Employer Surveys Can Tell You What You Want To Hear…Or Not
by Sue Moore
Hiring the right employees is half the battle in reaching your business goals and profit expectations. You may do all the right things, administer all the right testing and offer the best benefits, but if your employees aren’t happy, their performance will be lacking. This is not news to anyone in the business world, but there are steps a business owner can follow to make the environment better and keep everyone happy and productive.
Survey results show that 88% of fully engaged employees believe they can positively impact the quality of their organization’s products and services while only 38% of disengaged employees feel the same way. How do these percentages compare to your company?
Talking to your employees and getting to know them makes the work environment more “homey” and your employees feel like part of the working family. You will be interested in discovering what is going on in their personal lives as well as their on the job life, and it may help in recognizing they why’s and why not’s of an employee’s performance pattern. What are their challenges, personal an professional, and do the personal challenges tie to your business and affect their performance?
Supporting your employees and showing that you really care about them as individuals and as employees makes for a happier environment. Giving them credit when credit is due for innovative ideas, problem solving, reaching goals, etc. and engaging them in problem solving helps to make healthier teams in the workplace. Having them take ownership of ideas, procedures and the ultimate goal of profitability will increase the happiness and satisfaction of your employees.
Listening to your employees when it is review time or in any company meeting can enlighten an employer on many levels. Are they making comments for improvement that you’re not hearing? Do they have suggestions about the work they do, the machines they operate or procedures that need updated? Communication is the key to happy employees and who knows your business almost as well as you do – your employees!
Need help in this arena? An Employee Survey can be used to resolve issues, get to the real problems that are bothering your employees and enlighten you on many feelings that someone may be harboring, as well as assisting in quality improvements to your company.
Many of you have seen the success rate in the Customer Surveys from Decision Associates. Now we can find out what the highlights are for your employees and what they consider to be downfalls to working at your company. Are your employees happy with the benefit program, the vacation policy, their immediate supervisors or how problems are handled? Do they feel they are getting the proper training? Are they happy with the communication policy? Do they understand the changes going on in your company and how they fit into the plan? Do they feel they are valued and challenged? Will they even tell you hones answers to these questions? Will they talk to an independent third party?
Information is power and insight and intelligence take this power to drive results. In business, the right insights at the right time make all the difference in driving smart decisions about workforce strategy, programs and investments. Acting on the result of your employee survey is the smart way to show your employees that you are “engaged” in their ideas and will make your employees happy. In turn, your company will become much more productive and competitive when you have happy employees.
The employee survey results will be helpful to you, your managers and your company’s growth. Your employees are your number one asset and should be treated as such. There are many issues that arise every day in the work place. Are you aware of what is going on with your employees and with your organization?