless leaders who are able to create success time and time again, right?
That's because they're putting time, care, and attention into surveying their employees.
Not to belabor it but here's an example. Survey results reveal that morale is depressingly low might indicate you have a turnover problem. If that's the case your company’s future is in trouble.
With that information on hand you can TAKE ACTION and be proactive to try to nip the problem in the bud. Employee satisfaction surveys will help you do that.
On the flip side, employee satisfaction surveys make workers feel as though their voice matters and they’re being heard. Particularly when you as the leader take action on their feedback.
Front-line workers know what it’s like in the trenches better than anyone else. They're closest to the problems.
They're also closest to the solutions.
When a company solicits employee feedback and implements some of their best ideas, their jobs improve, which makes work more enjoyable and builds a better culture and stronger team morale.
When work is fun, employees are happier—and more productive.
How to Run Your Employee Satisfaction Survey
Most organizations do employee satisfaction surveys on an annual basis. Usually toward the end of the year.
In the age of real-time everything, you can't be that slow.
If an employee was having a massive problem at work in February and wasn’t asked to share their insights until December, odds are that individual won't be around.
And even if they stick around you'll have an unproductive, potentially toxic employee on your hands.
Aggravation.
The sluggish pace of annual employee satisfaction surveys is one of the reasons why many departments struggle to get workers to even participate in the first place.
There's good news. There’s a better way forward and it's fairly easy.
Instead of running annual surveys and expecting their team to answer tons of questions at once, more and more organizations are moving to pulse surveys.
Pulse surveys are much shorter questionnaires that are sent out much more frequently (e.g., once a week or once a month).
Whereas annual surveys enable organizations to collect a lot of data at once (assuming employees participate, that is), pulse surveys enable them to answer more questions in less time.
As a result, you're going to be able to identify problems WHEN they emerge. You'll be able to take rapid action solve those problems.
The faster you can take action the more positive morale across your organization.
The Best Employee Satisfaction Survey Questions
Unfortunately you can’t just send out surveys and expect great results.
You need to ask the right questions.
Every organization is different.
There’s not really a template to reference when it comes to figuring out which questions to ask your team.
That's where the pulse survey will help you.
You're GOING to have to ask different questions to see where you can do better as a leader.
Here are a few sample employee satisfaction survey questions to get you started:
- Do you enjoy our company’s culture?
- Do you find your work meaningful?
- Does our company offer adequate professional development opportunities?
- Do you feel valued for your contributions?
- Do you have the tools you need to do your best work?
- Do your superiors communicate with you effectively?
- Do you feel as though your job responsibilities are clearly defined?
- Do you think that work is distributed evenly across your team?
- Do you feel connected to your coworkers?
- Do your managers value your feedback?
These questions come from our own bank of science-backed questions.
Now you have a better idea of questions you should ask in pulse surveys.
It's time to turn your attention to the most important piece of the puzzle.
What you need to do with the responses to your survey.
How To Take Action On Your Employee Satisfaction Survey
The single reason employee satisfaction surveys don’t work is because leaders don't take action on the responses.
Think about the last time you gave feedback and someone IGNORED you.
Frustrating.
The same happens when you run a survey and don't even acknowledge the response.
Employees start to feel as though they’re a waste of time.
"I told you! I KNEW they weren't listening."
If aren't going to actually do anything with the responses from your survey, what’s the point?
That's why your first step should ALWAYS be to acknowledge and appreciate any feedback you receive.
When employees believe that their voices are being heard even when you can't always make their idea a reality — greatness still happens.
At TINYpulse I always rely on one critical ingredient in successful surveys: overcommunication.
That’s why we share feedback with our team regularly, sending out linkable reports every two weeks that feature snapshots of survey responses, suggestions, and cheers.
When you collect feedback regularly and keep your team in the loop, you develop a collaborative and engaging culture. People feel valued and have a sense of ownership.
When employees feel their time and work have influence on the company they work harder.
This is the recipe for a stronger team—one that works harder and more creatively.
The team gets more done.
Employee Satisfaction Survey Software
Now that you understand the importance of employee satisfaction surveys it’s time to find the right tool to facilitate the whole process.
You won't be able to get the benefits of pulsing without technology to help you run surveys.
I'm a tiny bit biased. But we believe that TINYpulse Engage is the perfect tool for your entire year of surveys.
With TINYpulse you can easily and quickly survey your entire team, ensuring their anonymity while making feedback more honest.
Surveys can be wrapped up in a matter of minutes through an intuitive user interface that’s accessible from any connected device.
Once answers come in, you as a manager can make sense of all of the data due to robust data visualization, analytics, and reporting functionality.
But you can use any number of free survey tools out there. Just make sure you find one that helps you take action on survey responses.
Book a demo today to see firsthand how TINYpulse can transform your organization—delighting your customers and boosting employee engagement along the way.
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