We know that increasing employee engagement is a great way to increase employee retention and improve the customer experience, but what’s the best way to start? The answer is simple: use an employee survey to measure engagement and satisfaction at your organization. If you decide to conduct an employee survey, however, it’s essential to work with a third-party research firm, so that the identities of respondents may be kept confidential. Investing time and resources into data collection, as well as action planning to increase scores, is worthwhile only if employees feel they can respond honestly, remain anonymous, and see positive change as a result of their effort. Read on to further understand the importance for anonymity when conducting employee surveys.
1. Only Honest Feedback is Worth your Time
If an employee feels that his livelihood is on the line, it will be impossible for him to speak critically of his employer. Imagine walking into your boss’s office to say, “I don’t understand our long-term strategy, I don’t trust my supervisor, and I don’t plan to be here for the long haul.” We’d never do that if we hoped to have a job tomorrow. It’s too risky. But that’s exactly the kind of intelligence you’d like to collect. What will help your employees feel comfortable in giving your straight feedback? Ensure their anonymity by hiring a third-party research firm to protect it.
2. You Need Actionable Data
When employees feel comfortable enough to be honest, their employers will have the information needed to make needed changes. If you hire a reputable firm to survey your employees, and their anonymity is ensured, you’ll be able to identify issues such as poor supervision, communication breakdown, and employee intent to leave.
3. Improvement is the Goal
Employers that collect employee engagement and satisfaction data want to increase those measures over time. If you need actionable data, then you need the candor of employees. When you work with a research firm to collect that feedback, they should provide your employees with an easy way to make contact to ask questions about the process and confidentiality. Don’t just say employee identities are safe. Back it up.
4. The Team Needs to Stick Together
When utilizing employee surveys, anonymity allows for honest feedback without pointing fingers and possibly creating conflict between individual employees. Some employees could feel singled out if feedback were shared in an open environment. This could segregate employees, leading to a decline in teamwork and overall productivity. Confidential collection of employee feedback creates a safe place for employees to say what they think.
Best Employee Surveys
With more than 10 years of experience and collected data, our customizable options ensure that your organization is capturing data in the most effective way for your reporting needs. Because we survey approximately 5,000 companies and their more than 500,000 employees each year, you can feel good about using our extensive database as a comparative benchmark for your results; it is of the highest quality and is also used to support trending analyses and ongoing research performed by a number of scholars, authors, and presenters worldwide.
