Opinion Surveys
Purpose of Process:
To obtain a reading of employee sentiments on topics of a specific or general nature, so that barriers to employee retention and productivity, and obstacles to company success can be eliminated.
Recommended Steps in the Process:
- Decide if a written survey is warranted (see process
tips for alternatives to Opinion Surveys). In general a
company needs to be of a certain size (100+ employees) or have a
disparate population to warrant this technique.
- Obtain appropriate management approval to conduct a survey.
Management must agree to listen to the findings or the exercise
is counter productive.
- Decide on timing and schedule of the survey, survey questions,
and how you will categorize the employees (e.g. by department,
by job function, etc. - if the number of employees in each
category is too small, confidentiality will be affected). Test
the questions you selected on a cross section of employees to
determine how various employees interpret the question.
Determine what you will do with the results of the survey.
- Pre-announce the survey to all managers.
- Communicate the survey based upon the normal conventions of
employee communication that is typical at the Company. Provide
adequate means of ensuring employee anonymity.
- Compile results and respond to management with recommended
actions.
- Communicate to employees a broad overview of the results,
including a commitment and time frame to address any negative
findings.
- Follow-up with appropriate managers to ensure the corrective action is completed.
Less formal techniques will also work to determine employee sentiments, such as collecting employee feedback at department meetings or lunches with the President (see also Communication Program process). Surveys can be valuable, but they produce negative results if the employee opinions are ignored. Also consider exit interviews to gain a sense of employee sentiment (see sample Resignation Questionnaire form).
