3 MIN. READ – Employee Engagement
Employee Engagement is a measure of how employees feel about their job and their workplace. Employees who are engaged and happy with their workplace are more productive – according to some studies, up to 20% more productive. But how can you find out if your employees are happy or not?
When we work with our clients to help transform their company into an employer of choice, we always do one thing first…
We ask!
Employee Engagement surveys are a great way to find out how your staff feels about the company. Surveys let employees be heard, especially those who believe their voices don’t matter. Because they can be made completely anonymous, employees are often very honest and forthcoming on surveys. That’s why it’s important to avoid asking for any identifying information on the surveys if you want to find out how your employees really feel.
When we help companies design surveys, we suggest they ask questions that people probably wouldn’t want to answer with management in the room. This leads to a mix of quantitative and qualitative questions. There’s no limit to the number of questions, but keep in mind that an excessively long survey might be left unfinished, or worse yet, completely ignored. We normally stick to 25 questions or less.
Some of the questions give employees a way to rate how strongly they agree with certain statements, such as “My career has a clear path with this company.” Other questions are in short essay format, such as “What could the company do to improve your feelings of inclusivity in company decisions?” A mistake we often see is surveys that mix up the answer structure. They end up with an essay when they intended to get a multiple-choice answer, so attention to detail is important.
Avoid loaded questions
When writing surveys, we take care not to load the question in order to get a certain answer. For example, asking “Isn’t this the best job you’ve ever had?” nudges the employee toward a positive answer. Instead, we use a ranking question like “Where does this job rank in terms of satisfaction compared with other employment you’ve had?” It’s a lot wordier, but it’s less suggestive and avoids any presupposition.
You can have the survey results compiled into useful charts and graphs to share with the entire staff, or use them as an impetus for change. Instead of letting problems spread in silence, companies can give their employees a voice to help correct the course. Surveys can act as a reality check for the health of the company.
Here are some questions that can show you how your employees truly view the company.
- Do you believe your company is tapping into and using your unique talents?
- Do you believe your managers listen to your ideas openly?
- On a scale of 1 to 10, how likely are you to remain with this company for another year? Another 5 years? Longer than 5 years?
- On a scale of 1 to 10, do you feel comfortable asking for additional training? (Very comfortable, comfortable, etc.)
- Are you the kind of person who A) thinks about work when they go home, B) forgets about work the second they leave or C) somewhere in between.
- Does your manager give you opportunities to grow? (Strongly agree, agree, etc.)
- What kinds of conversations do you have during a normal workday? (Mostly positive, positive, etc.)
- Have you ever had a disagreement or conflict with another worker?
- Is there anything we can do better?
You can try your hand at writing an employee engagement survey, or you can contact us at PuzzleHR for expert guidance. Our years of experience can help you find out where the challenges in your organization are and ensure that you retain the best talent available. Let us put the pieces of the puzzle together for your business.
