Managing Employee Surveys

The best way to improve your business is to listen to your employees. One of the best ways is using staff surveys. Surveys can help you get feedback from employees and identify areas where your company needs improvement. Here are ways to create staff surveys, distribute them throughout your organization, analyze the results and make action plans based on the data you collected. Here are tips for managing employee survey.

Analyze the Data

Once you collect and analyze your data, you can use it to make improvements. The first step is identifying areas where there are gaps in employee satisfaction. For example, you might find that your employees are generally satisfied with their paychecks but not their benefits packages (and vice versa). You can use this information to determine which aspects of your compensation package need improvement.

Next, look for patterns in the responses. If many employees expressed dissatisfaction with one particular aspect of their jobs — for example, management communication — you may want to consider making changes in this area before making any other adjustments.

If there is something else they’re unhappy about (like hours or commute times), these issues may also be worth addressing first because they’re likely affecting their job satisfaction.

Finally, look at how certain factors relate together. If certain characteristics frequently appear among high-performing employees, perhaps there’s some correlation between these factors worth investigating further.

Learn the Purpose

Before you can implement an effective worker survey program, you need to understand the purpose of your survey. Why are you doing it? Who will receive the survey? What is the deadline for completing it?

Once you understand why, who and how long employees can complete the surveys — you can move on to communicate this information throughout your organization.

Use a Template

One of the most helpful things you can do as a manager is standardized your employee survey. If you’re using a template, you don’t have to worry about forgetting any essential questions or covering all the bases.

When using templates for surveys, there are two main ways to go:

• You can choose from one of the pre-made templates designed for your industry and role.
• Or you can design your survey from scratch.

Distribute the Survey

When you’re ready to distribute the survey, send it out via email. Create a link that is easy to find and share with your employees.

Is It Anonymous?

Ensure that the survey is anonymous. If it is not, ask your employees. Anonymous surveys can be as simple as adding a comment box at the end of each question where employees can write their names and email addresses if they choose.

Review the Responses

When you complete the survey, it’s time to review the results. The first step is to look for patterns in the data. Look at which questions had the highest response rates.

Are there any trends that you can see from one question to another? If so, what are they? Are there areas of agreement and disagreement between your employees? Look for where people might agree on something that’s been bothering them about work or where there may be a disconnect between expectations and reality (for example, employees who thought their workloads would be lighter than they were).

Make an Action Plan

The most important thing about this step is that your plan must be clear, realistic and measurable. It’s also important that it’s time-bound. Don’t let your surveys sit on the shelf for months without acting upon them.

Conclusion

As a manager, you have a lot of responsibilities. However, it’s important to make time for surveys that allow your employees to give feedback and ask questions. Managing employee survey can make your business more productive and profitable by creating an environment where employees feel valued and appreciated — ultimately leading to happier customers.