How to make the most of an employee survey

Perhaps you’ve heard the phrase: “The values enshrined on the company’s walls aren’t always the values you find in the company halls.”

That may be even more true in the Age of COVID-19, with so many disengaged, exhausted, burned-out remote workers.

So, how do you find out what’s really going on inside the heads of your employees? A well-timed, well-written employee survey can yield significant insight into how to move your organization forward.

Of course, you need to ask the right questions to get the right information. And don’t ask questions about areas of contention that the leadership team has no intention of acting upon. That can erode trust later if no action is taken. You do not want employees saying, “I’m not going to take the survey because nothing ever changes around here anyway.”

Once you obtain information from your employees, you need to interpret it properly. At this stage, it is crucial to communicate the results of the survey so that employees know that they were, indeed, heard.