When it comes to employee listening, we’ve already stated that an annual survey won’t cut it. So the question is “How often should we be surveying employees?” While this will vary from one organization to another, we want to offer some suggestions. We are so helpful!
This is something we won’t get into too much detail. We will be clear: annual surveys are not recommended as they only provide a snapshot of your organization at a given time. Humans change daily, and organisations are made up of people. Any data you gather will soon be out of date.
You can also gather too many feedback! Listening strategies can fall apart when organisations place too much emphasis on the first stage (getting feedback) rather than on closing the feedback loop. This can lead to a loss of trust. This can lead to colleagues feeling that their feedback is not being heard. If action is not taken, they may lose faith in the program.
You need to consider the resources available to you and your people team in order not collect too much feedback. What is your ability to respond fully to feedback and take action? You should thank your team for their time and share the results with them. You will need to let people know why you have not taken action on the issues raised.
JUUUUUUUST
We recommend that customers start with at least two touchpoints per year across the organization. You don’t have to send quarterly surveys to your entire organisation. However, this doesn’t necessarily mean that you should. You might instead consider a cadence with multiple touchpoints. Continuous listening should be part of your program. We’ll discuss this in detail in a bit.
You may decide to do an annual survey with a 6-month check in. You may also want to include a deeper dive, or a specific pulse survey. Additionally, targeted pulses or interventions throughout the year could be sent to selected departments or cohorts. These touchpoints could be combined with employee lifecycle touchpoints at key points of your people’s journey with you organisation, such as onboarding or anniversaries.
BUILD YOUR PROGRAMME
We mentioned earlier that you might want to work towards your ideal program. Your people may not be comfortable giving feedback, especially if they’re not used to it. You need to have a solid foundation before you can build trust and buy in. You can increase the frequency of your survey once you have established the effectiveness of your listening program. One of our customers sent out surveys every two years. Now, they send them annually. Or, from an annual survey with 6-month check-ins and regular pulse surveys…
You must respond to feedback regularly as a key component of building your program. This is known as closing the feedback loop. Although we encourage you to give feedback in full every time, it is also a good idea to respond one-on-one. You must ensure anonymity when you do this.
CONTINUOUS EMPLOYEE WATCHING
We recommend listening to people who want to speak to you. We have many tips to help you put employees in the center of your listening program. This gives you the opportunity for feedback all year. This is why our Employee voice survey is so useful. It allows employees to provide feedback whenever they wish.
Continuous feedback can be used as a weather report. This will allow you to track changes in happiness in your organization and identify trends in how your people think, feel and behave. This will allow you to adjust your people strategy without reacting to false information.
Pushing the survey is a good idea. It only contains one question and allows for text to be sent weekly. You should use the channel that is most convenient for your employees such as email, SMS, or another internal communication tool. It is important to remind employees that they can take the survey!
BOTTOMLINE…
No matter how often you measure your people, listen to feedback and then respond. It’s okay to reduce the programme because there aren’t enough people to do the right steps. Communicate your plans and actions to your team!