4 Ways Engagement Surveys Increase Employee Retention

Using engagement surveys is a great way to promote ongoing feedback in your company, but your strategy should rely on other forms of constructive feedback throughout the entire year:

• Upward feedback: feedback shared by employees about their supervisors and management, usually through employee surveys;
• Peer feedback: often shared through 360-degree evaluations feedback, these comments are shared by an employee on their coworker;
• Performance feedback: regular one-on-one meetings and efficient performance review phrases that encourage career growth and personal development;
• Employee feedback: comments on daily processes and management, best collected through survey responses.

Multiplying feedback in the workplace means that tools need to be implemented to avoid administrative burdens and ensure efficient data collection. Employee engagement surveys will help streamline your entire feedback strategy, especially regarding upward, peer and employee feedback. Indeed, they will provide confidentiality to make your employees feel comfortable sharing their comments. Moreover, they can be personalized depending on the situation and your specific needs.

In short, the first step in your employee engagement initiatives is to promote ongoing feedback with employee feedback surveys. At this stage, your employees will be elated to see you consider their opinion, and their engagement will grow!

Listening to your team’s opinions and collecting employee feedback is the foundation of your staff retention strategy. But, of course, the process doesn’t stop there: you have to ensure that the data you have collected is actionable and analyze how you can consider it in your employee engagement initiatives. That’s why you need to use actionable employee retention surveys with linear-scale questions, mandatory comments, and open-ended questions to encourage sharing ideas and detailed insights.

The following examples of employee retention survey questions will ensure that you gather valuable insights:

• On a scale of 1 to 5, how motivated do you feel in your daily work? Please elaborate on your answer.
• What kind of company events and team-building activities would you like to see implemented in the future?
• On a scale of 1 to 5, how much stress do you experience at work? In your opinion, what improvements could be made to reduce your stress levels?
• Do you feel stimulated and valued in your daily work? Please elaborate on your answer.

Once again, confidentiality matters in gathering honest feedback. In addition, it can be challenging to know which questions should be included in your survey and to collect and analyze data. You might want to invest in employee engagement features, which provide confidentiality and automatized data analysis.

Now that you have valuable information to guide your HR strategies on hand, you might be wondering which course of action you should take. What exactly is a strategic plan based on employee feedback, and how can it be effectively implemented?

In short, employee-driven or focused plans rely on employee feedback rather than purely managerial, one-sided decisions. In addition, they consider workers’ expectations and needs in strategy building to promote collaborative management and employee empowerment.

Examples of staff-driven plans are as follows:

• Updated benefits program that truly fits employees’ needs;
• Hybrid work and flexible working hours to facilitate work-life balance;
• Team-building activities and company events built by employees for employees.

Remember to include your employees in all your plans: encourage them to participate, organize activities, and share their opinions throughout the process. Their involvement will make all the difference in creating the perfect plan to maximize retention rates.

Furthermore, you need to consider budget and time constraints before making any promises to avoid disappointing your staff. With reliable, detailed information provided by surveys, you will be able to accommodate employees’ major expectations while being mindful of individual preferences. The key here is to remain true to your company values and implement realistic, well-structured strategic plans.

You are now ready to evaluate the impact of your retention strategy! Measuring employee engagement and retention rates is child’s play when using the right tools:

• Ongoing and pulse surveys: Once again, you can rely on employee surveys to gauge staff satisfaction regarding your updated plans. They represent the best way to continuously adjust and improve your practices while involving your employees throughout the entire process.
•  Key Performance Indicators (KPIs): These indicators provide reliable data and numbers to support your strategic plans. With HR reporting and analytics software, all calculations are automatized, and you get to track retention rates over time.

Considering employee feedback and clear statistics will ensure that your strategies have been effective and that you always remain on the right track. Indeed, you can pick survey frequency depending on your needs and reality, between weekly, bi-weekly, monthly or quarterly occurrences. Regular feedback and annual organizational diagnosis are significant HR assets, and you should make the most of them.

Afterwards, all you have left to do is reap the benefits of your survey strategy and repeat the cycle frequently to maintain good management practices.

It all boils down to this: being heard and feeling like your voice has power is essential for everyone, employees included. Indeed, allowing them to share opinions and feelings ensures that they are seen as people, not as numbers, and that they are an integral part of your company. In short, engagement surveys are here to prove that your company culture is not only built on words but on actions.