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6 Frequently Asked Questions on Employee Satisfaction Surveys


Posted on 8/22/2012 by Elizabeth in category: survey software articles
Most employers are interested in not only what their employees think about their company, but about their thoughts on compensation, morale, job satisfaction, and more. One of the most insightful ways to gain access to your company's employee climate is to conduct an employee satisfaction survey using online survey software.

If you haven't utilized a survey tool, such as an employee satisfaction survey, then you probably have questions about it. Here are the most commonly asked questions about employee satisfaction surveys. 

1) Why should I survey my workforce? 

There are many reasons actually. Most importantly, employee satisfaction surveys can clue you in to a brewing problem before it reaches a point of crisis. Letting your employees know that are genuinely interested in their thoughts -- and are willing to do something about it -- can be priceless in terms of increasing loyalty, improving morale and productivity, and reducing employee turnover. 

2) How do I ensure confidentiality and anonymity of my employee responses? 

One of the most pressing concerns of employees is the fear that providing feelings of being disgruntled or dissatisfied with the company or their job will be tied to them. The fear of retribution is a legitimate fear, even if in reality it's unfounded. A clear statement from management concerning the anonymity of an employee survey helps, as does utilizing a neutral third party to collect the employee survey feedback. 

3) How do I ensure a high response rate? 

The answer to this question is tied to the previous question. Employee response rates are quite often based on worker perceptions that their feedback not only be kept confidential, but truly be acted upon. If your employees believe that their answers won't be tied back to them, and their responses will be used to make positive organizational change, employees will be more likely to not only provide their responses to an employee satisfaction survey, but insightful and candid ones to boot. 

4) What kinds of questions should I ask?

The questions that can be asked in an employee satisfaction survey can run the gamut of anything from compensation to senior management perception to working conditions to employee growth opportunities to benefits -- and everything in between. Because you can utilize online survey software to create and design your survey, there really is no limit to the kinds or types of questions you can ask in employee satisfaction surveys. 

5) What types of questions should I use? 

In addition to the topics of your questions, you have options relating to the methodology of your questioning in your survey tool. For example, there are scaled questions, open-ended questions, multiple choice, categorical, structured, scaled, advance piping, ordinal, numerical, and many more. Working with your survey consultant is the best way to narrow down your options and come up with an survey for employee satisfaction that is best suited for your specific needs. 

6) How long should my employee-satisfaction survey be?

Ideally, an employee satisfaction survey should be short enough that it can be completed within 15 minutes, and even shorter than that if possible. If the survey is too long, you run the risk of the employee rushing through it and not giving his true thoughts and opinions on issues your interested in. The good news is that with state-of-the-art  survey software, you can customize a survey of varying sizes and lengths easily.


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