Have you ever been in a situation where you conducted a survey of employee attitudes and satisfaction and after that no positive developments occurred in your organization?
By examining the organizational climate and employee engagement, you can discover how employees perceive their work, superiors and colleagues, how they fit into the work environment and what affects their (dis)satisfaction. The results of such research are the basis for increasing productivity, improving the working atmosphere and reducing absenteeism, turnover and sick leave rates. So why are there no results after testing?
Based on many years of experience, SELECTIO consultants have compiled a list of organisations' most common mistakes when conducting those organizational climate and employee engagement surveys. Read carefully and be inspired by the valuable insights of the profession.
The survey is not carried out continuously
One of the most important pieces of advice is regularity when conducting research. Namely, if you conduct the test only once, without repetition and (more importantly) without monitoring changes, you limit the long-term benefits of the process. A one-time survey cannot provide you with insight into long-term trends and changes within organizational climate and employee engagement. Organization that conducts a test for only one year, but does not repeat it later, finds it almost impossible to monitor the progress and notice whether the measures have achieved the desired effect.
In order to detect changes right on time, the professional recommendation is to conduct a large and comprehensive examination every year, and in between to conduct smaller pulse check examinations – those shorter versions directly help to check the progress.
Managers are not taking responsibility
Although the process of examining the organizational climate and engagement is most often carried out by HR department or HR generalist, the responsibility for applying the results and implementing action plans rests with managers and team leaders. However, practice shows that managers often do not take responsibility for the use of survey results due to a lack of necessary skills or resources and fear of negative consequences.
Sometimes managers are stressed about poor test results and blame the employees for them. However, above all, management should value employees' honesty in their responses and show acceptance of their attitudes and expectations. The SELECTIO Leadership Academy can help them on this path of transformation into a strong leader who will be able to hear and understand his role, but also his team.
Another reason is their dissatisfaction with inadequate results, so they blame employees for them. Above all, managers should appreciate the honesty of employees while answering the questions and show acknowledgment of their opinions and expectations. The SELECTIO Leadership Academy can help them on this path of transformation into strong leaders who will be able to hear and understand not only their role, but also their team.
Management does not communicate properly
Another part of the manager's role is to promptly and thoroughly inform the employees about the conduct of the survey. The key is that the employees gain confidence in the importance of their answers and honesty.
If management does not communicate the purpose of the survey clearly, employees may perceive the survey as a mere formality with no real intent for improvement. There is no room for asking questions and transparently explaining the process and expectations. A common mistake which management makes is that they do not inform employees about how they will ensure the anonymity of the survey, how the results will be used and how they will contribute to improving the work environment. Without this information, employees may doubt the confidentiality of their responses and the seriousness of management to implement precise changes based on the results.
Unsuccessful implementation of changes
Ineffective management communication is often attributed to the absence of implementation of changes. The problem begins when survey results are not communicated to employees who then easily conclude that their feedback is not important. This reflects negatively on the organizational climate and potentially causes dissatisfaction in the team.
Furthermore, an organization often starts conducting surveys because it has become a part of standard practice, but they lack a clear vision of how the data will be used. Then, of course, nothing can be done with the data, so the whole process is an unnecessary waste of resources. Therefore, remember that if you do not apply the test results and do not set a precise plan of action, you lose the trust of your employees who think their efforts in the survey were completely wasted.
Superficial data analysis
Be aware that you are most likely to miss key insights if you decide to conduct the survey hastily or without in-depth understanding. Using only basic statistical tools and methods cannot result in an in-depth understanding of complex cause-and-effect relationships among the obtained data.
The most common oversight that HR consultants notice in practice is that the organizational climate and employee engagement are not connected. This makes it almost impossible to find out what the company needs to focus on if it wants to increase employee engagement and motivation. Therefore, a proper analysis must integrate these aspects in order to identify measures that will improve the work environment and employee motivation.
There are many factors for the success of the organizational climate and employee engagement survey and mistakes are easy to sneak in. Therefore, if you have any questions and need help in conducting this survey, do not hesitate to seek the support of our HR experts who will guide you through the process of engagement testing in order to improve the work environment and increase productivity and profitability.
