How to conduct a staff survey? Survey of satisfaction with benefits
In order to fulfill their task well, the benefits should be properly adjusted to the recipients. The task seems easier when we work in a small, family-owned company. It is much more difficult to prepare a good offer of benefits when we manage benefits in an organization employing several hundred or even several thousand employees. Also, when we decided to cooperate with the best suppliers and chose the most popular solutions, it is worth checking regularly what the employees themselves think about the benefits program. The easiest way to do this is by organizing a staff survey, in which we will examine the level of satisfaction with benefits. In such a survey, we can include several questions about the current offer, but also about the preferences of employees regarding possible development of non-wage benefits program.
Employee questionnaire – online or on paper?
One of the key stages in conducting employee satisfaction surveys is the collection and analysis of the results obtained. Therefore, if possible, it is worth organizing such an online survey using tools that will automatically save all responses in the selected program and export them, e.g. to a .xls file. Data obtained this way is much easier to aggregate and prepare on their basis specific statements or charts, readable for all recipients. The online survey also minimizes all logistics related to the conduct of the study, which is particularly important in companies with a dispersed structure.
An employee survey organized in such a way is also a great facilitation for the respondents themselves, who can take part in it at any time, using a computer or smartphone. It is important to choose such a tool that will actually be convenient for us when constructing a questionnaire and analyzing the results, and to which we will want to come back for further research. There are many ready-made forms and programs for creating surveys, both free and paid, on the Internet. The questionnaire prepared in this way will be available from anywhere in the world, at the time set by us and will be adapted to the appearance and operation of various devices. It is enough to pass the link to the ready questionnaire to our group of respondents via e-mail, SMS or company intranet and calmly wait for the results.
Proven tools for creating employee surveys:
- GOOGLE FORM – allows you to prepare complex online forms, has many answer options and the ability to add photos and videos from the YouTube portal. You can include the company’s logo in the survey and customize the color of the entire form. The respondents may respond without having an account, only preparation of the survey and access to the results require logging in to the Google account.
- SURVIO – the preparation of the questionnaire and access to the results require the creation of an account. It’s worth it – there are over 100 survey templates in various styles to choose from. It works great as an NPS test tool and in this respect analyzes and clearly presents the results. Data export is possible for files of various formats -.xls, docx, .pdf
- WEBANKIETA – one of the oldest tools on the Polish market. If we wanted to conduct a questionnaire using detailed information about our employees, WEBANKIETA provides us with data security and compliance with the GDPR requirements. In addition, it offers several dozen graphic templates with the option of adding a logotype or own headline and filtering questions – directing the interviewer to a specific group of questions based on previous answers.
- INTERANKIETY– among interesting solutions offered by INTERANKIETY there are notifications about completion and the possibility of integration via API with other programs used by the company. The study may take the form of a classic survey, test or quiz, and its construction takes place in an extremely simple and friendly interface.
- EMPLO – is a platform that combines many tools necessary in the company. It primarily focuses on communication, but also allows you to manage events, holidays or employee requests. Organizing a survey in the program, which everyone knows and which they use daily, will certainly have a positive impact on the employees’ involvement in the research.
Promotion of employee opinion survey … among employees
Although organizing various actions, employers, after all, mean the good of employees and their satisfaction, special engagement of people – in training, gamification or company event – is necessary to be successful in this field! Many employees come to the office to “do their job” and leave as soon as possible, not wanting to think about work until the next morning … Therefore, if we are already organizing a survey of opinions, preferences or employee satisfaction, we must devote a lot of energy to its promotion and involvement. Only then will we get the minimum, but authoritative, number of answers that will give us knowledge about what people in our company really think. It is important to explain in detail the purpose and the course of such a study – tell how long it will take to answer questions in the survey, when it can be done and that the expression of honest opinion will have no consequences.
In order to activate people, it is worth stressing what will happen after analyzing the results of the survey. If indeed the opinion of the employees will be important for changing the scope of the offer or the mode of operation of the benefits program, let’s tell them about it before the survey! Having a sense of agency and influence, people are much more willing to devote time to our survey. You can also involve managerial staff in the promotion of research (and also benefits). Being the closest to regular employees, and at the same time understanding the employer’s motivation, they will encourage the former to participate in the research and to provide honest answers. If necessary, they will remind about the date of the survey, or they will help to start or end it.
Publication of employee survey results
Carefully analyzed results of the employee survey should of course be made available to all those involved in creating and financing a program of benefits in the company – the management and HR department have absolute priority here.
The results of such a study supplemented with conclusions can be presented to the managers and leaders of other teams – they work the closest to the respondents themselves, so they should also know their opinions. If the survey showed some shortcomings on the part of the employer, the comments of the person responsible for the benefits, talking about the planned activities in this area should also reach the managers, along with the results.
The results are also worth sharing with the respondents themselves, even if they are “only regular employees”. It is possible to emphasize what was well assessed by them, what is appreciated and what in their opinion distinguishes the employer’s brand on the market. In this case, it is better to omit detailed tables or graphs – the most important numbers and general conclusions are enough. And if, as part of an open question at the end of the survey, employees reported comparable suggestions or requests or asked similar questions, it is worth posting the comment of the employer. It does not have to be a declaration of great changes right away! For employees, it will be valuable to know that their suggestion has reached decision-makers and will (or for specific reasons will not) be considered. This is important for the relationship with employees and other planned activities about benefits or research. Knowing that their answers did not fall into the proverbial black hole, employees are much more willing to engage in further corporate initiatives.
The conclusion is one – if the employer wants the non-wage benefits program to be effective, he or she must know the preferences and opinions of the employees who use it! The easiest way to find out is by organizing a staff survey. We have already written how to organize such a survey; the next part of the cycle will be devoted to examples of questions that are worth asking in the survey to find out as much as possible. We invite you to read on July 18!
