Understanding how happy your employees are with working for you is crucial for employee retention and productivity. While it’s easy to assume your staff members are content with their position and work environment, it’s always better to know for sure. Use an employee satisfaction survey to measure job satisfaction and leverage the resulting data to improve employee engagement and morale.
What Is an Employee Satisfaction Survey?
An employee satisfaction survey is a tool used to measure several aspects of job satisfaction. These can include:
These factors significantly contribute to employee engagement levels, and the survey results can give you valuable insight that would otherwise be impossible to gain. Once you have the feedback, you can start focusing on and addressing all critical issues.
Employee Satisfaction Survey Tips
A good survey needs to provide both quality and quantity when it comes to responses and feedback. It needs to be well-designed and contain the right survey questions without taking too long to complete it. Below are some tips that will help you make the most of your employee satisfaction surveys.
Conduct Surveys Regularly and Consistently
A lot can change within your organization in a year. While it may seem unnecessary to repeat a survey if satisfaction levels seem good, you should always act proactively. By conducting surveys regularly you will be building a unique communication channel with your employees, as well as showing them that you value their opinion.
This will also allow you to compare results and track changes in employee feedback. However, in order to ensure comparable results and consistency, it’s a good idea to use an employee satisfaction survey template.
Make the Survey Anonymous
Not all employees will feel comfortable with giving sincere responses if they feel it could affect them negatively. Reassure them that the survey is completely anonymous and that you will not share their answers with anyone. Otherwise, if confidentiality is an issue, you may end up with results that do not reflect employee opinions accurately.
Ask Clear Questions
The survey questions and the language you use should be as clear as possible to avoid confusing the respondent. Stick to one subject for each inquiry and make sure all employees understand what you are asking them equally well. You want to be clear and concise to ensure optimal response rates and quality feedback.
Allow Employees to Give You Suggestions
Closed questions are an integral part of any employee satisfaction survey, as they are easy and quick to answer while providing you with uniform comparable data. However, they can’t provide you with details you hadn’t thought of or allow your employees to suggest changes they would like to see.
Include open-ended questions, or better yet, make an online suggestion box to give them a place to express themselves and you more actionable feedback in terms of improving job satisfaction. It will also make your staff feel their input is appreciated and considered, especially if you act on it afterward.