When considering an employee engagement survey
initiative, one of the first questions that comes to mind is ‘How
frequently should my organization conduct the survey?’. This is a basic
but critical question, and organizations must have a clear answer to it
before formalizing their employee engagement survey.
The
thing with engagement surveys is that, every organization has to set
its own right frequency. In case the surveys are launched in quick
succession, say every 6 months, then that could lead to several issues.
Firstly, surveys that are too frequent do not allow an organization
adequate time to create and execute on their action plans based on the
findings of the previous survey. The second challenge of too frequent
surveys stems from this first point. Given that organizations have
little time to implement any of the changes, employees tend to perceive
the initiative as a ‘tick in the box’, and start believing that nothing
really comes out of them. Thus, employee engagement surveys lose their
credibility among employees. Finally, frequent engagement surveys lead
to ‘survey fatigue’. Employees simply get tired of answering surveys
every few months. This becomes further frustrating if the high frequency
of these surveys is not complemented by an equally fast implementation
of changes and constant communication. Thus, having engagement surveys
too frequently may not be beneficial.
Now
let’s look at the other side. What happens if we have a huge time gaps
between our employee engagement surveys? In this scenario, an
organization runs the risk of not identifying critical issues that the
employees, and the organization at large, is grappling with. This can
pose a serious threat to the health and performance of the organization
and oftentimes could result in a challenge turning into crisis.
For
instance, imagine the future state of a fast growing consumer goods
company, that is growing at 30% year on year but unable to identify
telltale signs of fatigue in the workforce due to an overexerted work
environment?
Imagine
the savings of both performance and health of Carnegie Steel Company
back in 1892 if the working conditions of the steelworkers’ union were
highlighted as a red flag had the company conducted a workforce survey!
It could have prevented the Homestead strike or massacre altogether!
So
what is the ideal frequency to run engagement surveys? The answer would
depend on various factors such as company size, nature of work, company
context, business & industry performance, among others. However,
drawing from our experience across industries, we recommend that
organizations should ideally conduct employee engagement surveys once a
year. An annual employee engagement survey will help the organization to
align the survey with the overall business cycle and signal to its
workforce as an important annual initiative. Since most organizations
plan or realign their business strategy annually, findings from the
survey can become inputs for this annual strategy and thereby form a
major input to the overall workforce strategy. Furthermore,
organizations can utilize the 12 months to frame & execute on action
plans across all levels of its workforce. Short term plans that are
implemented during the course of the year build credibility for the
survey as employees see changes and continuous progress, based on their
feedback.
Regardless
of the frequency, conducting an employee engagement survey is likely to
be beneficial to an organization and its workforce. However, studies
suggest that an annual survey has greater impact on employee engagement.
For example, a study conducted among 105 companies revealed that 64
percent of the companies that surveyed every year noticed improvement to
engagement scores, compared to 56 percent of organizations that
surveyed biennially.
So
when you decide to do an employee engagement employee survey, it’s best
to think through the ultimate goals that you wish to achieve, and when
& how you should launch the survey to meet these goals.
No comments:
Post a Comment