Once you’ve asked your staff to complete the free, confidential Best Employers Eastern Region employee engagement survey, and you’ve received your tailored report of the findings, what should you do next?
One of the most important things to do is to share the results with your employees so that they can see the value in participating. This demonstrates that you’ve heard what your employees have to say, and it is a great opportunity to celebrate any successes and to share plans for addressing any issues or concerns.
Here are our top tips for communicating the survey findings to your employees and continuing to keep them engaged in the process.
Start the post-survey communication as soon as the survey has been completed. Thank people for taking the time to participate. Reiterate why it is important to you to be able to gather their views and let them know that you will be sharing results and actions with them.
In our blog on "How to encourage staff to participate in the Best Employers survey," we highlighted the value of getting business leaders to spearhead the survey, engaging people to take part. The same approach applies to communicating your results. If the CEO or MD takes the lead in sharing the findings it demonstrates a commitment to open and honest communication and shows they are willing to listen. It reinforces the fact that they value people’s opinions and increases employee trust.
Be transparent and share the results with everyone. Put together presentations or infographics which share the key findings in context. It’s a great opportunity to be able to highlight what people have said they most value about the organisation and to celebrate all the good points, as well as sharing areas to be addressed. Depending on the size of your organisation, sharing the results of the report can be a great opportunity to bring everyone together for a company-wide staff meeting. Where this isn’t possible, consider hosting smaller team meetings or sharing a presentation on the staff intranet, via shared network drives or including a roundup summary in an internal newsletter.
Share a transparent timeline with employees on how and when you plan to action items which need to be followed up. Break down actions into short, medium and long-term projects and identify priority areas which are seen as most important to employees and which will also have the greatest impact on performance. It’s a good idea to look for any ‘quick wins’ which can be achieved in a short timescale, even if it is as simple as fixing a broken kettle. Employees will then see immediate action while work continues on the longer-term projects.
Asking employees to be involved in making changes highlights your commitment to taking action and empowers colleagues to play their own part in creating the workplace culture. Ask for volunteers to join employee action groups on different elements identified to engage people in the areas they are most passionate about. For example, one organisation decided an action would be to turn a spare training room into a new staff room. A staff committee was given a budget to kit it out, giving them their own say on how they would like to use it. The team have now created a space for everyone to enjoy with a pool table, a drinks fridge stocked with soft drinks and beer, and bean bags to relax on.
Once you’ve shared the results, and a timeline of actions, make sure you continue to keep employees updated and involved. Feedback updates as progress is made and ask them further questions around any plans being shaped as a result. For example, Larking Gowen is continuing to run follow up pulse surveys, aligned to the themes of the Best Employers Eastern Region, to maintain employee interaction and to gather instant feedback on new initiatives being developed including its total wellbeing programme.
By taking part in Best Employers Eastern Region you will also become part of a growing network of Best Employers which shares the latest thinking on employee engagement. Participants can link up with others to discuss and share solutions at the seminars and networking events organised as part of the Best Employers Eastern Region initiative.