At TransPro, we believe a fully engaged workforce is fundamental to an agency’s success and their ability to deliver greater service to customers and greater value to the community. By asking employees to reflect and share feedback on a regular basis, an agency can better understand what is most important to their workforce to make investments in the areas that matter most.
The most important elements to a successful employee survey are:
- A regular survey cadence that includes employee prioritization
- Communication of major findings to the workforce
- Action plan for addressing concerns
Employee surveys derive value from their consistency. A regular survey cadence allows agencies to examine important trends over time and use data to understand if new policies or initiatives are driving meaningful improvement in employee engagement. Frequent surveys also allow agencies to dig deeper into a particular topic, like how employees are coping with the impacts of the pandemic.
In order focus on the opportunities that will truly drive change, it’s important to ask employees to rank the most important elements of their work experience, including doing work in support of the organization’s mission, clear understanding of job duties, receiving feedback on performance, career development and training opportunities, compensation and benefits, and relationships with co-workers and supervisors. Areas that are of high importance but low satisfaction to employees deserve the most attention, as improving satisfaction in these areas will have a greater impact on employee engagement as a whole.
Let employees know you’re listening. Communicate major findings from the survey to the workforce, and let employees know how you plan to address each concern.
Employee surveys are only as good as the actions they inspire. Survey results should integrate directly into an agency’s scorecard, populating important metrics like the Employee Net Promoter Score, which asks employees how likely they are to recommend an organization as a place to work. Results should also directly tie to an agency’s tactics, directing the work plan to focus on the areas that matter the most.
