Measure employee satisfaction online!

Seven tips to turn your employee satisfaction survey from a chore into a useful tool.

An employee satisfaction survey. Few people jump up enthusiastically when they hear the words. The survey is often experienced as an obligation, imposed by an industry association or works council. And it's often a struggle to get employees to fill in the questionnaire.

Quite a shame, considering that many employees are not satisfied with their jobs. Research by Ipsos has even shown that 1 in 5 employees find their job downright boring. So there's a pretty good chance that people in your organization, too, are quietly looking around for another challenge. Or (perhaps even worse) are quietly sitting out their time until retirement.

How nice would it be, then, to get tools to turn the tide? To know which knobs you can turn to get employees excited about your organization and their jobs after all? We'd be happy to give you a few tips to turn your survey from a chore into an opportunity!

Of course, you can outsource your employee satisfaction survey to a specialized commercial company. That may save some thinking and time. But usually they then use standard questions devised by outside specialists. And then you get, you guessed it, standard answers. You quickly miss the chance to make real connections with your employees, to get answers you can and want to act on right away. Moreover, if you approach it smartly, a survey doesn't have to be all that complicated.

Perhaps stating the obvious, our golden tip: make it easy on yourself and automate! They still turn up from time to time: paper questionnaires. Choose an online version. That makes reports and statistics so much easier. Moreover, you can very easily reuse the setup later, in adapted form or not.

What should you pay attention to when you run a survey yourself?

1. Know what you want to know and measure‍

Take the time, with a small delegation, to figure out what really matters in the organization.

What have you noticed in the HR area? High turnover, high absenteeism, few sign-ups for training courses, or lots of complaining employees?

Use those issues as a framework for setting up your survey.

2. Keep it manageable‍

Limit the number of questions you ask, to prevent people from dropping out halfway through the list. Divide it into themes, for example organization/role/personal development/collaboration/vitality. And set a maximum number of questions for each theme.

Include a progress bar so people know how many questions remain.

3. Ask the right questions‍

Use understandable language that fits your employees' world and level. Make sure a question can't be misinterpreted. Feel free to ask questions that trigger something emotionally for the employee, or that require a moment of thought before answering. That makes the answer all the more valuable. Both for the employee and for you as an employer.

The different question types in Pluvo make your employee satisfaction survey both attractive and interactive.

4. Make the results transparent and measurable‍

It helps if the answers are easy to compare, especially if you want to lay the results of several years side by side to spot trends. For example, have your employees give a report card grade (which is very familiar) or use a scale from 1 to 5.

With Pluvo you collect feedback from all your employees online and at the same time. Also perfect for, say, automating your onboarding process.

5. Make it look good‍

Ensure an attractive design. Avoid walls of text on the screen.

Opt for a few extra pages with plenty of white space and a highly readable font. Use color, illustrations, and photography.

An employee satisfaction survey is important, but it certainly doesn't have to be boring!

6. Leave room for creativity‍

Numerical ratings (see 4) are incredibly useful for comparing answers, creating charts, and spotting trends. However, experience shows that the best tips and ideas come from letting your employees speak for themselves. So, always leave enough space for additional comments under each theme.

7. Make it periodic‍

A single survey is great, but it doesn't tell the whole story. There must be a follow-up. Only then can you see what the previous survey achieved and how the organization acted on the feedback. If you want to track developments in detail, you could repeat the survey quarterly. If there is less need or opportunity, you can conduct it annually.