Employee satisfaction surveys

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Employee Satisfaction Surveys

Employee satisfaction surveys can be in the following formats Written Questionnaire Online Survey Interviews Focus Groups Select the format that fits your needs, demographics and objectives. Other considerations include political situations, contractual conditions , corporate directives, etc.

A written or online survey with follow-up focus groups or interviews is best. The survey report should include: 1. Analysis of all conditions of employment 2. Satisfaction and importance perceptions for each condition of employment 3. Comparisons with past survey results 4. Results of management reactions for each condition of employment

Employee opinion surveys should: 1. Have a clear and specific objective 2. Have management support 3. Clearly and fully communicate objective and use of results to all employees 4. Protect employee confidentiality 5. Administer objectively 6. Do not attempt to affect survey results 7. Do not use for voting

Survey Objective Most often the survey objective is to discover employee perceptions regarding their satisfaction with the conditions of employment; e.g., immediate supervision, job assignment, communications, performance measurement, compensation, benefits, security, executive management, equal treatment, training, career opportunities, facilities, overall company.

The purpose of the survey is to: 1. Discover employees’ satisfaction 2. Discover employees’ perceptions of the importance of working conditions 3. Identify changes in employee perceptions from previous surveys 4. Identify areas requiring management attention 5. Communicate to employees their collective degree of satisfaction with all conditions of employment, or 6. Form the basis of a continuing two-way communication process

When considering sample size, factors to consider include: 1. Degree of confidence. The most used levels are .95 and .99. 2. Maximum allowable error 3. Variations in the employee population. The more homogeneous, the smaller the sample.

Employees can be grouped in whatever way makes the best sense. Possible groupings are: Employee classification Department Length of service Race and Gender Age Location Language ability Veteran status etc.

The survey instrument can be organized into: 1. Introduction 2. Instructions 3. Questions Dimensions Sub-areas 4. Final essay question

Surveys can include the following question types 1. Objective 2. Multiple Choice 3. Ranking 4. Essay 5. Fill-in

Response Scales Some surveys group questions by dimension and sub-area and mix types of questions within each dimension or sub-area. You will find more consistent results when types are sequenced as follows: 1. Importance 2. Agreement 3. Amount 4. Rating 5. Satisfaction And the questions are grouped by dimension and sub-area within each type.

Importance and Satisfaction For each dimension two questions are asked: How important is (dimension) to you? How satisfied are you with (dimension)? • High importance and high satisfaction • High importance and low satisfaction • Low importance and high satisfaction • Low importance and low satisfaction

Communication to employees is key. Be sure to communicate the: 1. Purpose of the survey 2. Survey format 3. Date and location of the survey 4. Importance of full participation 5. Reference to previous surveys, if appropriate 6. How and when feedback will occur 7. Provision for making up the survey if missed 8. Procedure for reporting results to employees

Writing and Delivering Reports A report to management of the initial results A report to employees of management’s reactions and action plans

Management Report Structure 1. Description of the survey, its objectives, its dimensions, number and types of questions, and demographics of those taking the survey 2. Graphs or tables of each dimension for all employees and for major demographic groupings 3. Commentary on dimension reports 4. Graphs or tables of specific questions that differ significantly from past surveys dimension results from all employees, and/or very negative or neutral responses 5. Commentary on individual questions 6. Comparisons with previous survey results or comparisons with external surveys, if available 7. Display of the relationship of dimension satisfaction responses to importance responses 8. Plan for communication results to employees.

Employee Report Structure 1. Description of the survey, its objectives, dimension, number and types of questions, and demographics of those taking the survey, 2. Graphs, tables or comments of each dimension for all employees 3. Commentary on dimension reports 4. Comparisons with previous survey results or comparisons with external surveys, if available 5. Display of the relationship of dimension satisfaction responses to importance responses 6. Management’s reactions and action plans based on the survey results. The report to employees can take many shapes and be delivered in many ways. The two most generally used are meetings and a printed document.

1. Dimension 2. Company Response 3. Action Plan 4. Conclusion

Two-Way Communication Employees provide information Management reports the results to employees To an extent two-way communication has already occurred, but it can be easily expanded. Department supervisors can play a critical role. Using the supervisor as a communicator of department survey results strengthens the supervisor’s role and contributes to the development of department employees as a team, with the supervisor as its leader. Unfortunately, the supervisor is often bypassed.

Employee Communication Session Outline 1. Open the session and describe the meeting 2. Review survey results 3. Develop action plans for areas of improvement that can be addressed at the department level and haven’t been addressed by the company or the department 4. Conclude the meeting

Communications Program 1. Overview of survey results for the company 2. Questions and discussion of overall survey results 3. Review of survey results that apply to the department 4. Questions and discussion of department results 5. Identification of areas of improvement that can be addressed at the department level 6. Establishment of objectives of improvement based on survey results 7. Assignment of responsibilities for implementing objectives