The first question that might come to the mind is that what does “employee surveys” means. Well,
employee surveys are usually implemented to identify the key problems within the employees in an organization. It is the most powerful tool which can change the company’s reputation and improve the company’s bottom line. There are several websites that provide these services to their customers. Employee survey is quite beneficial for the company and for the employees, as well. This can really boost the performance of both the employee and the company.
There are numerous benefits of employee survey and every organization should opt for this service so as to increase their employees’ performance.
Employee surveys can enhance or catalyze the communication which can be of a great advantage. Encouraging the involvement of employees into major projects can have a positive impression on the quality. Ideas and opinions of employees are some priceless resources for the company.
The companies providing these services just act like a catalyst in boosting the performance and reputation of the organization. The input of employees plays a vital role in handling the complicated issues and it also helps in improving the key problems that usually occur within a company. This is the main reason why
employee surveys are considered important for an organization.
Employees are the pillars of any organization and thus it is very essential to get regular employee feedbacks on different issues. It is also important to give the feedback quickly as per their suggestions and ideas. If the HR of the company can read the minds of the employees, then it means that the organization has definitely improved the productivity, morale and the retention rates. The services providers offer best services which can help to boost up the productivity level. They also provide
employee surveys software that can provide assistance in collecting information on several issues.
Words are often used in different ways by different people; your goal is to write questions that each person will interpret in the same way. A good question should be short and straightforward. A questionnaire should not be too long, use plain English and the question shouldn't be difficult to answer. Only through careful writing, editing, review, and rewriting can you make a good questionnaire. The following provides you with guidelines for conducting your surveys:
- Write a short questionnaire
Above all, your questionnaire should be as short as possible. When drafting your questionnaire, make a mental distinction between what is essential to know, what would be useful to know and what would be unnecessary. Retain the former, keep the useful to a minimum and discard the rest. If the question is not important enough to include in your report, it probably should be eliminated.
- Use simple words
Survey recipients may have a variety of backgrounds so use simple language. For example, "What is the frequency of your automotive travel to your parents' residents in the last 30 days?" is better understood as, "About how many times in the last 30 days have you driven to your parent's home?"
- Relax your grammar
Relax your grammatical standards if the questions sound too formal. For example, the word "who" is appropriate in many instances when "whom" is technical correct.
- Assure a common understanding
Write questions that everyone will understand in the same way. Don't assume that everyone has the same understanding of the facts or a common basis of knowledge. Identify even commonly used abbreviations to be certain that everyone understands.
- Start with interesting questions
Start the survey with questions that are likely to sound interesting and attract the respondents' attention. Save the questions that might be difficult or threatening for later. Voicing questions in the third person can be less threatening than questions voiced in the second question. For example, ask: "How do your colleagues feel about management?" rather than "How do you feel about management?"
- Don't write leading questions
Leading questions demand a specific response. For example: the question "Which day of the month is best for the newly established company-wide monthly meeting?" leads respondents to pick a date without first determining if they even want another meeting.
- Avoid double negatives
Respondents can easily be confused deciphering the meaning of a question that uses two negative words.
- Balance rating scales
When the question requires respondents to use a rating scale, mediate the scale so that there is room for both extremes.
- Don't make the list of choices too long
If the list of answer categories is long and unfamiliar, it is difficult for respondents to evaluate all of them. Keep the list of choices short.
- Avoid difficult concepts
Some questions involve concepts that are difficult for many people to understand.
- Avoid difficult recall questions
People's memories are increasingly unreliable as you ask them to recall events farther and farther back in time. You will get far more accurate information from people if you ask, "About how many times in the last month have you gone out and seen a movie in a movie theater or drive-in?" rather than, "About how many times last year did you go out and see a movie in a movie theater or drive-in?"
- Use Closed-ended questions rather than Open-ended ones
Most questionnaires rely on questions with a fixed number of response categories from which respondents select their answers. These are useful because the respondents know clearly the purpose of the question and are limited to a set of choices where one answer is right for them.
An open-ended question is a written response. For example: "If you do not want a company picnic, please explain why". If there are an excessive number of written response questions, it reduces the quality and attention the respondents give to the answers.
However, InfoPoll allows you to use a wide variety of other types of questions.
- Put your questions in a logic order
The issues raised in one question can influence how people think about subsequent questions. It is good to ask a general question and then ask more specific questions. For example, you should avoid asking a series of questions about a free banking service and then question about the most important factors in selecting a bank.
- Pre-test your survey
It is better to identify a problem during the pretest than after you have published the survey. Before sending a survey to a target audience, send it out as a test to a small number of people. After they have completed the survey, brainstorm with them to see if they had problems answering any questions. It would help if they explained what the question meant to them and whether it was valid to the questionnaire or not.
- Naming your survey
Some people discard an electronic message based entirely on its subject or sender. You should consider other titles that will pique the interest of the recipients. Here are examples of survey names that might be successful in getting attention:
> Memo From the Chief Executive Officer
> Evaluation of Services of the Benefits Office
> Your Opinion About Financial Services
> Free T-shirt
> Win a Trip to Paris
> Please Respond By Friday
> Free Subscription
> Win a notebook computer
- Cover memo or introduction
Once a recipient opens your survey, you may still need to motivate him or her to complete it. The cover memo or introduction offers an excellent place to provide the motivation. A good cover memo or introduction should be short and includes:
> Purpose of the survey
> Why it is important to hear from the correspondent
> What may be done with the results and what possible impacts may occur with the results.
> Address identification
> Person to contact for questions about the survey.
> Due date for response
Annual
performance reviews can be stressful for both employees and managers. Here are some simple but effective tactics to help minimize your employees' anxiety and ensure reviews are both fair and effective:
- Explain the process ahead of time. Ideally, whenever you hire an employee you should explain the details of the performance review process — how often these meeting occur, how they are conducted, and what the employee can expect during the discussion. Put these details in writing for easy reference. This way, the review conversation will have a structure that is clear to both you and your employee.
- Schedule the review together. Some employers blindside their workers by springing a review on them without much advance notice. This is a poor tactic, as it puts the employee on the spot and denies them the opportunity to think through their accomplishments, objectives, and questions. A far better approach is to schedule the meeting with the employee in advance and even share your proposed conversation agenda ahead of time. The employee will come into the room feeling prepared and confident, and will be much more inclined to engage in an honest, productive conversation with you.
- Flag any trouble spots in advance. If you unleash a series of aggressive questions and complaints regarding a performance shortfall during the actual meeting, you are sure to get a defensive, underdeveloped response in return. Difficult as it might be to talk with an employee about their inability to hit their professional marks, it is much more awkward when they enter the review under the mistaken impression that things are fine. A smart tactic is to tip them off before the date of the review by saying something to the effect of "We'll need to discuss why goals X, Y, and Z were not met this year. Please come into the conversation having given that some thought, so that we can work together on a solution."
- Have employees conduct self-reviews. In addition to the traditional manager-delivered review, employee self-reviews are a new and viable alternative that are becoming more and more prevalent in the workplace. Consider having your employee provide you with a self-review in advance of your formal meeting.
- Bring reviews into the round. Rather than have a one-way review process (a manager reviewing an employee), consider a "360 degree review" in which the employee also has the opportunity to evaluate your effectiveness as a manager. Have the employee fill out a brief questionnaire rating your management skills. Or you can simply alert the employee in advance that, during the review, the floor will be open to a discussion regarding your management techniques — what works for the employee and what doesn't. Encourage the person to suggest ways that you could manage them more effectively going forward. In addition, invite your employee to create a "wish list" of how he or she might expand upon or develop his or her job duties.
- Don't begin on a down note. It is important to keep in mind that your opening remarks will set the tone for the rest of the meeting. Starting a review by diving immediately into the employee's failings is a sure way to start the conversation off on a sour note and set up a barrier between the two of you. Even if you must analyze performance shortcomings, a better approach is to initiate the conversation by highlighting the positive aspects of the employee's performance over the past year. The eventual conversation about what is not up to snuff will feel less dire, and, as a result, the employee will be more likely to listen and work with you toward a solution.
- Hatch a plan. A review shouldn't simply be about rating an employee's performance. It should be a springboard from which the employee can grow and advance in the company. For every criticism, provide suggestions on how he or she could improve in the coming year. Working together, develop tactical, concrete approaches to overcome shortcomings. Let the employee see that you are interested in helping them develop and succeed. Inspire them to excellence by indicating that improvements will be rewarded with enhanced responsibilities. Knowing that your manager is on your side can be a powerful motivator.
- Don't let the conversation stop. A formal review meeting is a good opportunity to stop and "check in" with your employee, but you should also strive to sustain an ongoing conversation about job performance throughout the year. By making the review process less formal, communication between the manager and the employee will improve. Allow the employee some time to ponder what was said during the review meeting, and then come back to the table to discuss any resulting questions or ideas that may not have come to mind during the initial conversation.
Are you interested in discovering your employees’ most serious complaints? Knowing what makes employees unhappy is half the battle when you think about employee work satisfaction, morale, positive motivation, and retention. Listen to employees and provide opportunities for them to communicate with company managers. If employees feel safe, they will tell you what’s on their minds. Your work culture must foster trust for successful two-way communication.
HR Solutions, Inc., a Chicago-based management consulting firm specializing in
employee engagement surveys, analyzed recurring themes in employee surveys and compiled the following top ten list. These are the items employees consistently complain about on surveys and in interviews. How many are true in your workplace?
- Higher salaries: pay is the number one area in which employees seek change. You can foster a work environment in which employees feel comfortable asking for a raise.
- Internal pay equity: employees are concerned particularly with pay compression, the differential in pay between new and longer term employees. In organizations, with the average annual pay increase for employees around 4%, employees perceive that newcomers are better paid – and, often, they are.
- Benefits programs, particularly health and dental insurance, retirement, and Paid Time Off / vacation days: specifically, many employees feel that their health insurance costs too much, especially prescription drug programs, when employers pass part of their rising costs to employees.
- Over-management: Employees often defined by interviewees as: “Too many chiefs, not enough Indians.” Workplaces that foster employee empowerment, employee enablement, and broader spans of control by managers, will see fewer complaints. A popular word, micromanaging, expresses this sentiment, too.
- Pay increase guidelines for merit: Employees believe the compensation system should place greater emphasis on merit and contribution. Employees find pay systems in which all employees receive the same pay increase annually, demoralizing. Such pay systems hit the motivation and commitment of your best employees hardest as they may begin asking what’s in this for me? As you adopt a merit pay system, one component is education so that employees know what behaviors and contributions merit additional compensation. Employees who did not must be informed by their manager about how their performance needs to change to merit a larger pay increase.
- Human Resources department response to employees: The Human Resource department needs to be more responsive to employee questions and concerns. In many companies, the HR department is perceived as the policy making, policing arm of management. In fact, in forward thinking HR departments, responsiveness to employee needs is one of the cornerstones.
- Favoritism: Employees want the perception that each employee is treated equivalently with other employees. If there are policies, behavioral guidelines, methods for requesting time off, valued assignments, opportunities for development, frequent communication, and just about any other work related decisions you can think of, employees want fair treatment.
- Communication and availability: Let’s face it. Employees want face-to-face communication time with both their supervisors and executive management. This communication helps them feel recognized and important. And, yes, your time is full because you have a job, too. But, a manager’s main job is to support the success of all his or her reporting employees. That’s how the manager magnifies their own success.
- Workloads are too heavy: Departments are understaffed and employees feel as if their workloads are too heavy and their time is spread too thinly. I see this complaint becoming worse as layoffs; the economy; your ability to find educated, skilled, experienced staff; and your business demands grow. To combat this, each company should help employees participate in continuous improvement activities.
- Facility cleanliness: Employees want a clean, organized work environment in which they have the necessary equipment to perform well.
The job satisfaction study included over 2.2 million respondents with 2,100 organizations representing various industries, all surveyed by HR Solutions, Inc.