Why do Employee Surveys?

There are a few common reasons to do employee surveys and rarely are surveys driven by only one of these reasons.

1. Employee Voice
An employee survey is often the only voice most employees get that is heard at the top levels of the organization. When used properly, the employee survey communicates the information of those closest to strategic problems to those that need that information at the top of the organization.

2. Improved Buy-in, Alignment, and Involvement
When action is taken based on the results of the employee survey, this builds employee confidence and commitment to changes. Additionally, companies can align employees behind culture and business changes by holding leaders and employees accountable for the results.

3. ROI
An employee survey, when designed and analyzed properly, can be tied to business performance. This gives a clear picture of what employee levers the company has that give the most benefit to all the companies stakeholders. The ROI on the actions taken based on these drivers have historically averaged between 700% and 900%.

4. Other Common Reasons
Business reality is that not all of the reasons for doing an employee survey are as noble. Here are a few more common reasons clients contact us:
  • It's that time of the year - "We always do the employee survey in Q4."
  • We need the metrics - "We've tracked these measures for years and our executives now expect them."
  • Preventive maintenance - "Our employees are ready to fire us."
  • Blame allocation - "We need to know who is causing these problems."
  • Morale check - "We want to know if our employees are happy with their jobs."