If you are running a large organization, it can be difficult to keep track of all the different preferences of your employees. In this situation, employee opinion surveys can be extremely helpful.
This blog outlines how employee opinion surveys can improve the satisfaction of your staff – and therefore, help your business grow.
What is an employee opinion survey?
Employee opinion surveys allow you to understand the attitudes and/or opinions of your employees. In your ongoing attempt to make your workplace a positive environment, this can be an essential tool.
These surveys are typically more beneficial if they are carried out regularly. Peoples’ opinions change over time – and furthermore, in an ever-changing business environment, you will need to keep up to date with your employees’ feelings about ongoing new developments.
You can also use a survey to gauge a response to a very specific event or idea – for example, to understand the potential response if your company were to introduce hybrid working.
Invite qualitative feedback
The best employee opinion surveys will not offer respondents a ‘Yes’ or ‘No’ option only. Instead, they will invite qualitative feedback where staff can share their thoughts in detail.
For instance, using the example mentioned above, it can be assumed that all employees would be in favour of hybrid working … but the reasons for this may vary and this may affect the implementation.
If you can understand why your employees are unhappy with a proposed change (rather than simply whether they are or not) you can explore alternative methods to address their specific concerns.
Is an employee opinion survey beneficial for the progress of your business?
When you are striving to grow your business, you should always consider your employee’s happiness, and never overlook them. Keeping them happy and motivated is a must.
If you carry out regular surveys as an employer, it means you are looking out for the people who are serving your clients and customers. It develops a trust-filled environment between you and your staff. When employees are informed about all the ongoing decisions, and their feedback is heard, appreciated and acted upon, a positive atmosphere is established throughout the workforce.
These surveys will help you to better understand your employees, manage them, and assign them different tasks in an appropriate way.
Improving your bottom line
A study by the National Business Research Institute found companies that conduct employee opinion surveys earn more profit than those that don’t. High-quality customer relationships are also established as a result of such surveys.
The NBRI recommends that these surveys should aim to measure trust in the company, the employees’ enthusiasm for their jobs or tasks, and many other dynamics. Ongoing employee opinion surveys can then be divided to recognize the areas where post-survey action plans have had a positive impact, as well as those that require additional attention.
Improvement in staff skills
Employee opinion surveys help in the identification of knowledge gaps among your workforce. You can then easily provide specific training sessions to improve the working abilities of the employees that need it – which will lead to the company’s growth as a whole.
What kind of surveys can you conduct?
Now that you understand the importance of employee opinion surveys, you might be thinking about what to do next. Which topics are appropriate for a survey? Some areas well-worth getting your staff’s feedback on include:
- Employee benefits
- HR Policies
- Work environment
- Promotions
Career Opportunities
These aspects of working life impact your employees, every single day. It is therefore critical that you are in-tune with what your workforce is thinking about these vital issues.
The form your survey(s) can take
Employee opinion surveys can be conducted in many different formats, such as:
- Multiple-choice questions
- Rating system
- A form in which complete answers could be written
It is preferable to provide your employees with an overview of what the survey will ask before they begin it, so they can gather all their thoughts ahead of time and provide the best feedback.
The importance of employee opinion surveys
Many business owners believe that conducting surveys is an old-fashioned way of acknowledging your employees – but this isn’t true!
At HR Initiatives, we are experts in creating employee opinion surveys that help you to analyse the ‘mood’ of your workforce, and therefore take clear action to achieve growth.
Stop guessing about what your employees are thinking, and find out the truth.
We’d be happy to help you!
You can contact us now on 01438 742 056 or email info@hrinitiatives.co.uk