The 10-step plan for a successful continuous employee satisfaction survey

As an employer, it is essential to collect employee feedback. Employees find it extremely important that they are listened to by management and their direct supervisors. Nevertheless, the annual ESS is still a source of great frustration within many organizations. With this 10-step plan, your employee satisfaction survey is now a breeze!

Due to the traditional way of measuring, an ESS can be very boring and time-consuming. And more importantly: it only takes place (bi)annually. And annual measurements only show snapshots. They show how things are going at that moment with engagement and employee happiness. It also usually takes a while before the research results are known. Thus, the data often shows an outdated situation. We believe that this can and must be done differently. We see the ESS as a movie, not a photo.

10-step plan employee satisfaction survey

In order to conduct an effective and efficient employee satisfaction survey, it is important that this is done in an attractive manner. More and more companies are therefore taking the step from traditional annual measurements to pulse or continuous measurements. With these you can always collect current data, take targeted action and measure the effect again immediately. This way you know immediately whether your actions have a positive effect on employee engagement or employee happiness.

Are you curious about how you can make the transition to continuous use of the ESS? Based on this 10-step plan, you will discover how to use the employee satisfaction survey as a continuous measurement. This way you quickly gain insights about steps that you as a director, HR or team leader can get started with!

Would you like to know more about how 2DAYSMOOD can help every step of the way? Then request a no-obligation meeting or consultation. Our Employee Happiness expert is happy to help you set up your 10-step plan and the employee satisfaction survey!

STEP 1. Start with the basics

In order to measure (and therefore know) where you stand as an organization, a baseline measurement cannot be skipped. A baseline measurement maps the current situation and forms your starting point for further research and taking action. If there is no information about your initial situation, it is also difficult to see whether the changes implemented have actually had an effect. After all, there is no comparison material.

By conducting a baseline measurement, you ensure that there is data about the initial situation. This way, after implementing changes, you can easily compare whether they have an effect on employee happiness and engagement. Do you want to do this with a quick, easy and short survey? With our baseline measurement you'll have insightful data in no time.

STEP 2. What does your starting situation look like?

When the baseline measurement has ended, it is important to get started with the data as soon as possible. The first step is to analyze and discuss this data with management and HR. What are (problem) areas that require immediate attention? Do you recognize these problems? Or is the cause unknown?

Also look at things that are going well. What are the success factors? Or are there things that could possibly be easily improved? In any case, try to find out the underlying causes together by discussing the results. Do the outcomes outline a desired situation for the organization? Or is there work to be done? It is important that everyone wants to go in the same direction and that everyone feels responsible for the necessary changes.

STEP 3. What priorities should you set?

Not all topics have the same priority, or need to be resolved immediately. The more topics you want to tackle, the greater the chance that a part will not be taken up and will eventually be left behind. This means that you lose the employees in the process. They will then feel less involved. Beware of this! It is a real clincher for an employee survey.

Based on the baseline measurement results, determine which problem areas you will tackle first. Which matters have the most urgency? Where can the greatest improvement be achieved? Distinguish between long and short term priorities and organization-wide and department-specific priorities.

STEP 4. Choose a focus and starting point

Of course you would prefer to keep 15 balls in the air at the same time. But you would rather not be the magician in your organization who starts juggling these important subjects. It's just not realistic to fix everything at once. Based on your priorities, always start with one or two topics as a focus. Use in-depth measurements for this, to collect more in-depth feedback within the focus area.

STEP 5. Your focus topic deserves extra attention!

Work on the topic that's most important for about two to three months. Make sure everyone in the organization is aware of your focus topic for the coming period. This way, everyone can contribute to improvements and become the owner of action plans for change.

Always check which interventions or tools are already present in the organization with regard to the topic. Perhaps these initiatives are simply underexposed. Put them in the spotlight and use multiple effective communication channels. Employees are often insufficiently aware of what is already being done for them. And that's a shame, right?

Also stimulate dialogue within and between teams. Invite employees to come up with ideas and start initiatives that promote the development of not only themselves, but also of colleagues or the team.

STEP 6. Analyze the in-depth feedback

After a specific, in-depth measurement, it is essential that you view and analyze the results. Where is the problem? Make a step-by-step plan: how can this problem be solved? Read about the topic or contact colleagues who have knowledge about it. In addition to quantitative information (continuous measurements), also collect qualitative information (dialogue with employees and teams).

STEP 7. Who is going to do the follow-up?

Make sure that someone within each team is made responsible for discussing the results. This does not necessarily have to be the manager. An employee can also assume a pioneering role in this or be appointed for this by his colleagues. Look for these ambassadors in your organization or in your team. Is there anyone with an interest in data analytics? Someone who likes to develop leadership skills? Or someone who has an enthusiastic, positive attitude to work and would like to tackle things?

STEP 8. Communicate your action points

Follow up the results with concrete actions and communicate about this! This is the most crucial part for a successfully executed 10-step plan of the employee satisfaction survey. It ensures high employee engagement that lasts over the long term. Deploy multiple communication channels simultaneously. Think of a newsletter, social media, intranet or posters, where teams can get a platform to share their initiative or practical example with others. Also try to think outside the box. In what fun way can you create attention and awareness?

In addition to the improvement actions, you will also have to communicate about things that you cannot improve (at the moment). Sometimes "no" is also a good answer. This is accepted by employees if you provide enough explanation and argumentation.

STEP 9. Also check where things are going well

All attention often goes to the things that are not going well in an organization. But don't forget to focus on the positive results. Which departments, business units or teams are doing well? Celebrate your successes. Give the teams a compliment or even put them in the spotlight. Perhaps you can get a good success story from it through an interview to share with the rest of the organization. A news item on the intranet or video in the digital newsletter, for example.

STEP 10. Conduct another baseline measurement after six months

Now you can measure the effect of your actions! Have other things changed in the meantime? Start again at step 1 of the 10-step plan for your employee satisfaction survey and choose your next focus points. Good luck! 🙂

After reading this 10-step plan, do you also want to get started online with the employee satisfaction survey ? With the 15 second survey you quickly have new insights in a fun, fast and effective way!

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