The logic behind conducting frequent surveys seems sound: It's important, in this changing world, to keep tabs on shifts in employee engagement and sentiment. (Photo: Shutterstock)
A quick Google search for "annual company survey" brings up articles such as "The Annual Engagement Survey Is Dead. Here's What to Do Instead," "Ditch the Employee Engagement Survey," and one that delivers a very clear message "Why Your Annual Employee Survey Sucks." The annual company survey has been a fixture in many organizations for decades. Is it time to kill it? Could these articles be right?
Here's a piece of advice: Don't believe everything you read in the papers (or at least on Google). While there is no shortage of "experts" that advise doing away with the annual company census survey, there are plenty of reasons to continue the practice. Let's take a look at a few of the arguments in favor of killing the annual survey, and see if they hold water.
Related: Should we kill employee satisfaction surveys?
Argument 1: Annual surveys are too slow. By the time reports are distributed many weeks or even months after the survey, the results are already of date.
Given the survey technology that is available today, there is absolutely no reason why results reports should take weeks or months to create and distribute. Most survey providers use real-time technology that enables reports to be shared within a few days of the close of the survey.
Argument 2: Annual surveys have too many questions and take too long to complete.
The days of 100+ questions on a survey are long gone. Most organizations can collect all the data they need with 40 or fewer questions. It takes most employees less than 10 minutes to complete a 40-question survey. That doesn't seem like a lot to ask, does it? Most companies would say that employees are their most important asset; if that's so, why wouldn't we allow employees at least 10 minutes to share what is on their minds?
Argument 3: Annual surveys provide WAY more data than most managers can make sense of.
A laundry list of questions covering many topics would be hard for managers to deal with, but if the survey report provides valuable insights that enable the manager to lead more successfully, most managers will be all ears. Some companies have fielded 25- or 30-question surveys that are tightly designed to collect data on issues that are most relevant to building the capability of their teams in areas such as communication, collaboration, innovation culture, training and development and strategy. Current survey technology allows for easy to understand and use data visualization that guides managers to appropriate conclusion and action taking.
Argument 4: It is far more insightful to conduct short surveys (e.g. less than 10 questions) more frequently.
There are two things to consider with this argument. First of all, how much can 10 questions really tell you about your people? The 10 questions, if thoughtfully chosen, can give a quick read on employee sentiment. Over time they can provide trends. But can the short list of questions provide insights about what is behind the sentiment? The short list of questions can provide the "what" of employee sentiment or a high level overview, but not the "why". Why have results improved? Why have they declined? We don't know what is behind any changes, and we don't have enough data to lead us to the appropriate actions. A short list of 10 questions provide precious little information to work with to gain a full understanding of employees' issues.
The logic behind conducting frequent surveys seems sound: It's important, in this changing world, to keep tabs on shifts in employee engagement and sentiment. Many organizations say they want to listen continuously to their employees. Fair enough. But if data is coming in quarterly or monthly or weekly or even daily, can the consumers of these data, leaders, managers, and HR, keep up with the constant stream of insights?
Remember, we want to listen to the voice of employees, but leaders also need to take action, to make the work environment better. Often leaders that are on the receiving end of a continuous flow of data postpone action, waiting to see if the trend holds or changes or corrects itself. Often they become numb to the continuing onslaught of data, and it becomes just one more number or metric to monitor. This often means that employees respond to surveys for months on end without hearing from leaders or seeing any meaningful change. Continuous listening is a great and noble objective. Continuous action, on the other hand, drives meaningful change and improvement in the organization.
The annual survey, on the other hand, represents an event, a singular opportunity to engage in conversation and action taking with the entire company. Because it is an event it rightly gets the spotlight it deserves. The survey is usually a focal activity for organizations, accompanied by much publicity and encouragement to participate. It reminds employees and managers that this exchange of ideas is an important process for the team and the company. This is the time to pause, review results, discuss and take action that continuously improves the success of the organization.
Argument 5: Only old-school, traditional companies run annual employee surveys.
Nothing could be farther from the truth. Many of the world's leading companies, and those with industry-leading HR programs and CEOs, continue to find value in the annual survey process. Examples include Google, Microsoft, Citi, American Express, Apple, CVS Health, Eaton, Hershey, Johnson & Johnson and Procter & Gamble. Many of these companies supplement the annual survey with pulses or other survey formats, but they believe the census survey provides not only valuable data, but a critical organizational development opportunity.
These companies are on the forefront of using HR analytics, and their census survey provides an invaluable source of data for analysis. Think about it: The annual survey collects data from every employee in every corner of the company, from functions and business units to countries to headquarters and manufacturing plants. Combine survey responses with HRIS data and business performance metrics and you have a database that is both wide and deep. If the survey questions were designed strategically with thought given to those issues that are top of mind for leaders and employees, this database can be queried over and over to provide answers to many critical organization issues.
The census survey also provides a unique opportunity for managers and their teams to discuss survey results work cooperatively to determine what is going well and what can be improved. The survey results debrief creates transparency in communications and enables employees to problem-solve along with their manager. They participate in identifying issues, and they become an important part of the solution. This involvement empowers employees, making them full participants in the process. They become part of the solution.
Mark Twain famously said "The reports of my death have been greatly exaggerated." The same is true the annual survey. Is the annual census survey dead? Not hardly.
Sarah R. Johnson, PhD, is vice president of surveys and analytics at Perceptyx.
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