How to conduct employee engagement surveys

As an employer, you have a duty of care to the people who work for you. Some employers deal with this by implementing an employee assistance programme (EAP).

Some put together a series of options, like remote working, flexible hours and extended breaks. Some do all of the above—and it’s great that they do.

But the best way to get in tune with the things your people need in order to be happier, healthier, and more engaged?

Ask them what they want.

It can be a little daunting, opening up your processes and programmes to honest, direct feedback. But it’s more than worth it—you and your employees will learn a lot about your business, so going the extra mile is worth it.

And you might find some solutions to problems you didn’t even know existed.

What is the employee engagement survey process?

At its most basic, conducting an employee engagement survey is about a few things:

• Recognising that you or senior leadership could work to improve employee engagement
• Figuring out the questions you want to ask
• Getting everyone involved in submitting employee feedback 
• Reading the submitted results carefully, and making the right changes with engagement strategies

Again, possibly a little daunting. But there are a number of reasons why it’s worth putting in the effort to get this right.

The benefits of great employee engagement

Employee engagement is about employees feeling positive, enthusiastic, committed to and involved in every aspect of the business.

This enthusiasm and positivity lead to a few things you’ll notice in your workforce and work environment:

• People work harder, better, and for longer when they’re engaged with their work. This is a simple fact—if you’re interested in your tasks, then effort comes naturally
• Your employees develop loyalty to your company when they feel like a valued, positive contributor—engagement is vital This leads to great retention, meaning less spent on hiring and training newcomers
• The overall wellbeing of everyone improves—when people are happy with their work, they’re happier in every other aspect. And that happiness is contagious
• You’ll make more money—higher productivity, happier, loyal staff, and better wellbeing equal a stronger bottom line

How to prepare your engagement survey

So, you’ve decided you want to get proactive and ask your employees opinions on what they might want out of their working day. That’s great!

But now, the hard work starts. There’s a lot to think about. Here are a few hints on best practices for employee engagement surveys to get you on the road:

• Get as many people as you can on board—this is the most important part. Data is more useful the more of it you have. Get everyone to fill out your surveys. But make sure the data is kept private and anonymous—otherwise people may feel like they can’t be honest
• Report your findings regularly—if people put the effort in to respond, they deserve to know what the prevailing opinion is. After all, if people hear nothing back, they’re likely to disengage with the survey—and that’s completely the opposite of what you’re trying to achieve
• Select the most pressing points, and act on them—don't tie yourself in knots trying to solve every problem. Look for common themes, and figure out what you can do to make them better
• Promote it well—a few good engagement survey promotion ideas are sending out interesting emails reminders about the survey and its purpose, emphasising how quick and easy it is to make an impact by answering the survey questions, or making engagement with the survey rewardable by a prize draw

Once you’ve got a strong grasp of what you want to achieve, it’s time to write the employee survey itself. We’ve covered employment engagement surveys previously, but as a recap, here are some good subjects to tackle:

• Work-life balance
• Teamwork
• Personal growth
• Communication
• Wellbeing
• Recognition
• Job satisfaction

With all this in place, you’re ready to start increasing your employee engagement.

If you have questions about this or any of the topics covered in our blog, don’t hesitate to get in touch on: 0844 891 0352.