The Survey Initiative

Putting wellbeing at the heart of employee engagement

Gary Cattermole — Wed, 09 May 2012 14:17:47 +0000

These days, organisations are keener than ever to measure employees’ wellbeing as well as their employee engagement.

The two are inextricably linked, of course. But as wellbeing specialists like Dr Bridget Juniper point out:

…emerging research suggests that organisations that focus only on those areas associated with conventional engagement indicators, such as commitment and effort, are missing the point where enhancing performance is the overriding goal.

The problem, according to Juniper, is that ‘the scope given to workforce engagement is too restrictive’.

She’s certainly right when it comes to traditional models of measuring employee engagement.

For example, many organisations still use on employee engagement questionnaires that rely on one-size-fits-all questions to measure staff engagement.

The problem with this approach is that it can create a distorted picture of an organisation’s workforce. In extreme cases, off-the-peg questionnaires can generate a picture of a largely engaged workforce, but fail to pick up on warning signs about staff wellbeing.

The solution is to make tailor your employee engagement research to fit the shape and needs of your own organisation.

It’s essential because employee engagement can’t be measured in the same way in different organisations. Employees will always face different challenges, be part of different hierarchies and relationship networks and be subjected to different pressures.

That’s why it’s important to work with both management and staff to create a research process that gives consideration to both engagement and wellbeing.

For example, while a traditional employee engagement survey might pick up that staff are highly motivated by their work, it may not discover that they are beginning to feel stretched or under pressure, or that they feel their work/life balance is out of kilter.

The advantage of taking wellbeing into account in the employee engagement process is that it allows your organisation to spot problems like these at an early stage — issues which would otherwise have a negative impact on engagement in the longer term.

It also allows you to take steps to address those issues as soon as possible. Your can do this via workshops and focus groups — ensuring that concerns are passed confidentially to management via an independent third party.

So, if you’re looking to measure employee engagement in your organisation, be sure to ask yourself one question before you begin: “Will this process give us an insight into staff wellbeing as well?”

Because if it doesn’t, you may unwittingly be storing up problems for the future.

Learn more about approach.

Why employee survey response rates are so important

Gary Cattermole — Fri, 04 May 2012 10:42:37 +0000

Today we are closing an employee survey on behalf of one of our longest standing clients.

I thought I would share with you that, working alongside our client, we have achieved a response rate in excess of 80% (for the sixth year running). As you can imagine our client is very happy that their survey has consistently provided an excellent response rate.

We have worked closely with them from the outset detailing the processes of maximising response rates but I just wanted to touch on ‘why’ getting as high a response rate as possible to your employee survey is so important.

Validity

From our perspective as an independent employee research organisation the very first thing a high response rate illustrates is that we have developed the survey correctly. When large numbers of employees take part in the survey it shows that the survey has been well received and that employees feel and believe that the questions are relevant and that their views will be heard and acted upon. Effectively the balance between covering the areas/ topics that are important to employees and also those leading the organisation is correct.

Secondly and most importantly of all, a good response rate will provide valid, representative and actionable data. Where response rates are in the 80’s and 90’s (be it at organisation or local level) it provides an excellent level of confidence that data is representative and that the work you undertake as a result of you survey is based on valid data. As you can imagine, this is very important!

So, what sort of response rate should I be aiming for?

This is a question we are often asked. Our average response rate for an employee survey sits in the mid 80’s and we are very proud of this. The industry average sits nearer the mid 60 mark.

With the right pre-survey communication strategy, a survey that is designed correctly for the organisation its employees and leaders and by taking solid, positive action as a result of the feedback, there should be no reason why you cannot obtain response rates in the 80’s and 90’s.

Some of our recent work has been with organisations that traditionally had low response rates to their employee surveys. We worked with an organisation, for example, to take their response rate up 25% points from 44% to 69%. This is part of a long-term survey strategy that should see their 2012 survey response rate between 75% and 80%.

If you would like to learn more about how to get the highest possible response rate from your employee survey, then drop me a line.

The propensity to overcomplicate employee engagement

Gary Cattermole — Tue, 01 May 2012 10:33:51 +0000

Whilst reading some recent articles around employee engagement, I came across a paragraph from Linda Dulye, who has written an article on Fox Business.

“In the end, engaging employees to give their best starts with top bosses sharing the game plan, followed by managers ensuring great two-way communication. After that, empower associates to partner in solving business challenges, then demonstrate sincere appreciation and stay on track through continuous measurement and improvement.”

I think this paragraph wonderfully captures the simple essence of employee engagement.

Now, I know there will be many people who think/ voice the fact that employee engagement is complicated, that there are many factors that will affect someone’s likelihood of being an engaged employee. Indeed, this is somewhat the case – although in actuality many of those factors are outside the control and scope of an organisation.

The fact remains however, that if you look at the many different views, opinions and research on employee engagement a lot appear to over complicate, what is, in reality, a simple and straightforward premise.

Human nature…

It is our nature to over complicate and the challenge for those working in the area of employee engagement to is avoid this, as much as possible. When working on your employee engagement strategy or project and even when you are researching levels of engagement within your organisation, remember – the concept of employee engagement is simple. Try, where possible, to keep your actions as simple, clear and concise as the premise itself.

As Albert Einstein said, “If you can’t explain it simply, you don’t understand it well enough.”

Learn more about how you organisation could benefit from our clear, concise and actionable employee engagement research.

Why tracking employee engagement is so important

Gary Cattermole — Wed, 25 Apr 2012 10:00:43 +0000

A recent study by the Society for Human Resource Management has put some hard figures on the effectiveness of tracking employee engagement.

The study (of 770 HR leaders) had some very interesting outcomes. 76% of companies with a formal recognition programme report an increase in productivity. Where employee engagement levels are tracked, companies reported:

“their employees were satisfied with their level of recognition for a job well done; thought managers and supervisors effectively acknowledged employees; and, that employees are rewarded according to performance. Those respondents at companies without a recognition program agreed with each of those statements at much lower rates.”

What’s more, the 15% of HR leaders in the study that go further and track the effectiveness of their recognition programmes stated they could clearly see an increase in productivity, engagement, return on profit margins, and employee and customer retention.

Worryingly however, less than 50% of respondents track levels of employee engagement, this is a major concern.

We’ve long been advocates of using surveys to track and monitor employee engagement, it is such an easy, inclusive way to gain feedback and track and monitor levels of engagement within an organisation. In fact, we advise many of our clients to monitor on a more regular basis. When implementing change as a result of survey feedback – you want to make sure that the changes you are implementing are having the desired effect. The last thing you want is for the changes to have a negative impact!

The above are clear illustrations why we strongly advocate that an employee engagement survey be ‘part’ of your engagement strategy – allowing you to gain a benchmark of where you are now and then track and monitor the effectiveness of change over time. Surveys in isolation are not always helpful – it is so important to track and monitor how your company is doing from survey to survey.

As Peter Drucker stated “What gets measured gets done!”

Learn more about our employee engagement surveys.

Places for People chooses The Survey Initiative to deliver its employee engagement survey

Gary Cattermole — Tue, 24 Apr 2012 11:57:42 +0000

Employee engagement research specialists chosen

We are delighted to announce that Places for People has choosen us to work alongside them in the delivery of their ongoing employee engagement survey.

With in excess of 60,000 homes, 13 businesses, c 3000 staff and assets of over £3 billion, it is vital that UK property management, development and regeneration group Places for People has the most engaged workforce possible. Its people are its lifeblood, and it works hard to look after them; employee engagement is key.

Places for People chose us from a shortlist of three research specialists, believing that it had many shared corporate and cultural values. Liz Sharrocks, Places for People’s Employee Engagement Advisor explains:

“We felt that the team at The Survey Initiative had many shared values with Places for People, and we particularly liked the bespoke approach they took to our needs. They have a closely-knit team and we were impressed by their enthusiasm and can-do attitude”.

Rejecting the one-size fits all employee engagement survey approach

By working with us Places for People sees a marked shift away from using more generic tools to measure employee engagement to a fully-tailored approach – the survey process will be moulded exactly to Places for People’s needs.

David Cowans, Group Chief Executive at Places for People and the Group’s employee engagement project sponsor, said: “Working in partnership with The Survey Initiative gives us the opportunity to develop a tailor-made survey, and involve staff in its design. This way we will gather the views of our staff about the things that really matter to them in a way that can then guide action.”

We’re delighted to be working alongside Places for People and the team and look forward to an exciting and productive project.

Learn more about our employee engagement research services.

3 simple ways to boost employee engagement

Gary Cattermole — Wed, 18 Apr 2012 08:27:03 +0000

These days, most organisations have wised up to the fact that an engaged workforce leads to greater productivity and less staff turnover — and creates a happier, healthier place to work.

And while it can sometimes be hard to spot the signs of employees who are becoming less engaged, prevention is always better than the cure.

That’s why forward-looking directors and managers make sure that every aspect of their employees’ working day is examined through the lens of staff engagement.

Time and time again, they’ve found that getting three key factors right keeps employees engaged and stops problems happening before they take hold.

Why don’t you try them for yourself?

Empowerment

When employees feel in control of their work, they put more into their jobs. But when their work has to be approved by many layers of management, they can begin to feel disempowered.

You may not be in a position to change your management structure (and it may be a bad idea to do so), but look for ways of using accountability to make employees feel empowered. For example, simple reviews that give individuals praise for good work and opportunities for development can keep engagement high.

Feedback

Sometimes we all get so focused on targets or deadlines that we forget that we need other people’s help to meet them. Sometimes even a simple ‘thank you’ is all it takes to bring out the best in employees next time they’re under pressure — and keep them engaged and proud to work for your organisation.

Flexibility

Give employees more control over their working space. As far as it’s possible, let them perform tasks their own way and arrange their own schedules. Remember, it’s the end result of their work that matters — not the journey that got them there. Flexibility to choose their own way to work makes people happier, more productive and more engaged. Try it!

These are just three tried-and-tested ways to increase your employees’ engagement. What other ideas do you have? Please share them in the comments below.

Latest article on employee engagement published

Gary Cattermole — Mon, 16 Apr 2012 09:37:25 +0000

Our friends over at HR Zone have kindly published our latest article on an oft forgotten aspect of employee engagement.

Click to read more about talking less and listening more…

‘People join companies, but leave managers.’ How to help managers better engage your employees.

tsiadmin — Wed, 28 Mar 2012 11:47:49 +0000

Gallup’s insight that ‘people join companies, but leave managers’ is as true today as it has ever been.

Recent research underlines the fact that a person’s immediate line manager is the single biggest influence on their engagement — and whether they decide to stay.

Given how much it costs to recruit, and the negative effects a high turnover of staff can have on an organisation, it clearly makes good business sense to help managers keep their employees engaged.

There’s a problem, though. As we found in our November blog post, research shows that line managers usually don’t act on engagement survey feedback – spending on average only two to five days a year on engagement-related activities.

And while we’ve seen a step change in their approach, we know there is a long way to go before all or even most managers take ownership of the employee engagement process.

That leaves you with a double whammy — line managers who deeply influence employees’ engagement, but who take little or no action that is based on clear, valid engagement survey data.

So how do you solve the problem?

Take action

It’s easier said than done, but we’ve found that your task here is twofold.

First, you need to ensure line managers take responsibility for their data.

It can be difficult because managers can feel they are being singled out or that there is little or no support for them. That means you need to find ways of empowering local managers to act on their data, whether it’s by supporting them with development opportunities, mentoring or shadowing.

Secondly, you need to clearly demonstrate to managers what the benefits of an engaged workforce are, and make sure they understand how the results of engagement surveys enable them track and monitor levels of employee engagement.

That means the ‘local action’ stage of your survey process must have a ‘high priority’ level, so that managers can and will take action and ownership at the earliest possible stage.

If you are not helping your line managers take ownership and use their survey results effectively, you’re not using the single biggest ‘engagement influencing’ group in your organisation.

We can help you change that. Learn how we can help managers take control of engagement feedback and act on it without fear.

Ever had that feeling whilst driving that you’ve arrived at your destination but don’t know how you got there?

Gary Cattermole — Wed, 21 Mar 2012 15:09:12 +0000

I’ve been travelling quite a bit recently and I’ve experienced (not for the first time) that unnerving feeling of arriving at a destination but not really being sure how I’ve managed it.

A large part of the journey is a bit of blank – my mind had wandered. Apparently this is quite common and is often referred to as ‘task unrelated thought’. People report having little or no memory of what has happened in their surrounding environment whilst pre-occupied with their thoughts.

Now, clearly I was still driving and arrived safely at my destination but it seems I cannot have been fully concentrating on the job in hand (driving my car!) I was not fully engaged in an ‘attention demanding task’.

The link with employee engagement

Now what is interesting is that the same thing can occur at work. If your job is not mentally stimulating or doesn’t (at least sometimes) grab your attention – your mind is going to wander. I’m sure we’ve all experienced this – be it driving or doing some other task.

As Daniel H. Pink make clear in ‘Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us‘, studies clearly show that in terms of employee engagement and drive, when a task requires at least rudimentary levels of cognitive skill people are far, far more productive and far more engaged in the work that they do.

We’ve also seen this in our work. I remember clearly working with a client who provided a call centre service for a large UK water company. We were working with them to understand what was driving very high levels of staff turnover. We identified one area of the organisation where engagement was very high and correlated with lower levels of turnover. Oddly, it was the area of the organisation that was responsible for ‘debt collection’ – not, immediately, an area where you would expect high levels of employee engagement.

The reasons, however, were clear. This group was not scripted; they had to use their interpersonal skills to work with clients (some of whom were not in good financial positions) to ensure bills were paid. In short, they had to use their brains – it required their full attention.

What proved very successful was that the organisation was able to take some of the approaches used by this team and apply to other areas. In short, this helped them reduce their staff turnovers levels to less than half the average for call centre’s in the UK.

Think about your own organisation. Are there groups, divisions or teams that have low staff turnover and consistently get good results? If so, then the chances are those employees are highly motivated — and you can learn from them to improve employee engagement in other areas of your business.

Perhaps we can help you? We’d love to hear from you.

‘Email culture’ – is it stifling employee engagement?

Jaime Johnson — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 10:08:53 +0000

We’ve seen quite a bit of evidence from research conducted over the past 18 months that employees and organisations are moving towards an ‘email culture’. What this means in practice is not just that email is a medium of communication but it is rapidly replacing others forms of interaction, most notably ‘one-to-one’ interaction. Employees are not getting up from their desks to go and speak to their colleagues face-to-face, from an employee engagement perspective this is worrying. In addition, recent research has shows that 71 per cent of workers believe an increased number of people will work from home by 2036, whilst, 54 per cent of current workers believe they may never meet any other members of their team and 39 per cent think employees are unlikely to meet their bosses before starting work!!!

What we are seeing is a cultural shift that many organisations don’t realise is taking place, the effects it can have are quite startling. Employees who spend more time using email as their primary (even, only communication tool) are losing a key ingredient for employee engagement, human interaction. Without that ability to bounce of one another, creativity, ideas, solutions to problems (whilst do still happen) are less spontaneous and generally less effective.

Managers who work remotely are likely to give less feedback, make their employees feel less empowered, and create employees who are less satisfied with their employment than those in the office full-time, according to a new study by Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and GfK Custom Research. In addition the study shows that communication between employees and managers who telework or work virtually contain ‘fewer contextual indicators’, which hamper accurate interpretations and foster misunderstandings.

It is the lack of these contextual indicators that has given rise in a number of organisations to a culture of distrust and blame where, interestingly, email is then used as a tool to ensure that all parties are made aware of decisions etc. – creating culture of email overload.

This combined with the increase in technologies such as e-mail, mobile phones and instant messaging making workers instantly contactable, often outside of their working day, can only lead to a SAD – stressed, angry and distracted – workforce. We’ve seen increasing evidence of this in our work survey participants.

If, as an organisation, you are overloading the technologies intended to streamline communication and encouraging communication outside of the working day, this must have an impact on employee engagement. It is worth considering how new technologies have changed patterns of work and establishing acceptable business etiquette within your organisation – before your workforce becomes SAD.