This time of year, employers start to hand out surveys to gather a
general consensus on employee’s morale and their level of content when it comes
to their job, compensation, benefits and managers. Businesses face difficulties
to gain completion of these surveys because of their employee’s busy schedules,
flaws in the development of the survey, or businesses trying too hard to
increase morale.  Another common trend
that we see is that the best performing employees tend to not have time to fill
out a survey. In cases such as this, it is common to see that “the bulk of the data therefore [comes from] average- or
low-performing employees” according to Rajeev Peshawaria, author of Open Source
Leadership: Reinventing Management When There’s No More Business as Usual and CEO
of The Iclif Leadership and Governance Centre.

No Such Thing as Anonymity?

Even though employee engagement surveys claim to be anonymous,
many employees still question the claims of anonymity. Many surveys ask
employees questions such as how long they have worked at the company, salary,
and the general departments. Even though surveys ask such specific question,
they are still considered anonymous since a direct identification is not
required. Employees find their distrust in these questions as they find
employers can easily identify employees based on their departments and length
of employment. Peshawaria commented saying, "there is
no such thing as anonymous. If management really wants to find out who said
what, they easily can. That said, the difference between ethical and unethical
management is whether they choose to find out. It boils down to trust.”

One way companies are beginning to combat employee distrust in the
true anonymity in employee satisfaction surveys is by implementing third party
services to conduct and evaluate the results of satisfaction surveys. Matt
Riley, the Vice President of People Operations at Marathon Health made a
quality point in regard to employee relations. He said, “If we betray that
confidence [in our employees}, we know we won’t get the truth going forward. We
do everything we can to build and keep that trust." 

Addressing Employee Discontent

After satisfaction surveys have been conducted, if negative
results are found, this is when companies need to be proactive and address the
problems at hand. Many leaders in organizations can experience difficulties
fixing employee morale due to their inability to accept the results of employee
engagement surveys. Employers need to face these weaknesses head on and attempt
to reach their employees on a personal and understanding level to get to the
root of all issues. Employee satisfaction surveys are only successful if the
employer accepts the information, digests the results, and implements change in
the work place as an outcome.  

Converge HR Solutions offers HR Outsourcing and
Consulting services that facilitates all of your companies HR needs. We
recognize that the strength of an organization is directly related to the
health, happiness, and development of its employees. We therefore make it our
goal to put humanity back into Human Resources. Contact us if you would like us
to conduct an employee engagement survey or for more information about how
Converge HR Solutions can best serve you, please visit our website at https://convergehrsolutions.com/ or contact us directly by email at info@convergehrsolutions.com or phone at 610-296-8550.

Image Source: https://blog.westmonroepartners.com/10-ways-to-improve-your-next-cx-survey/

Article Source: https://www.shrm.org/resourcesandtools/hr-topics/employee-relations/pages/employee-engagement-surveys.aspx?utm_source=SHRM%20PublishThis_TalentManagement_10.17%20(4)&utm_medium=email&utm_content=January%2010,%202018&SPMID=&SPJD=&SPED=&SPSEG=&SPCERT=&spMailingID=32553133&spUserID=OTI1NTk1MDUyNzMS1&spJobID=1201313198&spReportId=MTIwMTMxMzE5OAS2