10 Next Practices for Creating Return on Investment from Employee Surveys

Many organizations survey their employees regularly, but they have different reasons for maintaining the survey process. Often leaders just want to assess employees’ satisfaction or engagement. Their logic is that research suggests that those metrics are leading indicators of performance, so it seems wise to measure them. As they say “what gets measured gets done.” Sure enough, the prevailing wisdom is that organizations need to identify “drivers” of employee engagement in order to find ways to maximize that score. By maximizing engagement, revenue will increase, efficiencies will be implemented, and profits will rise. It’s all very nicely packaged – survey to measure engagement, take action to improve engagement, repeat. The problem with this logic is that it assumes that all of the organization’s problems can be solved by having employees try harder (i.e., commit more time and effort to what the organization needs). What about aligning efforts, collaborating across silos, and being nimble? I see many organizations that have high levels of engagement, but still suffer execution problems. Does this mean that the employee survey is not worth the effort?

 

There is a growing set of progressive organizations that get return on their survey investment, but they treat the employee survey quite differently. Ask them why they survey, and they do not talk about putting all their energy into maximizing employee engagement. Instead, they talk about the survey as an investment that lets them learn about themselves so that they become better at what they do. At first blush, this sounds the same as what you would hear in any company that uses employee surveys. However, for the vanguard organizations, the emphasis is not on improving survey participation, not on increasing survey scores, and not on achieving 100% engagement. No, these metrics are good dashboard indicators, but they are not end goals. The reason these organizations survey their employees is to directly improve business performance by addressing opportunities and threats. Further, the survey is not just about employees telling leaders what is working and not working. Rather, the survey leads to a collaborative process of solving problems that creates return on investment – leaders and representative employees targeting the right actions in the right places with the right people in order to make the organization better. Oh, and along the way, the employees who were frustrated by their inability to more effectively do their jobs become completely bought into the process and more engaged in their jobs. Use the survey to improve performance, and as a byproduct, you will get improved engagement. See the difference?

Here are 10 techniques that are "Next Practices" for creating ROI from the employee survey.

 

1. Use the survey to create a dialog that identifies where your organization wants to be and where it currently is. Which gaps are most important right now, given the current business context? Survey analytics (e.g., norms, driver analyses) are helpful, but they should be conducted after ascertaining what topics are most related to opportunities and threats that face the organization. If prices are dropping in your industry, then topics related to cost efficiencies may be the most important feedback the survey provides. This focus on business outcomes also applies to departments and subunits. Instead of the IT department blindly focusing on improving engagement scores, for example, why not have them work to improve the speed of product specification changes so that Supply Chain can reduce the warehouse costs of keeping unwanted product? The survey provides an opportunity to improve coordinated effort by examining inside information about how your organization works. Think about how valuable your competitors would find this data, and then find a way to fully realize its potential for yourself.
2. Spend more time on the creation of action goals. Use the survey to prioritize one or two goals that will be evaluated based on organizational performance metrics other than the survey (e.g., measures of efficiency, sales, profit, cost savings, customer behavior…), and be sure to define what successful goal attainment looks like (e.g., a 50% reduction in Lost Workdays within 6 months). While many organizations realize that ROI comes from post-survey actions rather than the survey itself, they typically set targets as if the survey scores are the end goal. A goal to improve the engagement scores of the customer service employees is not obviously and directly related to improving the performance of the customer service department. As soon as things get busy or another initiative rises to prominence, the employee survey goals will be forgotten. A better post-survey action would focus on a clearer performance indicator, such as the ability for employees to solve customer problems without waiting for approval. Furthermore, the target should not be to improve that survey question by 5 percentage points. The ultimate target is to reduce the number of customer service calls escalated to senior representatives or to reduce the number of cancelled customer contracts. Yes, the survey is a leading indicator of performance, but evaluating your actions should be based on the actual performance metric.
3. Use a series of action plans that are designed to attain the same goal. Start with simple, low-budget actions that are easy to implement and can be evaluated quickly. Then, progress to more complex actions as necessary. Early successes can be used to gain support for more complicated changes. Creating post-survey actions can easily become an exercise in checking the box. Did you write a plan? Did you try to implement the plan? Did you cover your butt so you cannot be blamed for lack of trying? It would make more sense to have fewer leaders responsible for reaching a specific improvement goal, but to assure that these leaders do not stop until the goal is reached. Creating one action plan to create a change seems half-hearted. When President Franklin Delano Roosevelt was planning a US recovery from the Great Depression, he famously designed multiple plans and vowed to keep whichever ones worked while scrapping those that did not work. Post-survey actions should be planned in a similar fashion, with simple efforts coming first followed by more complex efforts. If problems are completely solved with a quick solution, then great. If problems are only partly addressed with a quick solution, then use the momentum to built employee support for a better solution. If problems are not solved with a quick solution, then use the failed efforts to better understand what will work.
4. Use words and phrases that will clearly communicate to employees what they are supposed to do differently and to what standards. Eliminate any ambiguity about what you are asking them to do. Much has been made about the need to communicate why changes are necessary, and indeed individuals will be more motivated to change their behavior if they believe it will lead to something better. However, motivation needs to be directed with specific instructions for what the new behaviors and new standards are to be. Assuming that the definition of success has been defined at the aggregate level (the total organization), that target must also be translated and refined down to lower levels of the organization and the individual employees themselves. Furthermore, the reward system, the training/development opportunities, and the priorities of the management chain must align with these goals. Only then will employees know that the organization is serious about change initiative.
5. Involve as many employees as realistically possible for action planning and execution. In large groups, try using peer-nominated teams to create plans. Volunteers and assigned champions are not always perceived as being in touch with the larger group. Research has consistently shown that individuals are more likely to commit to be part of a change effort when they see themselves as having a role in the process. While survey posters and campaigns often tout how employee feedback will contribute to a better workplace, the decisions about how to react to the feedback often appear to be removed from employees. Really, the people who are in the best position to determine how a change can be accomplished realistically. Leaders should be collaborating with employees to unearth great ideas and to create buy-in to the process.
6. Have employees help you communicate what they have done in support of the goal. In a change project leaders send out emails, hold chat sessions, and convene town hall meetings in an effort to communicate what is being done. These are good practices, and they should be continued if not increased. Continually sharing successes as well as missteps that need correcting builds a climate of openness and trust. What many leaders (and communication VPs) overlook is the opportunity to project how there are many employees joining the effort to achieve the goal. By showing the groundswell of support, you build the social norm and pressure the doubters to join the campaign. Having lower level employees showcased as examples of “peers” who are making the change real will have even a strong effect on those doubters.
7. Use short notes or meetings to provide ongoing feedback to individuals (or groups) about their progress toward the goal compared to others’ progress. Here is where front-line supervisors can really help support an organizational change. One easy example comes from research on social norms. Let’s say there is a new procedure being introduced in a factory. Have the supervisor show a direct report her assembly time in comparison to the organization average. If she is below average, then the feedback will show her that her peers have progressed more quickly, and that she is in fact holding them down. This creates pressure to work harder or get help. If the employee is actually above the group average, then the supervisor has to use a different tactic so that she doesn’t relax her efforts and reduce productivity. This can be done by reminding the employee that she is doing exactly what she should be doing. Even a simple happy face J or sad face L will work can send an evaluative message that also creates pressure to keep up the hard work.
8. Remember that your organization may include employees from different jobs, backgrounds, and cultures. Often these situational differences affect how people perceive the workplace and changes to the workplace. Find a way to get honest feedback from all segments of the population. Note that people from different cultures have a different approach to taking employee surveys. In Japan employees use the midpoint on a survey far more frequently than do Americans. Their scores will be lower even though their perceptions may be just as favorable. Employees in Latin America are far more likely to use the top level response, suggesting high favorability. Likewise, you tend to see higher scores among Sales and HR functions, and you often see lower scores from ethnic minorities. How do you know if these highs and lows really represent true feelings about the work environment (and are not just a methodological phenomenon)? Well, follow up with these employees to see if they have the same joys/frustrations as found elsewhere, or if perhaps they experience a different situation.
9. Be persistent with the goal, but flexible in how it is achieved. Some people will need to change their thinking before they change their behavior, and they may need to discover their own way of helping out while maintaining their social stature and sense of worth. Think about the last time that you truly vowed to eat less, work out more, or stop smoking. Did you have setbacks? Did you have to figure out a way to change your routine in order to “trick yourself” into achieving your goal? Well, the same can hold true for employees who have cognitively committed to an organizational change, but have yet to behaviorally commit to change. Being transferred, even temporarily, to a group who has changed their behaviors can help these folks make the switch. Suggestions from peers and some form of “support groups” can also help.
10. Make sure to include methods that will sustain new behavior even after the goal has been achieved. Consider whether recognition, reward systems, and new goals will continue to motivate employees to keep up the good work. Changing the way you do things can be very tiring, especially if you work in isolation from other peers or even your supervisor. To make a lasting change, the very culture of the organization has to help maintain an individual’s effort. Have employees help you see their point of view, their situation, their environment, and you may realize that the “organization” has not changed in a way that supports the organizational change facing employees.

 

This content is protected by the 1976 Copyright Protection Act of the United States of America. The proper citation for this blog is as follows: Mastrangelo, P. M. (date posted). Title of Post. The First Domino, available at http://the-first-domino.blogspot.com. This post is not intended to represent any person or organization other than Paul M. Mastrangelo.