Employee engagement surveys are a means of measuring employee feelings on a number of topics, both measurable and abstract. By filling in a simple questionnaire, employees can indicate their levels of satisfaction concerning a number of aspects of how they feel, such as how proud they feel when they tell other people where they work, and if they feel that what they currently do is valued as much as they would like it to be.
Is Employee Engagement important?
It cannot be denied that the number one concern of most businesses is revenue. Other major concerns include the quality of the products and services they create, and the satisfaction of their customers and clients. Employee engagement is what drives all these crucial aspects of business and most other areas that make a company a successful one.
Studies have shown that usually, only around three out of every ten individuals employed by a company feel that they are adequately engaged. The same studies have also shown that half the employees at a company do not feel that they are engaged, and one in five employees actually feel ‘dis-engaged’.
The importance of employee engagement does not really need to be spelt out. Disengaged or disinterested employees will not care about their employees beyond remuneration. Engaged employees will promote your brand and work hard to help your company be or continue to be successful.
Measuring employee engagement via a survey
Most large companies will post a survey to each of their employees once a year, with the stipulation that its completion is mandatory. They will also frequently organise what are known as ‘pulse’ surveys – these are questionnaires that are narrower in scope and only given to employees in a single department, or a small number of associated departments. Pulse surveys are usually designed to ascertain employee attitudes towards one specific aspect of the business, such as a new initiative.
Some typical employee engagement survey questions are as follows:
- I feel proud when I tell my friends whom I am employed by
- My skills and abilities are understood and used effectively
- I believe in the mission of the company I work for
- When I do good work, I feel it is recognised as such
- I understand the opportunities available to me to develop my career
All questions are closed, with options such as ‘strongly agree’, ‘disagree’ and ‘neither agree nor disagree’ available.
Interpreting the data
Employee engagement surveys give measurable data. A company can measure its progress by examining the differences in results from previous surveys, and can also identify areas in which it needs to improve.
Usually surveys are anonymous, although information such as an employee’s department, age, gender and orientation is also asked for. This allows a company to identify weaknesses in specific internal sectors, or if – for example – female employees feel significantly less engaged than their male counterparts.
Employee engagement surveys remain a useful tool by which companies can receive measurable and meaningful data so they can understand how they can improve as an organisation.