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Conducting surveys to retain talent is equally as important as surveying and interviewing potential new hires. When you survey your current workforce, you can learn more about what motivates employees and root out any problems early on.
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Two surveys you can conduct are employee engagement and performance surveys. Both surveys give employees a chance to speak up and share their perspective on how work is going.
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Engagement surveys ask employees how engaged they are with their positions and your company. Businesses use them to discover and assess engagement problems and improve operations.
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Performance surveys let employees give input into how they think they are doing in their jobs. Many businesses pass out employee performance surveys prior to job performance reviews. And, some businesses combine engagement and performance surveys.
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You should distribute engagement and performance surveys at least once per year, preferably at least twice per year. That way, you can get to the source of problems before they become too complicated.
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1. Employee engagement surveys
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If your employees aren’t engaged, chances are they won’t stay at your business forever. And, they could bring down productivity, plummeting your business’s bottom line.
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According to one survey, engaged employees are 30% less likely to look for another job. Not only that, but high engagement can also equal higher productivity. Engaged employees can lend to as much as a 22% boost in productivity. The less engaged your employees are, the more your business will be missing out on.
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One of the best ways to find out whether employees are engaged is to ask them. From there, you can make educated decisions in your business, implement engagement strategies, and work toward improving engagement across the board.
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But first, what exactly is employee engagement? Engaged employees are excited, passionate, and willing to make a difference in their position and in your business. They add value by genuinely caring about the work they do.
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Distributing annual or semiannual engagement surveys shows you what employees think of their positions. Additionally, they can provide you with the knowledge you need to make changes that can propel engagement.
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Let’s say a survey reveals that an employee is disengaged because they are having trouble balancing their work-home life. After consideration, you could allow the employee to have a flexible schedule to accommodate their personal responsibilities.
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Many employee engagement surveys are anonymous. If you distribute anonymous employee engagement surveys, you cannot work with individuals to find out if they are engaged. But, they might be able to help you with overall decision-making in your business.
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So, what should be included in an employee engagement survey? Here are some questions you can ask employees; or you can use these questions as a baseline to create your own:
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\n- On a scale of 1 to 10, with 10 being the highest, how much do you enjoy your job?
\n- Do you feel like your ideas are valued at work?
\n- Do you feel you are adequately recognized?
\n- Describe your work habits.
\n- How would you describe the accuracy of your work?
\n- What are you most proud of in your current role?
\n- What would you like to learn?
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By asking these questions, or similar questions, you can find out how engaged a worker is and get an idea of what would make them more engaged.
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2. Employee performance surveys
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When the time comes to review an employee’s performance, your sole source of information shouldn’t come from what you perceive throughout the workweek. You should also go straight to the source and ask employees how they think they are performing.
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Although you might get some employees who exaggerate their performance, you will also get a clearer picture of an employee’s daily responsibilities. And, you can learn where an employee is underperforming.
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Distributing employee performance surveys shows you an employee’s performance from their point of view. You might complete your own performance survey addressing each employee’s performance before you take theirs into consideration. That way, your answers aren’t based entirely on what an employee says.
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You can use the answers in the employee performance survey in conjunction with your own knowledge of the employee’s performance to offer raises or promotions. And, you can tailor training or performance improvement plans to each employee.
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If there are huge discrepancies between how you and the employee think they are doing, you can use their survey responses to address why that is. Maybe the employee is unclear about their responsibilities.
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Employee performance surveys might also show you how employees feel about their co-workers’ performance. This can give you insight into how effective teamwork in your company is as well as see who is slacking.
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Take a look at the following example questions for guidance:
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\n- Are you able to cooperate with your co-workers?
\n- How well are you able to adapt to changes in the workplace?
\n- Describe your skills.
\n- On a scale of 1 to 10, describe the quality of your work.
\n- What projects are you currently completing?
\n- Do you meet the goals you set for yourself?
\n- If any, what kind of training do you think you need to better perform your job?
\n- Do you feel like everyone pulls their weight on your team?
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Generally, you can pass these surveys out before you hold an official performance review. After collecting surveys, you can address employee responses during the performance review.
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