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Benefits of Using Employee Engagement Surveys

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Question:

What is an employee engagement survey and why would our company need one?

Answer:

Employee engagement surveys are a great tool to have to help businesses get their employees involved and actively engaged in operations. Basically, it’s a survey that gives employees the opportunity to share their opinions on the business-related issues of their company to help improve business functionality. Surveys are often administered anonymously and cover topics such as operations, benefits, culture and satisfaction to name a few of the more common ones.

  1. The first step in conducting an employee survey is be sure the company is committed to taking action based on the input of the employees and to define what that action will be. Action may include telling employees their recommendations cannot be implemented because of certain factors (i.e. cost, time, resources). Responses will need to be sincere and honest and might include ways for employees to overcome any obstacles presented.
  2. The next step is to plan and construct the survey. There are many online tools and resources to help you create and administer an employee survey. Decide if you will want to have recipients answer questions anonymously. You’ll likely get a larger number of responses and higher quality input by allowing respondents to provide anonymous responses. Using a third party administrator or a highly trusted staff member can be critical to “selling” the anonymity of the survey. If promising secrecy, but sure the survey is conducted with the utmost of confidentiality and explain that in detail to participants.
  3. Finally determine a plan of action for your line of questioning. What are some trouble-spots in your company that you would like to explore and learn more about? Are you having high turnover? An increase in safety problems? Is productivity down or customer complaints up? Or are you trying to get a read on the pulse of your company and it’s culture? Pick the areas you can tackle and target questions that will help you get the information you need to move forward. Don’t tackle too much in one survey or you will lose employee interest and patience. Your questions can be canned or customized to your situation, long or short, choice-based or open-ended. If this is your first survey, we find even the basic questions can be helpful
    • What do you like most about our organization?
    • Why do you come to work every day here rather than for another company?
    • What would you like to see improved at our organization?
    • Would you recommend our organization to a friend as a good place to work? Why or why not?

Once the survey document is complete it’s time to administer the questionnaire. Some great online solutions include SurveyMethods and SurveyMonkey. Both offer various service levels of membership from free to paid access depending on the features you need for your survey. Both allow you to trial these tools to determine what level you need and to see the reporting features provided.

The survey results should help you make improvements and focus on strengths in your organization. You’ll find the feedback from employees will help with developing communications, recruiting techniques, benefits, and more. Employees who operate in the day-to-day of the business tend to have practical suggestions that may not be “huge” or “costly” to implement but can make a big impact. Overall outcomes can include increased safety, productivity, quality, profitability, lower turnover, and higher levels of customer satisfaction. Not to mention that by simply asking employees for their opinions it can heighten their engagement and give them a sense of satisfaction and worth. You’ll see even more value as you repeat the employee survey year after year to assess the improvements.

 

Has your organization become stagnant? Are you experiencing unusual turnover or employee discontent? Often the simple answer is to simply ASK your employees “what’s going on?” Strategic HR has worked with many organizations, of all sizes and in various industries, to help diagnosis engagement problems and determine the appropriate course of action. Whether it’s an employee survey, focus group, or face-to-face interviews, Strategic HR is your neutral third party solution for finding answers to your questions. Contact us today to find out how we can help you with your particular situation.

Image of our Wheel of HR Services, with a focus on Employee Relations.

7 Tips On How To Deal With Difficult People At Work

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Why Harassment Training is Important

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Question:

Why should I conduct harassment training? It just puts ideas into the heads of my employees.

Answer:

Contrary to your statement, employee harassment training doesn’t just provide employees with information to help them pursue a harassment charge or to harass others and avoid being charged. It is a valuable tool that can be used to help provide awareness of activities that are not considered professionally acceptable at work – think instead, business etiquette training. How often do you see employees doing things considered unprofessional while on the job? Whether it is improper business communications, HIPAA and privacy violations or simply inappropriate gossiping, many employees don’t come pre-wired to know what is acceptable in the workplace and what is not. Unless you train them they may not ever know and that can get you into hot water.

So what is the harm in a little water cooler banter and light teasing between cubicle-mates? First of all, think about bullying in school; it often escalates. Something may start out small, but before you know it the molehill had grown into a mountain and what started out as harmless fun suddenly turns into a prank that embarrasses or hurts another’s feelings. When the fun turns ugly the resulting atmosphere can create an unfriendly work environment that leads to low employee morale, low productivity and, if word gets out, a disastrous public image – one that drives customers and business away.

In addition to an unprofessional workplace, not taking an aggressive stance on harassment, and not being proactive in training employees about harassment, can result in costly lawsuits. Sexual harassment is considered a civil rights violation under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. It is applicable to any employer that employs 15 or more employees and mandates:

  • No rude, insensitive, or abusive behavior of any kind should be tolerated, even if it falls short of illegal harassment.
  • Managers and supervisors play a critical role in identifying harassment, investigating incidents, taking corrective action, and enforcing company policy.

An employer can be held legally responsible for the actions of its employees or if the company engages in sexual harassment when hiring employees. In the long run it is less expensive to implement harassment training, create harassment policies and foster a no-tolerance workplace than to defend yourself from one harassment lawsuit – whether or not you prove to be at fault. By creating specific harassment policies and providing and documenting harassment training employers can decrease their chances of litigation, and if taken to court will help prove that employees have been made aware of the company’s stance toward harassment.

Also keep in mind that while federal law advises periodic harassment training, some states may require such training. For example, in California employers with 50+ employees must provide two hours of sexual harassment training for supervisors every two years. Be aware of the specific requirements of your state or locale when it comes to harassment and educating your employees.

Are you overdue on harassment or other annual training? Does your current training curriculum need to be refreshed to reflect changes in company policy or legal requirements? Strategic HR has the expertise and resources to help. Visit our Training & Development page to learn more.