Employee Survey FAQ's
- Should I survey every employee in my company or just a random sample?
- If we do an employee survey, how often should it be re-administered?
- What kinds of questions should an employee survey cover?
- To what extent can you leverage the "anonymity" of the web to effectively incorporate a peer/management review component into employee surveys?
- My company wants to do an employee survey but not anonymously. How can they expect to get true results?
A: As with other types of survey research, a statistically valid sample for an employee survey can often mean just a fraction of the entire target population. However, employee surveys do more than measure employee satisfaction and opinions -- they also send a message to employees that management cares. When companies decide to survey only a sample of employees, they may save a few dollars and still collect statistically valid data, but those employees left out of the study won't feel as good about the company as those included.
Q: If we do an employee survey, how often should it be re-administered?
A: We recommend that our clients conduct an employee survey on at least an annual basis, and perhaps more often if the company is going through a period of rapid change (such as acquisitions, lay-offs, or high growth.) Conducting an employee survey every 3-6 months will help you maintain a better "pulse" of the organization, but every 12 months is completely acceptable in most situations.
Q: What kinds of questions should an employee survey cover?
A: Common topics of interest for an employee survey include:
- Overall satisfaction
- Corporate culture
- Supervisor relations
- Training
- Pay and benefits
- Work environment
- Communications
Q: To what extent can you leverage the "anonymity" of the web to effectively incorporate a peer/management review component into employee surveys?
A: One of the chief advantages of the online employee survey administration methodology is the anonymity that the Web lends to employee responses. We often conduct 360 degree surveys with the specific goal of collecting peer or management feedback in an anonymous and unbiased fashion. Employees are usually more comfortable completing a survey online than via paper since 1) their handwriting is not on the survey, and 2) their responses are transmitted directly to Infosurv for analysis without ever passing through the hands of a manager. Peer or management review can also be incorporated into a standard employee satisfaction survey with results reported by manager. Since each manager's results are only reported in aggregate, individual respondent anonymity is guaranteed.
Q: My company wants to do an employee survey but not anonymously. How can they expect to get true results?
A: We strongly advise against non-anonymous employee surveys. Many studies have shown that employees respond differently to satisfaction and opinion surveys when their anonymity is not protected. Responses to non-anonymous surveys are often "sugar coated" by employees for fear of retribution from management. If a company hopes to gain an accurate picture of employee satisfaction, the survey must be administered via a 100% anonymous method.
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