Good leaders should continuously seek ways to create competitive advantage, but keeping this edge is difficult without an engaged workforce. As a leader, part of the job is understanding and motivating your employees to do their best.
Employee engagement is critical for both productivity and morale. Richard Branson said it best, “If you take care of your employees, they will take care of the clients.” An engaged workforce is good for business.
Why Employee Engagement Matters
The question then becomes, how do you engage and motivate employees? Is more money the answer? Indeed, everyone loves a raise, and getting one can give workers some pep and energy. However, that “more money” solution is short-lived and fades quickly if there’s disengagement. Raises are a temporary fix for a deeper issue. You can’t buy sustained engagement. You’ll go broke trying.
Benefits of Communication and Transparency
Thankfully, open communication and transparency can significantly boost engagement. Our Third Annual Global Employee Experience Study analyzed employee experience perceptions, resulting from surveying employees and managers, focusing on hourly shift workers. The study revealed that 85% of employees and 75% of employers believe communication and collaboration are critical. Furthermore, 80% of employees prefer employers who regularly seek their feedback over those who don’t.
Pulse Surveys
Employees want their employer to hear them and let their feedback influence company decisions. However, traditional employee satisfaction surveys are circulated every six months or less and are often long and tedious. Pulse surveys, on the other hand, are quick—a few questions each—and occur every week, maybe every other week. When integrated with our employee management software, pulse surveys offer an effective way to continuously gather feedback and measure engagement within your organization.
Why Pulse Surveys?
Accurate and Honest Feedback
Pulse surveys are generally reliable because they are quick and straightforward, leaving little room for fatigue, impatience, or other negative variables typical of long, annual surveys. This ensures the quality and accuracy of the collected data.
Remarkable ROI
Pulse surveys are ultra-specific. They typically zero in on one topic or issue, making them potent sources of information, especially considering how little time it takes to create one. Unlike traditional surveys, which can take days or even weeks to craft, pulse surveys help leaders focus and, in turn, deliver change in a fraction of the time.
Positive PR
Consistently engaging your workers with relevant questions will boost morale, especially if their feedback is acted upon. This will translate to more positive reviews on corporate transparency sites like Glassdoor.com, which can lead to a flood of quality talent.
How to Create a Pulse Survey
1. Keep it clear
Introduce pulse surveys to your organization with a clear and concise explanation, one that highlights what they are and why they’re being used. Most importantly, explain how implementing pulse surveys will bring about positive change.
2. Keep it comfortable
Ditch the corporate tone for something lighter. These are your people, after all, so use contractions, simple words, and short sentences. Doing so will make your surveys effortless to read — and easier to complete.
3. Keep it anonymous
You’ll only get honest answers if people trust their input will remain confidential by remaining anonymous. Make it clear that this is the case.
4. Keep it employee–centric
Ask questions that pertain to them as individuals, questions that affect their daily routines or their work-life balance. Most people will gladly contribute if they can envision the benefits of their input.
5. Keep it short
Very short: two or three questions; four or five, tops. Perhaps throw in a single-question survey sometimes. The whole survey should take minutes or even seconds to complete. Think quality over quantity. This will break down the barrier to entry, ensuring that you drive maximum engagement.
6. Keep it relevant
People are more likely to answer questions that relate directly to their work environment and circumstances. Therefore, it might make sense to segment your pulse surveys by department or, if enough people hold the same title, even role.
7. Keep it transparent
Share the anonymous results with everyone in the company, not only the leadership team. For each survey you conduct, be sure to send a follow-up email to the participants summarizing the feedback and the resulting actions.
8. Keep it coming
Create a cadence and stick to it. Get your employees accustomed to seeing pulse surveys. Being consistent—with the surveys and the actions—will compel people to incorporate the process into their routines because they’ve been conditioned to take the process seriously.
What To Do with the Results:
Addressing the results of the survey is critical. There is no point in sending the survey if there’s no intention of doing anything actionable with the results.
Be courageous
These surveys will highlight what’s wrong with the company’s culture. The process can be challenging for leaders. Surveys are intended to make us think and reevaluate. Leaders should review the results with an open mind and resist the urge to become defensive.
Commit to quick action
Responding to the surveys with solutions doesn’t have to be costly or groundbreaking; it just needs to make a positive difference. The point is to prove to employees that their opinions matter and that their voices can and will bring about change. If you’re not prepared to change based on survey results, you may not be ready to begin the pulse survey process.
Communicate clearly and often
Use an approachable tone in surveys and follow-up communications. Be clear, honest, and transparent. Transparency builds trust.
Compare and contrast
Measure the progress of each question and issue. Track and analyze the survey results over time. This will help you and your leadership team to build long-term strategies to improve and maintain employee engagement.
The Benefits
One of the main benefits of pulse surveys is they provide a pathway to creating sustained engagement.
And, according to research by Gallup, organizations with engaged employees deliver:
- 23% increase in profitability
- 17% increase in productivity
- 78% decrease in absenteeism
- 63% decrease in safety incidents
Implementing pulse surveys is a strategic investment in your most valuable asset – your employees. By incorporating these simple yet powerful practices, you can foster a culture of open communication, find areas for improvement, and ultimately create a thriving work environment where employees feel valued and heard. Happy and engaged employees are more productive and loyal and contribute directly to your company’s success.
Visit our Employee Experience page to learn more about how to create great employee experiences and workplaces where people want to be through communication, connections, and access—all in the palm of your hand.
Ready to see how pulse surveys can transform your workplace? Contact us today for a demo of our comprehensive workforce software solutions.
