To start any successful project, you first need to understand where you are starting from before you can determine the goals of where you want to go. This same philosophy also applies to improving the engagement of your employees. You must first determine how engaged or disengaged they currently are, which can be done by measuring whether or not your engagement initiatives are currently working. This is where employee surveys are the most critical, as well as the most effective, if used correctly.

By asking the tough questions addressing the pain points you are aware of, it shows your employees that you listen to them and are willing to tackle their issues head on. It builds trust and sets goals that both the leaders and the employees of your organization can work on. But, don’t stop there. Ask open-ended questions to assess any new areas for improvement you might not have known about. The more data you can compile, the more effective your solutions will be.

One key thing to remember is that the power of a survey doesn’t come from a single use. Consistently utilizing your survey over time will provide your leadership team with insights and data to help them make important decisions for constant employee engagement. These decisions will develop a culture to attract and retain great employees who will then attract and retain a growing customer base, which will encourage shareholders to invest in your organization.

To select a survey, please consider the following factors:

• Use the survey annually with additional pulse surveys on a quarterly or monthly basis.
• Compare results to your previous surveys to see your progress, rather than those of other organizations.
• Work with a 3^rd party to administer and analyze your results to maintain the anonymous characteristics of the survey. This will encourage more truthful answers from your employees.
• Don’t just budget for the survey. Be sure you have additional funds allotted for the actions used to address the results from the survey. Spending less on the survey and more on the follow up actions is often the key to success.

Lipic’s Engagement has been helping our clients engage their employees for over 150 years.  We provide multiple survey options and tools to meet all budgets and sizes, including Curt Coffman’s Nexus survey, one of the premier survey tools available.