We speak to a lot of businesses that have done engagement surveys in the past and have had a bad experience. All understood the importance of employee feedback. But something went wrong in the execution.
Often they've done an annual survey that was an enormous effort to carry out. Administering the survey and getting the questions out was a big effort. Even more time was wasted getting results back. Then to make matters worse, very little action was taken as a result.
This well thought out action-plan is now languishing in a drawer somewhere. The results were never published. Nobody talks about it. And if they do they are black-bagged and escorted from the premises!
If this sounds familiar, the rest of this article should be helpful.
Measuring levels of employee engagement in your business is as critical as tracking profit and loss. It helps with operating and decision making. Without it, you are working blind. You have little understanding how your team feels or what is impacting their performance.
Here's a few recommendations to make sure you don't experience the same problems next time;
1. Make space in your business for employee feedback
Employee engagement should be a regular conversation in your business. It should be (at least) an agenda point in your leadership meeting. Data should be available and visible to view. Working out how it becomes built into the fabric of your everyday dialogue is vital. Find the time and space to discuss it and it will pay dividends.
2. Build employee engagement into every-day conversations
Having an engaged sales team will drive better performance and better figures. If a board member calls their Sales Director they will talk about sales figures. But if they also ask about the engagement of the team they will surface this as a priority. Asking about employee feedback will drive a different action from the Director. This will encourage better results.
3. Ask for employee feedback more regularly
Asking for annual feedback from employees doesn’t make sense. It isn’t often enough. Employee feedback is only powerful when used to tap into what is happening in the moment - as it’s happening.
Asking 'how does it feel to work in this business' once in a year, can do more harm than good. It can quickly fall into a “tick box” exercise. To make employee feedback a meaningful process, you need to ask regularly.
4. Share findings quickly
This one is a biggie. After you’ve asked for feedback, share what you’ve learned with your team and what you’re going to do with it. Then go and do what you have said you are going to do!
Employees will feel a lot more excited about the process if they get the results quickly. Make it clear that their feedback was heard, valued and respected.
If employees have had a bad experience in the past, you might find they are reluctant to take part in your first few surveys. But taking fast action (regardless of participation rates) will quickly build trust. It will also add value into the process and should result in higher future participation rate.
5. Choose a tool that can make feedback easy for you
Technology helps when it comes to collecting employee feedback. We’re making it easy for businesses to collect employee feedback and make it part of their business.
Here’s just a few ways we’re helping:
- Short surveys, carried out on a regular basis. Support with changing up questions as the type of feedback you need changes over time
- WhatsApp and SMS to carry out surveys and ask for feedback - a quick and engaging experience for your teams
- A straightforward dashboard that updates with your feedback as it’s coming in
- Replying anonymously to written feedback. It demonstrates you’re actively taking part in a survey
- A wrap-up report that you can complete and send out to teams within minutes of your survey closing
- An action planning tool so you can keep track of progress and accountability.
If you've had a poor experience of surveys and employee feedback in the past, don’t give up! Hit 'reset' and take a different approach. The feedback is incredibly important to your business and can have a huge impact.
Want to talk about how employee feedback can help your business and how we can help you try again? Get in touch. www.tenspace.co.uk or victoria@tenspace.co.uk
