The current economic downturn has had a negative effect on businesses and employees alike. During these hard times, management instinctively focuses on finding ways to cut costs quickly and significantly to bring companies back to a profitable level. And that usually means layoffs. Unfortunately, though, companies often neglect the employees who remain behind and little time and attention is paid to employee satisfaction and retention. Companies may fall into the trap of assuming workers who remain should be glad to have a job and with current economic conditions there isn’t reason to worry about them leaving any time soon.
However, as the economy turns around, employees will begin to job hunt for new and more promising opportunities with companies they perceive to be more interested in their welfare. Smart employers won’t wait to find out how many employees they’re going to lose, they’ll start concentrating on their employees now to uncover any issues that could cause them to seek greener pastures elsewhere.
For whatever reason, managers don’t think that they can discuss employee satisfaction with their employees; however, open communication is a great way to improve retention and promote employee satisfaction. Granted, if you don’t have a good relationship with your employees to begin with it is highly unlikely that they will open up and tell you they’re unhappy, but there are other, just as effective, ways to get some answers:
Employee surveys – this can be done inexpensively with on-line survey sites. You can design a simple survey to find out the overall satisfaction level of your workforce. This is a great way to get information if you think that employees won’t be honest in a one-on-one setting. Of course this is only Step One – once you get the information you need to be able to do something about it. (see What to do with Negative Survey Results)
Focus meetings – if you have a Human Resource department, have it conduct some focus groups to discuss the overall satisfaction of the workforce. As with employee surveys, you can ask some specific questions that will provide insight regarding possible retention issues down the road. If you don’t have an HR department, have your managers conduct the focus groups, but have them work with employees who don’t report to them.
One-on-one employee conversations – this, of course, is appropriate for those managers who have good relationships with their employees or those who want to build good relationships. It’s the most effective way to not only find out what employees are thinking, but to start working on any issues immediately. You don’t need to come out and ask “Hey, are thinking of leaving the company?”, you just need to ask about general issues and concerns, workload issues, and career aspirations. These areas will give you tremendous insight into how employees feel about the company and their jobs.
Whatever method you chose, you will be taking the first step toward showing employees you care about them and their satisfaction. Be warned, if you don’t have any intention of following though on the information that is uncovered, don’t even start. You will do more damage than good. However, if you are sincere about wanting to make sure your company does not suffer a mass exodus once the economy turns around then pick a method, ask the questions, and do something about the issues you uncover.
What do I do with negative survey results?
So what happens if you do an employee survey and the results come back negative? First and foremost, share the information and tell employees what you are going to do about it. This does not mean you will solve all problems or that you should even try, but you should commit to gathering details, finding areas you can improve and keeping lines of communication open. Once you have these results you have the “in” you need to start talking about what’s going on. One effective method is getting employees together in small groups (15 to 20) to discuss the survey results, get clarification, and come up with possible solutions. Set the room up with round tables that seat 5 or 6 people and let them work in groups to come up with possible solutions for the areas that need improvement. Making them part of the solution helps achieve buy-in from the employees.
Prior to the sessions, analyze the survey results; come up with the comments that need clarification, and identify areas that could use some improvement suggestions. Ask each group to discuss among themselves the questions you have come up with and then share their combined responses with the group. After you have met with all employees, publish the solutions, implement the quick fix solutions, and create plans to work on the longer-term ones. As I mentioned before, following through is the key -make sure you continue to communicate and work through as many problems as you can and then re-survey in 6 months to 1 year to see if there has been improvements.
ABOUT THE WRITER
Debra Breski is a human resources professional with over 20 years of corporate HR management. She has extensive global human resources experience in manufacturing, service and technical industries in both union and non-union environments She has worked as a Director of Human Resources as well as in Divisional and Regional HR positions . She can be reached at bbreski@cox.net
Having been deeply involved in large-scale employee climate surveys, I can only say that they can cause more harm than good most of the time. Why? Because the follow-through by management is typically dismal. And even in the best of circumstances, surveys are merely but one part of the data gathering process.
In the past, I’ve complemented employee surveys with focus groups and one-on-one interviews to drill deeper. But one effective technique with which I’ve been part (but not lead) is Open Space Technology, a very powerful method of sparking self-empowerment among employees while simultaneously bringing forth critical information and ideas for management. However, it takes tremendous courage and self-confidence on the part of management to embrace an OST process.
I’ll always remember what Harvard’s Chris Argyris said many years ago. He explained that when management conducts employee climate/opinion surveys that it creates the perception among employees that “here are the results, now do something with them.” This is not congruent with Peter Senge’s Learning Organization concept, nor with the principle of co-creation.
So beware the pitfalls and many landmines of employee surveys.