The employee survey results are in—now what?
3 Minutes
Employee surveys fail when leaders are not seen to be acting upon the results. Sometimes this is because they choose to do nothing with them; other times they take action, but fail to communicate success stories. So, it is vital to share progress with your employees.
An all-staff email from the CEO is not enough. A one-hit deluge of ‘you said, we did’ from the HR Director isn’t effective either. (And doesn’t “you said, we did” sound patronising? Like leaders are doing you a favour?) What is required is a strategic narrative with your people at the centre. One way to achieve this is via an employee engagement hub, accessible to all employees either in the form of an Intranet or even an employee engagement app.
The aim of the hub should be to display that:
- Employees are central to driving change
- Leaders are continually responsive to great ideas from employees
- The process is transparent – changes should be communicated and if something can’t be done, be honest and say why
- There is a culture of continuous improvement, not just post-survey
What the hub should include:
- A reminder of the purpose of the survey
- The survey results
- Any processes – deadlines for reporting upon action plans, suggestions for regularity of team/departmental meetings to discuss/act upon results etc.
- Leaders communicating their commitment to the project
- Success stories
- Sharing of good practice
If you don't give regular progress updates on outcomes, then employees will fill the silence themselves; and they usually will assume nothing is happening.
You need a regular drip of communication, because:
- authentic dialogue builds trust;
- trust builds engaged employees; and
- engaged employees are more productive
Displaying your commitment to listening to and acting upon employee suggestions will improve your employee engagement and your employees' overall brand experience.
