- Surveys should be in the total rewards toolbox. Done right, surveys may provide important feedback on ways to maximize benefits, compensation, well-being, professional development and recognition.
- Good outcomes come from a good base. Not all surveys are created equal or done well. Do the homework up front to draft the best possible survey — one that provides results you can understand and act upon.
- Prioritization can prove critical. In examining survey results, prioritize around elements that matter most to employees and the business. This may include one or more total rewards areas.
Whether you have ever considered your organization’s culture or not, it has developed one. Not only should you be aware of the details of that culture, but you should also work hard to govern it to increase the likelihood that employees enjoy a healthful and productive atmosphere that promotes brand values and contributes to the business mission.
One of the most established — yet still powerful — tools for understanding and effecting cultural change is the humble employee survey. In addition to providing management with insight into the employee experience, surveys also may demonstrate to the workforce your willingness to hear their perspective and make meaningful improvements. In the area of total rewards, improvements may come in the form of:
- More targeted, personalized benefits
- Compensation adjustments at the individual, role, team or holistic level
- An increased focus on work-life balance and well-being
- Professional development opportunities that better meet worker expectations and organizational needs
- Effective, frequent and sufficient recognition (both formal and informal).
The act of collecting employee feedback alone can improve morale, benefiting the workplace culture, but taking some additional steps may help to maximize survey outcomes for the organization, the HR and total rewards team, and the workforce.
Step 1: Draft a Better Employee Survey
Not all employee surveys are created equal (and not all surveys are done well by employers, leading to subpar results). To gain the information necessary to change your workplace culture by understanding and addressing what drives it, you need to create a survey that allows you to collect that information.
A number of resources (e.g., Culture Amp and Harvard Business Review) offer useful tips for drafting surveys that elicit greater honesty from the workforce, such as focusing on behaviors you can see and verify as well as avoiding section labels and page breaks in your formatting. If you do nothing else, consider whether your employee survey is appropriately focused on workplace culture, with questions designed to provide insight into issues that the workforce truly cares about (e.g., benefits, compensation, career development, recognition, work-life balance).
Step 2: Understand the Survey Results
How you analyze survey results will likely impact the insights you can glean and the type of change you ultimately implement, so exercise care when reviewing the data from your surveys. Formulas are available to help calculate employee engagement scores and other useful metrics. You may also utilize the services of a subject matter expert to review the surveys and explain the results.
At the very least, having multiple leaders within your organization review the surveys and report on their findings can reduce the opportunity for bias to negatively impact your strategies surrounding organizational change.
Step 3: Prioritize Changes
It’s likely that your results will reveal several insights on total rewards and other areas that can guide your efforts toward a better workplace culture. To avoid creating confusion or otherwise limiting the success of your efforts, seek to prioritize — organizing change strategies for maximum impact. Some critical elements of a positive workplace culture follow; any of these (or others) may serve as a top priority:
- Quality leadership. Leaders make all the difference in employee experience. If your surveys indicate a problem with leadership, major institutional changes (i.e., training, strategy and protocol deployment, etc.) may be necessary to affect your culture.
- Benefits and compensation. Pay matters, but also consider core or ancillary benefits that employees may be missing or seeking increased emphasis. Look into personalizing your rewards packages, ensuring that employees feel their needs are considered and accounted for. This may positively impact motivation and engagement.
- Employee health and well-being. Work-life balance remains a concern for many workers. Consider spotlighting changes that can help reduce burnout in your workforce, as burnout can have myriad effects on culture, such as greater interpersonal conflict and increased negativity in communication.
- Professional development opportunities. Both parties benefit when employers invest in better training for their employees. Consider the merits of mentorships, tuition assistance, cross-training and more.
Open a dialogue with your staff to clarify their priorities and consider whether your timeline for changes aligns with workforce needs and wants.
Step 4: Develop and Initiate an Action Plan
With the first three steps in place, create an action plan that may allow you to manifest the prioritized changes. Your plan should be guided by goals that are specific, measurable, achievable, realistic and within a specified timeline. Be as clear as possible regarding who will be responsible for which component(s) of the change plan, when those components will take place and what resources will be necessary to increase the likelihood of a positive result.
Once the action plan is established, begin implementing it. If the plan is solid, positive changes in your workplace culture should begin to emerge.
Step 5: Track Progress
While the action plan is implemented and certainly after it is complete, work to understand exactly how your changes are affecting your organization. Consider using metrics such as employee performance or turnover rates to determine whether the enhancements are making a difference. However, the clearest information about the progress of your organizational change may come from subsequent surveys and more employee feedback.
Steps … in the Right Direction
Employee surveys are not new and not perfect, but they likely can generate important personal insights on the organization’s past, present and future. The more you learn about your workplace culture, the more you may be able to understand what makes it tick — and how you can harness it for the better.
Editor’s Note: Additional Content
For more information and resources related to this article, see the pages below, which offer quick access to all WorldatWork content on these topics:
