We’ve covered the basics of employee pulse surveys and tackled some frequently asked questions, and now it’s time for you to get started!
Remember, pulse surveys provide a regular platform for employees to voice their opinions. They help decision-makers quickly identify the perceptions and sentiments of their employees and to take quick action in response. Employee pulse surveys offer teams the chance to keep ongoing communication active, to boost employees’ trust, and to maintain and grow a healthy culture in your company.
A few tips to help you transform your surveys into actionable insights:
Effective Planning
Identify the purpose of your survey and build your questions around the topic. Try and keep the total number of questions below 4. These questions shouldn’t be leading, biased, or overly vague. Instead, focus on specific items like employee motivation, work-life balance, workload, etc.
Know Your Audience
Identify the group of participants. If you’re looking to make a company-wide change, you need to hear from everyone. If it’s a managerial performance review, only teams that engage with certain managers will be participating. Once you know who to include, consider also their availability, preferred communication channels, and priorities so you’re able to customize their experience and boost responses.
Let Everybody Know
Make an official announcement prior to conducting the survey and also explain to employees how the feedback will help the organization to improve their experience. Improved communication can have a significant positive impact on participation rates. Clarify the timeline in advance and send reminders mid-day so that employees don’t delay responding. Still, mid-day reminders are a good idea to nudge those who have not yet participated. Also, since pulse surveys are fast and flexible, employees will be motivated to provide quick and honest feedback and see quick follow-up.
Analyze Responses
Analysis is one of the most critical parts of the employee pulse cycle. Make a note of all of the positives that are building a stronger organizational culture, and make a plan for the areas of concern. These reports should be analyzed closely, even if just a few questions are included. Employee feedback offers detailed insights on how to enhance employee experience — insights that only your employees can provide. Filter, segment, and drill down all the data you have to inform your decisions and inspire smart action.
Act On It
Without action, nothing else matters. While it’s helpful simply to listen to employees to better understand their issues, only meaningful action will help to improve their experience. Employees who see no action taken after they’ve provided feedback are very likely to be highly demotivated. Knowing and not acting is worse than not knowing at all. Communicate the results of your surveys, select and share areas to improve, and then make changes moving forward.
Employee experience is a holistic picture, and employee pulse surveys are a single tool that can make a big difference as part of an employee engagement improvement strategy. Our clients who use employee pulse surveys effectively see increased employee engagement, improved organizational culture, and enhanced communication.
If you’re ready to start improving your employee experience today, let’s connect!