Now, you’ve heard all about employee surveys and how other organisations are carrying them out regularly, and reaping the rewards, but you’re not really convinced they’re suitable for your business. After all, you only employ a handful of people, so what’s the point? Would one even work for a small number of employees? Surely they are designed for large employers?
Besides, things seem to be ticking along reasonably well, and you’ve been running your business for a few years, so it’s best not to risk upsetting things – isn’t it? Oh, but you’d love to find out what your own employees are thinking, though, but it all seems like a lot of hassle, and you don’t have the time, especially if no one bothers to complete it.
Employee surveys are surprisingly easy to carry out and you might be amazed how readily your people take part. They don’t have to be long and complicated.
In this blog post I will share 8 reasons it makes sense to have an employee survey, so you can reap the benefits that other businesses are enjoying.
- Measure employee engagement
- Identify the hidden talent in your organisation
- Build trust with your employees
- Become aware of barriers to organisational growth
- Proactively deal with issues
- Let your people know you care
- Understand areas for improvement
- Use the results in your marketing strategy
Why have an employee survey?
There’s nothing like data to help you see what your employees need to stay engaged and motivated. Employees that are engaged and motivated are happy employees, and this is so important to keep the momentum going in your business.
Image credit: Emily Morter on Unsplash
The very fact that an organisation conducts an employee survey will send a positive message to your people that their opinions are valued. Surveys are an effective means of understanding the mood and concerns of employees and are instrumental to your plans for growth.
But isn’t this just more work for busy company owners?
It may seem like a lot of work to carry out a survey, but it doesn’t have to be. You don’t need to make it overly complicated or lengthy, but it is important to ask the right questions, relevant to your business. For example, if you employed only field-based staff or homeworkers, it would be irrelevant to ask for opinions on the office equipment or kitchen facilities. It’s also important to follow up on responses from your survey, to demonstrate that you are listening and taking on board the views of your people.
There are many third-party organisations that specialise in providing employee survey platforms, so you won’t be left to do all the work yourself. They are also effective and inexpensive to run, anonymous and therefore confidential.
Here are my 8 reasons it makes sense to have an employee survey, so you too can benefit.
8 Reasons it Makes Sense to Have an Employee Survey
1. Measure employee engagement
Regardless of the size of your business, it’s important that your employees are motivated and engaged when they are at work. If your people are motivated and engaged, they will perform at their best.
Being alerted to any behaviours that indicate there is a lack of motivation and where people are less engaged, means you can talk to individuals to understand why this might be. Maybe they feel as though their ideas aren’t of value to the business, or that the job they are doing is unfulfilling. They could have family, health, or financial concerns. You won’t know until you ask.
By carrying out regular employee surveys you can keep abreast of issues of concern that you wouldn’t normally be aware of, especially if you often attend off-site meetings.
2. Identify the hidden talent in your organisation
There could be hidden talents within your business that you’re unaware of; think how useful it would be to your business to be able to tap into that talent. A recent survey found that half of employees feel frustrated due to the lack of career progression with their current workplace.
It’s much easier, and rewarding, to both the business and the individual, to grow your talent organically, rather than start from scratch with someone new that needs to get to know all about the business before they can contribute fully. There’s also less disruption to daily routine and productivity.
It makes sense, then, to carry out employee surveys to identify these people and to nurture them. This will give them the opportunity to develop and contribute more to your business, while helping to retain, rather than lose them to your competitors.
3. Build trust with your employees
Surveys provide people with a safe space to air their views, which is invaluable, especially if there are individuals in the organisation that are self-conscious about speaking up. There may also be those that, for whatever reason, don’t trust management, who might be reluctant to speak.
A survey carried out anonymously provides the participant with the time to consider their responses and elaborate on topics of interest to them, which they may be too self-conscious or cautious to do in an interview.
What better way to build trust with your employees than to communicate with them via a survey? If they know the survey is anonymous and answers are confidential, they are more likely to speak honestly.
4. Become aware of barriers to organisational growth
You’re trying to grow your business, but there’s something standing in your way, and you can’t quite grasp what the problem is. By asking questions of your employees, you are far more likely to learn what these barriers are than if you simply ‘keep your ear to the ground’ or do nothing.
It could be something simple, such as key people being unavailable at certain times. It could be something more significant, such as personality clashes between staff and managers, leading to performance issues, or low morale. All of these can have an impact on the growth of your business.
Being aware of issues early gives you the best opportunity to address problems and move forward with your growth plans with confidence in the knowledge there should be no nasty surprises, giving you peace of mind.
5. Proactively deal with issues
Forewarned is forearmed, as they say, so this is the ideal opportunity to get to know about any issues before they get out of hand, so managers can be proactive in dealing with them. By dealing with issues early, you are mitigating further, more serious and complex issues, which can take longer to sort out.
A survey will identify where there are issues to be addressed. For example, if someone is thinking about leaving, you would probably want to do your best to keep them. It is much easier to have a conversation with them now to find out why they are thinking of leaving, than if you only became aware of their intentions once they have handed in their notice. By this time, they have most likely already accepted a new job.
Proactively dealing with issues such as this can save you time, money, and your talent. A survey will help you to do just that.
6. Let your people know you care
Rather than communicate with your employees by reacting to their complaints, why not reach out to them first and invite them to share their thoughts? This will go a long way to show them you care and will shift the tone of communication from hostile to amicable.
An employee survey is the perfect way to start conversations about how your employees are feeling, what they like and don’t like about the organisation or management, and what they would like more, or less of.
Listening to, and acting on, the responses to a survey will strengthen relationships between you and your employees. Isn’t this more favourable than reactively dealing with their complaints, which could alienate them?
7. Understand areas for improvement or development
No business is perfect, and much can be learned from your people regarding what works well and what doesn’t. After all, it is they who are performing the activities that keep the business going, so why not ask them?
Maybe you have been focusing on one area of the business and not yet recognised that another area needs improvement. For example, you want to offer a new service to your customers, but the survey reveals the key people in that area lack the skills or motivation to provide the service effectively.
Once you have gathered the feedback from your survey, you will be much better placed to offer tailored support and training to those that need it to allow them to develop and progress. This can only be good for your business and its customers.
8. Use the results in your marketing strategy
Using some of the highest scores from your survey can be used in your marketing and recruitment campaigns. Tell everyone what a great place your organisation is to work and how happy your people are. For example, if your employees love the company sports day, or they value early finishes on Friday afternoons you can highlight these in your campaigns.
Remember, good customer service applies to your employees as well, as they are your internal customers and the most costly asset of your business. Imagine – you may never have to advertise vacancies again! Wouldn’t it be great if people came knocking on your door to enquire about career opportunities?
Over To You…
So now you know why it makes sense to have an employee survey, what are you waiting for? It’s the smart way to find out what your employees think about working for you, how engaged they are and how you can work better together.
In this blog post I have covered 8 of the reasons why it makes sense to have an employee survey, which enable you to:
- Measure employee engagement
- Identify the hidden talent in your organisation
- Build trust with your employees
- Become aware of barriers to organisational growth
- Proactively deal with issues
- Let your people know you care
- Understand areas for improvement or development
- Use the results in your marketing strategy
Want to know more? I’ll post more on this soon, so look out for regular updates. You can also complete my contact us form or book a call now find out how BlakeHR can help you to carry out an Employee Survey.
If you would like to find out more about the types of service I offer please visit my “Our Services” page.
