Why Employee Surveys Aren't Worth It

By Henry Evans

Ever heard the old adage: "Don't ask if you don't want to know the answer?" I'd like to propose a slight modification: "Don't ask if you're not willing to do anything about what you hear."

Employee surveys, otherwise known as employee attitude research or workplace culture testing, are nothing new. They are essentially instruments that attempt to determine employee perceptions of their working environment. These may include management effectiveness, compensation and benefit programs, organizational communications issues, etc. Employee surveys came into vogue in the early nineties when employers started feeling the retention bite in their pocket. The premise, and it's not a bad one, is that management has the propensity to lose touch with the human drama that necessarily colors the workplace. Especially senior management. They are removed from the issues that frequently impede morale and, very often, productivity. There is a "feel good" quality that comes from asking employees how they feel. It feels good to employees and it feels good to management. But, unfortunately the exercise is frequently not worth the effort. In some cases, it's downright counter-productive.

Why is that? Because when management asks employees how they feel or what they think, expectations are being set that management will pay attention to the answers. This is, all too frequently, not the case. Fortune 500 companies across the country have file cabinets full of completed employee surveys that were an exercise in futility and frustration, mainly for employees. The Society for Human Resource Management supports the use of employee surveys, but only if management is on board with the implications, "If your organizational culture is such that upward communication is generally welcomed, a survey can help focus attention on problem areas. It's critical that you commit that you will listen to what employees have to say, address their concerns openly and honestly, and make changes based on the survey results. The worst thing you can do is conduct employee research in an environment where upward feedback is not welcome in the first place. Employees are smart enough to see through a false commitment, and you may only succeed in creating an employee relations disaster."

Why are employee surveys making their way back into the mainstream? Probably because recruitment and retention have become a mantra for companies of all sizes. Everyone knows it costs less to retain employees than to replace them. So, what's it going to take to keep them? Don't kid yourself that it all comes down to money. A recent study called "Commitment in the Workplace-The 2000 Global Employee Relationship Report Benchmark" (by Walker Information Global Network and Hudson Institute) reports that the three areas with the greatest influence on employee loyalty are fairness at work, care and concern for employees and trust in employees. Here's the kicker: only four in 10 employees believe that their organization shows them care and concern. Only 50 percent of employees feel that their organization provides family-friendly benefits, and 60 percent don't believe their company develops them for the long term. How does this manifest? The report goes on to estimate that nearly one-third of employees nationally are considered high risk, not committed to their companies, and they will leave at the drop of a hat. Study after study reflects almost eager employee flight plans. For example, 78% of employees plan to leave their employers within three years according to JobTrak.com

Uh oh, get ready, we're talking about feelings. Employees want to believe that their company cares about them and is willing to do what it can to meet their needs. That is why conducting an employee survey and filing it away upon completion can be dangerous. It is better not to ask at all than to ask and ignore the results. Fact: more and more employees don't feel appreciated. Companies tend to focus on the business and financial aspects of the operation and spend less and less time dealing with employee issues and concerns. Employees want to feel like he or she is a part of something, that what they do is important and that what they think matters. One important way for business owners or senior management to do this is to keep an open-door policy and to encourage employee feedback. Employee attitude research is one way to do that.

Why are employee feelings important? Think about it. Corporate mergers and acquisitions involve more than profit and loss adjustments. Companies are merging workplace cultures, management styles and benefits packages. Employees have plenty to feel unsettled about and employers have a lot at stake. There is wisdom in asking and in listening. The society for Human Resource Management framed it nicely in a recent white paper: "Most HR professionals will agree that employee productivity is strongly linked to their perception of their environment and, as the saying goes, perception is reality."

Think twice before you dive in. If you do choose to test the water (and I highly recommend it), I suggest the following steps:

  1. Gain senior management commitment to the concept (including being prepared to act on the feedback).

  2. While there are certainly plenty of ready-made surveys available, I recommend developing a custom tool/process to probe workplace issues specific to your company. It may be that employee focus groups make more sense than a written survey; it depends on the cultural issues and the kind of feedback you are looking for.

  3. Regardless of the feedback mechanism, it is imperative that employees understand the purpose of the research and that their feedback will be confidential. This is the only way honest, unbiased responses are possible.

  4. Consider using an outside vendor to develop the survey and tabulate the results.

  5. Distribute the results to all levels of management in a timely fashion upon completion. If yours is a large organization, you may want to consider limiting the results you give middle management to those from their work group and submitting the whole report to senior management only.

  6. Institutionalize the effort and conduct it annually.

The Bottom Line

What can you gain from employee attitude research? A properly designed research project can yield valuable insights to employee perceptions about key management and operational issues that you can use to improve your workplace. Usually, employees consider the survey or focus group gesture to be a sign that management might actually value their opinions. (But we all know employees are more cynical than they used to be, so don't count on it. They have higher expectations now and want results.) Fact is, employee attitude research is a learning opportunity for management of all levels. Learnings can include management limitations, operational inefficiencies, shortcomings in job performance and compensation review processes, etc. These are all things within management's power to influence. And there's no doubt to their bottom line implications.

Return to What We Think