Best Practices for your Employee Engagement Surveys

When it comes to conducting an engagement survey in a company, the importance of timing is often overlooked, but Marie-Josée insists on reminding us that it is crucial to take into account what is happening in the organization and to act at the right time. For example, if several employees are working on a large project that has a significant impact on the organization, it may not be the right time. The results of a survey often imply changes, and therefore good change management, so it is important to ensure that the necessary resources are available.

Employee engagement survey questions must all be very clear, concise and completely objective. Including questions that are not impartial in the survey will bias the survey and you will get unrepresentative results. For example, it is not recommended that you ask employees if they would like the company to pay for all of their group insurance, as it is obvious that almost everyone would say yes. If you want to survey your employees on this subject, to do so objectively, you could ask them the following question: Are you satisfied with your employer’s contribution to your group insurance plan?

Anonymity is an essential criterion for the success of your engagement questionnaire and it is important to mention it to employees. Indeed, the fear of being identified could discourage some individuals from answering the survey truthfully. It is also essential that all questions be composed in a way that does not compromise the confidentiality of the results. Here are some examples of questions that would not be appropriate for your employee satisfaction survey:

• What department do you work in?
• When were you hired?
• Who is your supervisor?

Once you have analyzed and interpreted the results and ensured that the information is constructive, just as you have been transparent in communicating your motivations for surveying employees, you must be transparent in sharing the results with the entire organization (managers and employees). Bring your teams together and present the results to them to engage them in discussion, which may give you some ideas for your intervention.

A good intervention plan following a workplace survey takes into account the following elements:

• Your company culture
• Your mission and organizational values
• Your employees

In fact, it is essential that your intervention be aligned with your company’s culture to ensure better ownership of the ensuing change by employees.

Here’s a concrete example: The results of your organizational climate diagnosis show that the members of your sales team are demotivated and you’re thinking about solutions to remedy the situation. Knowing that collaboration and teamwork are an integral part of your corporate culture and that you value these values, do you think that offering large bonuses on individual sales would be an appropriate intervention?

At the same time, if you value authenticity and open communication on a daily basis, it would be natural to ask for and provide detailed feedback to employees throughout the implementation of the action plan.