WACABA April 18, 2013 Employee Surveys: Get the Most from Your Surveys John Burnham of Real Measures, Inc. Web: Phone: (703) www.realmeasures.com

Real Measures…Real Analysis…Real Solutions 2 Three Basic Types of Employee Surveys: Proficiency Measurement Time Use Analysis Employee Satisfaction/Engagement

Real Measures…Real Analysis…Real Solutions 3 Three Basic Types of Employee Surveys: Proficiency Measurement Time Use Analysis Employee Satisfaction/Engagement

Real Measures…Real Analysis…Real Solutions 4 Begin with the end in mind… Why are you conducting the survey – what do you want to get out of it? How do these informational goals tie into organizational goals and mission? Ask questions in a way that you will be able to use the results. Where do we want be as an organization? Are we there yet?

Real Measures…Real Analysis…Real Solutions 5 Defining a Successful Employee Survey Employee survey that results in actionable knowledge that permits your organization to better: understand employees and their needs; engage and motivate employees; and retain employees cost-effectively to further your organization’s goals.

Real Measures…Real Analysis…Real Solutions 6 Conducting Employee Surveys Helps Achieve Organizational Goals by… Identifying and analyzing the organizational culture and its subcultures. Ascertaining values to which compensation, benefits and organizational structures can be efficiently and effectively designed to appeal. Developing an understanding of retention issues and their causes, including issues specific to departments or job categories and the pain points that may exacerbate these issues.

Real Measures…Real Analysis…Real Solutions 7 Conducting Employee Surveys Helps Achieve Organizational Goals by… Developing and retaining an organizational culture that can effectively achieve the organization’s missions and goals. Where do we want to be? Are we there yet?

Real Measures…Real Analysis…Real Solutions 8 Some Keys to Conducting an Effective Employee Survey: pre-notification of employees that the survey will occur and why; effective invitation to employees with: explanation of confidentiality of their responses; employee’s unique link to the survey; explanation why survey is being conducted; deadline for completion of the survey; and permission for and appreciation of their taking the time to complete the survey.

Real Measures…Real Analysis…Real Solutions 9 Some Keys to Conducting an Effective Employee Survey: effective survey structure that includes (in order of appearance): introduction with rationale for the survey, survey deadline and appreciation for participation; rating sections with importance and satisfaction ratings within intuitively and clearly defined areas; overall ratings question(s); value ratings for potential changes (if applicable); open-ended questions; demographics questions (if necessary); and thank you for participating.

Real Measures…Real Analysis…Real Solutions 10 Suggested Ratings Sections (core): Organizational Culture Senior Leadership/Strategy and Goals Career Development and Training Feedback and Rewards Benefits Immediate Supervisor Your Role as an Employee

Real Measures…Real Analysis…Real Solutions 11 Suggested Ratings Sections (optional/specific): Communications Teamwork Resources

Real Measures…Real Analysis…Real Solutions 12 Suggestions for Analysis: ratings distributions AND averages; Opinion Intensity (OI) Factor for items with similar ratings; scatterplot for each ratings area with average importance on one axis and satisfaction on the other; overall analysis for all respondents;

Real Measures…Real Analysis…Real Solutions 13 Suggestions for Analysis (continued): extensive segment analysis, including: overall satisfaction; intention to remain at company; age (from employee database (ED)); department/division/etc. (from ED); job category (from ED); and responses to key questions.

Real Measures…Real Analysis…Real Solutions 14 Suggestions for Analysis: analysis of open-ended responses AFTER initial analysis of responses for all respondents; and compare information learned about the ACTUAL organizational culture with DESIRED culture.

Real Measures…Real Analysis…Real Solutions 15 After the survey… Meet with senior leadership to discuss results. Decide on actions to take based on these results. Disseminate key findings to employees and inform them of actions to be taken based on their feedback. Inform employees when actions are actually implemented, reminding them that you listened to them and acted.

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Real Measures…Real Analysis…Real Solutions 17 Employee Survey Dos: Begin with the end in mind. Involve senior management in the survey design and post-survey strategy. Think about the organizational culture that furthers your organization’s goals and mission. Announce the survey in advance.

Real Measures…Real Analysis…Real Solutions 18 Employee Survey Dos: Use ratings questions that utilize unbiased scales, NOT ranking questions. Measure value’s components separately: importance (priority) and satisfaction (performance). Include a small (at most: 5, ideally: 3) handful of open-ended questions to flesh out the story outlined by the responses to the rating and other close-ended questions.

Real Measures…Real Analysis…Real Solutions 19 Employee Survey Dos: Outsource conducting the survey to ensure confidentiality, candid feedback and higher response rates.

Real Measures…Real Analysis…Real Solutions 20 Employee Survey Dos: Track which employees have and have not completed the survey to: avoid multiple survey submissions per employee; focus follow up efforts and not confuse or frustrate employees who have already completed the survey; and connect responses to demographics from employee database for segment analysis.

Real Measures…Real Analysis…Real Solutions 21 Employee Survey Dos: Run extensive demographic and psychographic segment analyses to see who said what. Act on the results. Tell your employees when you do act on the results.

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Real Measures…Real Analysis…Real Solutions 23 Employee Survey Don’ts: Don’t: Ask nice-to-know questions that will not produce actionable information. Don’t: Ask about things you will NOT act upon, especially potential new benefits, etc. Don’t: Provide a time estimate for how long the survey will take to complete.

Real Measures…Real Analysis…Real Solutions 24 Employee Survey Don’ts: Don’t: Ask for information you have in your employee database. Don’t: Use ranking questions. Don’t: Use too many open-ended questions.

Real Measures…Real Analysis…Real Solutions 25 Employee Survey Don’ts: Don’t: Conduct the survey in-house. Don’t: Report for segments with fewer than three respondents Don’t: Use generic surveys unless you want a generic organization.

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Thank You! For more information, contact: John Burnham Real Measures, Inc. (703)