If You Can’t Measure It, You Can’t Manage It!

In the words of Peter Drucker "If you can't measure it, you can't manage it". A simple concept, yet when it comes to Employee Surveys, many companies are choosing to turn a blind eye.

As a knee jerk reaction to current economic times, many organisations have automatically tightened the budget belt and are shedding employees. Both of these activities have an impact on employee morale and engagement which in turn can have a significant impact on business performance. So when the business agenda is focused on business optimisation, ‘managing' your workforce should be a business priority.

So what is currently driving this hesitation towards surveying employees?

* Fear of knowing how your employees actually feel about their current employment experience?
* Concern that your employee's feedback will be negative as a result of recent redundancies?
* Indifference towards employee surveys as historically your organisation doesn't address the issues and simply shelves the report?
* An inability to drive the required change.
* Senior management apathy regarding the importance of listening to employees.
* Budget and resource constraints.

Employee surveys can actually be a valuable business tool if they are properly utilised. As organisations attempt to do more with less employees, it pays to know how your organisation can improve the work environment and the productivity of employees.

Tips to consider when conducting Employee Surveys:

1. Set clear objectives and measurable goals as to what you want to achieve from the employee survey at the outset.
2. Communicate with your workforce why the survey is being conducted and the importance of their participation. Briefing your management teams will help to boost employee participation.
3. Make it easy for employees to complete the survey i.e. online and paper based options.
4. Include an employee engagement measure in the survey to measure more than just job satisfaction. Also choose a survey instrument that will identify the factors that will most impact your employee engagement.
5. Use benchmarks - either selecting strategic internal benchmarks or utilising industry benchmarks to compare your organisation's performance.
6. Actionability is the key! Use a provider who doesn't just provide tables and charts but can interpret the data and help you develop more effective people, organisational and business strategies.

From our experience working with clients, overcoming initial employee scepticism of "why a survey is being conducted, and "what's the point in responding" is an upfront consideration which must be overcome. Similar to soliciting feedback from customers, employee feedback is equally as important. The bottom line is not to ask for feedback unless you are prepared to listen and act on it.

The Right Group's core areas of expertise are brand strategy, research and people & culture. Our research services are often engaged as part of our work in brand strategy or can be commissioned separately. For more information, visit Branding Management.