By conducting employee surveys, businesses can gather a whole lot of insight they wouldn't normally have access to. Using this employee feedback, they can create lasting change and an overall healthier work environment.
However…
Employee surveys have their cons, too. While the benefits of this popular research method far outweigh the cons in many cases, it's important to understand both sides.
Hang tight, because we're about to tell you what they are!
Employee Surveys: The Pros
We'll start with the best part: the pros of employee surveys.
There are countless benefits to these surveys, as they provide employers with direct access to current staff sentiment. We'll cover some of the key benefits below.
Employees Have Great Untapped Insights
Employees provide an insider's perspective when it comes to the workplace. There may be multiple issues that the staff is dealing with that the employer knows nothing about.
For example, employees may be having issues with the following:
- Worklife balance
- Juggling workload tasks
- Salary/benefits
...or any number of other topics related to these.
Surveys can highlight whatever issues may be going on, and provide employers with the proper data they need to correct the problem. In doing so, employees will feel heard and respected by their company, and also probably enjoy their work more!
Retaining Employees Is Critical
Employees who are happy and well-compensated will often stick with a company for the long haul.
And trust us, retention is something businesses should prioritize, as replacing an employee can cost up to 2x their annual salary.
Thankfully, employee surveys are great for higher retention rates. The reason being that issues causing employees to leave can be discovered via the survey and promptly fixed.
Aside from addressing pain points, employees will be more likely to stay at a company that values their opinions.
Surveys Can Be a Great Place For Anonymous Feedback
Employees are far more likely to share honest feedback when they can do so anonymously.
Here's an example: An employee may have a useful bit of constructive advice for their employer. However, they feel their response may be traced back to them. Not wanting to be associated with a negative comment, they hold back and don't share it.
The big loss here is that this feedback could've proven useful for the employer and helped create a better work environment.
But by ensuring employees their responses are anonymous, they won't hold back (which means better quality feedback the employer can learn from).
Surveys Can Track Morale and Satisfaction Over Time
Employee surveys are great for tracking their satisfaction levels over time.
While employees may be content currently, that doesn't guarantee they always will be. Things happen within a company that could disrupt this: policy changes, leadership changes, you name it.
To stay on top this, employers can work regular or semi-regular surveys into their employee feedback plan. They will be able to track employee needs as they arise, and continue to address them and make positive shifts based on the data.
Surveys Are Quick and Easy
Lastly, employee surveys don't take much time.
A good employee survey will wrap up after about 10 to 15 minutes. Anything more than that, and employers risk respondents dropping off or simply not taking the survey.
Conducting employee pulse surveys is an even faster way to gather quality feedback. These surveys consist of just a few questions that are used to gather staff feedback about more specific workplace topics.
Employee Surveys: The Cons
While employee surveys provide great benefits for companies, they can have drawbacks. Thankfully, partnering with a third-party employee survey company can prevent many of these.
It’s Possible to Get Too Much Info to Sort
This is a "too much of a good thing" scenario.
Employers may get so much data they become overwhelmed and are unsure how to manage it. This can make analyzing and sorting the feedback confusing, which means some of it may not even be noticed.
This means that certain feedback that could be very helpful isn't seen by employers.
Adding onto this, too much info with no organized plan to analyze it can create wasted time for both the employer and employees involved in running the survey.
If Employee Surveys Are Misused, Trust Can Be Lost
Unfortunately, employee surveys that are misused with have the exact opposite of their desired effect.
Employers that use survey feedback against staff, never use at all, or use it as an oppressive monitoring tool can quickly lose the trust of their workers.
This will not only make employees less likely to take surveys in the future, but it could propel them to leave the company altogether.
Employees May Not Always Be Honest
There's always a risk of this when conducting any type of survey.
For employee surveys, this becomes an issue when staff feel their answers will be traced back to them. As a result, they may hold back and not be entirely honest out of fear of employer retaliation.
Not providing honest responses has a large impact on the overall survey data, as genuine workplace issues may go undetected. To prevent this from happening, employers should make it very clear to staff that the surveys are 100% anonymous.
Survey Fatigue Can Be Real
Sending out too many surveys, especially in a short amount of time, can overwhelm your employees and lead to survey fatigue.
Survey fatigue results in fewer respondents and lower-quality answers.
To avoid this, it's important to strike the sweet spot when it comes to the amount of surveys sent out. The amount depends on the needs of a business and if a survey is necessary.
Sorting these factors out will ensure surveys are sent out when they should be, and not overdone.
There May Not Be A Follow-Up
If employers follow up on the survey feedback, there's no point in running one in the first place!
First, the employer will be missing out on opportunities to improve the work environment using staff feedback. It ends up being a waste of money and time for both the employer and employees.
Secondly, employees may feel insulted and discouraged that their feedback was never used. This can lead to negative attitudes about their workplace, like low productivity and poor retention.
Feedback Can Be Outdated
Sometimes, the feedback may be outdated by the time employers are ready to enact changes.
Using outdated feedback will make little impact on a workplace, which is why the turnaround time from fieldwork wrapping to having finalized data should be short. However, this is more likely to happen in larger, fast-paced work environments where employee needs are quickly changing.
In this case, it's a good idea to conduct pulse surveys. They're short enough that feedback can be enacted in time and still have a positive impact on employees.
What Not to Do On an Employee Survey
When run correctly, employee surveys are incredible tools to improve staff satisfaction rates.
That said, there are certain no-no's when it comes to having an effective survey. Below, we'll review what not to do when conducting employee surveys.
Don’t Disregard Anonymity
Ensuring employee anonymity is key to a successful survey.
When employees know their responses are completely anonymous, they will be far more transparent in their responses. This includes providing honest opinions about a company that may be negative.
These are perhaps the most important types of feedback, as they can be used constructively to improve the workplace. To ensure employees understand this, employers should be very clear that the surveys are anonymous. Employees should also be encouraged to provide fully honest responses.
Don’t Overwhelm Employees
Employees will become overwhelmed if employers start to constantly send out surveys. This can lead to them providing less-thoughtful answers and in some cases, not even taking the survey.
To avoid this, employers should devise a plan as to when surveys would make sense throughout the year. For some employers, this may look like sending out one survey per quarter. Other employers may find it beneficial to send out surveys once a month.
Don’t Use Leading Questions
Leading questions can "push" employees into answering the way employers want, versus sharing what they really think.
This can skew the data and provide an inaccurate representation of employee sentiment.
Below are some examples of leading questions:
- How pleased are you with [company name]'s outstanding benefits package?
- Would you agree that [company name] fosters a positive work environment?
- Are you satisfied with our fantastic training programs?
In each of these questions, the employer's stance is clear. This can impact the employee's responses, as they may feel pressured to provide a certain answer.
Don’t Run A Survey Without a Plan
Running a survey without a clear set of goals and timeline will make the entire process confusing. As a result, it's likely the data will suffer.
To avoid this, employers should have a few key objectives for the survey, a budget, and a general timeline.
This is especially important when working with a third-party team. By letting them know these important details, the outsourced team will be better prepared for the survey.
Recommended Reading: Cost of Outsourcing an Employee Survey: What Impacts Scope?
Contact Our Employee Survey Company
Creating an ideal employee survey to meet your needs can be tricky. Boasting years of combined experience, the Drive Research team can help you craft your survey to ensure the best results.
To learn more about our market research services, get in touch with us today.
- Message us on our website
- Email us at [email protected]
- Call us at 888-725-DATA
- Text us at 315-303-2040
Lark Allen
As a Content Marketing Specialist, Lark has a strong background and passion for creative, professional, and journalistic writing. She is also a self-proclaimed music freak and 90s enthusiast.
Learn more about Lark, here.
