Employee Survey
Executive Summary
SITUATION:
A FTSE 100 felt its existing yearly approach to employee surveys (with a focus on measuring “employee engagement”) was failing to deliver meaningful insight or change and was seen by employees as a tick box exercise.
OBJECTIVE:
To redesign and re-launch the employee survey so that it delivered meaningful insight around “what is not working well,” drove measurable change and became a trusted, valued and engaging feedback tool.
ACTIONS:
Vista Insights was brought in to lead an internal project team to agree objectives, process, content and timings for a new approach and to run the new survey (including analysis, insight and action recommendations).
RESULTS:
Intervention led to a much simplified biennial employee survey that saw; employee response rates rise to over 88%, provided clear insight into the key areas of employee positivity, neutrality and negativity and highlighted five clear workstreams for addressing “what was not working well.” These workstreams created positive change that was acknowledged in the following employee survey and in so doing, elevated employee feedback to the same level and importance as investor feedback, significantly improving employee morale and organisational effectiveness.
Solution
Vista Insight worked with the project team to design and deliver a new employee survey approach that aligned with the above objectives, challenging senior leadership to commit to a survey process that would capture insight around the good, the bad and the ugly and getting commitment to take meaningful action to improve the employee experience. Effectively, moving away from a passive, backward-looking, employee engagement led approach, to a proactive, forward looking, insight led approach that would act as a springboard for meaningful and sustainable change.
Results
The Intervention led to a much simplified employee survey process. The previously used fifty questions were reduced down to twenty four closed and two open questions. The frequency of the survey was changed to once every two years, allowing time for change initiatives to complete and have an impact. Employee response rates rose from 70% to over 88% and the analysis provided clear insight into the key areas of employee positivity, neutrality and negativity, at a group level and also at country and functional levels (where numbers allowed). Five clear workstreams for addressing “what was not working well” at a group level were agreed and initiated. These workstreams were monitored by Vista and their progress reported on a regular basis to the Exec and Senior Leadership Teams. All workstreams were completed over a 12 month period and their positive impact was acknowledged in the following employee survey.
Background
Vista Insight was contacted by a FTSE 100 company who were proposing to conduct a Group-wide staff survey. The last survey was undertaken prior to significant changes in the company’s operating model and size and the company was keen to re-launch their employee survey so that it focused less on “employee engagement scores” and more on providing actionable insights that would act as a springboard for meaningful and sustainable change.
Initial Analysis
Vista Insight engaged with the EXEC and Senior Leadership Teams to first agree the key objectives of the re-launched employee survey process.
These were:
- Engage with employees in an appropriate and meaningful way providing an opportunity for them to feedback on how they feel about working in the company in a safe, trusted and confidential environment.
- Capture feedback and insights that will help define key areas of improvement, allowing managers to assess what requires improvement in their specific area of leadership and management.
- Provide an opportunity for both internal and external benchmarking at an appropriate and relevant level.
- Encourage EXEC and senior leadership to have real conversations with employees about improvement plans.
- Help manage those improvement plans ensuring action plans are developed and implemented and that progress is monitored and reported.
- Provide the Exec and Board with assurance that the company is proactively and appropriately reviewing and addressing its culture, behaviours and ethics.