For many years now, organizations have used surveys to measure their employees’ engagement. But as described in this Deloitte article entitled, “Becoming Irresistible. A New Model for Employee Engagement,” written by Josh Bersin, if they aren’t utilized properly, they won’t be as effective.
Common survey mistakes
The following are common mistakes many organizations make when planning and executing their surveys:
1. Not having a clear strategy
As Peter Barron Stark points out in his video called, “Why Are You Conducting an Employee Engagement Survey,” organizations should figure out why they’re doing the survey and what they want to achieve when it’s done — before they start.
2. Only conducting surveys once a year
Employee engagement measurements should not only happen once in a while. Measurements should happen many times a year because it always changes.
3. Measuring satisfaction instead of engagement
Surveys often measure employee satisfaction and that’s not employee engagement. People may be satisfied with their benefits or pay, but that has nothing to do with engagement. Engagement is about their overall emotional commitment to the organization.
4. Making surveys too long
When surveys are too long, people get exhausted and then their responses aren’t reliable. Keep it down to 30 questions at the most.
5. Not providing actionable solutions
Survey results need to be shared with staff and action needs to be taken to fix any issues found. If this does not happen, it’s best not to put out a survey at all, because employee engagement will go down if nothing is done with survey results
Tips to quickly measure some of your employees’ engagement
A well planned and executed survey can do wonders for measuring employee engagement. Here are some easy ways to continue measuring engagement between surveys:
- Run focus groups. Ask people what they’re experiencing on the job. Find out what they like and what’s not working for them. Then, stay engaged with the employees after you apply their ideas and changes and ask them what they think.
- Have weekly one-on-one meetings with employees and ask them how they’re doing, what is going on with their work and if they have any ideas, complaints or suggestions.
More to come on engagement
Research in employee engagement keeps on growing. Organizations are learning more about what works best and how to reach employees and get better results. You can count on discovering more ways to connect with and keep your valuable employees.
