Are you curious about what your employees think of your business? You could have one-on-one interviews, but that’d take a long time to complete. And by the time you’re done, their opinions may have changed.
An easier way to collect workplace thoughts is to conduct employee surveys.
However, you can’t just jump into it. Here’s how you can do it properly.
Set Clear Objectives
Don’t just put down random questions that come to mind; you need to first determine what you wish to achieve from this survey. You can use surveys to measure engagement, satisfaction, management effectiveness, and more. So pick one thing and stick to it.
If you want to learn about all the above (and more), don’t mash them together in one survey. Create separate ones to send out to keep things organized and cohesive.
Pick a Good Survey Tool
Doing things with pencil and paper won’t suffice. Not only is it time-consuming, but it’ll be difficult to measure your results.
Thankfully, there are many survey tools that’ll allow you to create, distribute, and analyze surveys with ease. Explore the free trials to see if the features are what you need, then consider whether the pricing is right for your company, especially if you plan on conducting numerous employee surveys.
Make the Survey Anonymous
Understandably, it can be hard for workers to give honest opinions if they think they’ll be reprimanded or punished for it. Even if you have a reputation for being an excellent employer, this will always be at the back of their minds.
If you make the survey anonymous though, they’ll feel safer. Give your workers reassurance that all answers are confidential and won’t be linked back to them.
Keep the Survey Short
We have very short attention spans nowadays. Not to mention, time spent on the survey is time spent away from important work tasks.
Keep your surveys short and sweet to get the best results. If they’re too long, then employees might opt out. Or they might get bored halfway through and abandon the survey or fill in random answers.
Pretest Your Surveys
Pretest the survey with a small group of employees first. They can give you feedback on whether things are unclear, and you can handle these issues before you distribute the survey on a large scale.
Analyze and Share the Results
There’s no point in conducting surveys if you’re not going to do anything with the results.
Be transparent with your workforce and show them what the data says. You can then use this information to make your workers happier at work.
When they see that you’re using the results to change things for the better, they’ll be more inclined to fill out future surveys. As a result, this sets a positive feedback loop into motion!
Start Conducting Employee Surveys at Your Business
Employee surveys can tell you a lot about what you’re doing right and wrong. Make sure you harness this information and implement positive changes.
If your workers see that you’re proactively improving their workplace, they’ll want to stay and help you achieve great things.