Once you’ve completed your annual employee engagement survey, what usually happens next in your organisation? Do you hear nothing until it comes around again the following year, or are you kept well informed on the key outcomes by your senior team?
It’s fantastic when companies take the time to run a regular employee engagement survey, demonstrating a desire to understand how employees are feeling. How often are colleagues repeatedly reminded to complete a survey only to be left in the dark about the results of the feedback and any resulting action plans or changes? Without communication to your team following their participation, the loop isn’t being closed and this is a big risk.
This simple oversight could lead to a drop in responses for any subsequent survey/s, or worse still, a drop in employee engagement for your organisation. We all know how frustrating it is when our voice isn’t heard, or we don’t feel valued. We want confirmation that our opinions mean something to the business we work for.
So how can businesses get colleagues involved in the post survey activity, not just the survey itself? There are plenty of ways, but we have seen some great ideas like appointing engagement champions to be the voice of colleagues at review meetings; getting colleagues to vote on priorities following a review of survey results and engaging colleagues to work on improvement projects following feedback to name just a few.
Once the feedback is reviewed and priorities or actions are agreed, there are a few things you can do to help your team engage:
Ensure that the number 1 priority is communicating to the whole team that their recent feedback has made an impact.
Find a way to ensure all colleagues have easy access to the outputs and actions
a. That could be using email, intranet, team meetings, posters….whatever it takes!
Be clear on timelines and who owns the action.
If there is something that you cannot act upon immediately and is a longer-term goal then let everyone know.
Make your post survey engagement strategy a priority for you and your employees. Your people are your biggest asset, and without listening to them and acknowledging them you will affect long term retention and productivity.
By reviewing and acting on feedback in a transparent way, you are showing your team that their opinions matter and that your annual survey is not simply a tick box exercise.
This recent Forbes article articulately highlights the importance of an employee engagement strategy for businesses – a great read if you have time to explore the topic in further detail. https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbesbostoncouncil/2019/04/04/why-an-employee-engagement-strategy-is-vital-to-your-business/?sh=7203ad826cee
Let us know your thoughts – is your organisation doing a great job of closing that feedback loop where employee engagement is concerned? We’d love to hear from you!
Photo by Jason Goodman on Unsplash