By now you should already be familiar with the Employee Satisfaction Survey, which should be taken once every 6 months. However, it can so happen that the ESSs keep on being handed out but there’s no visible increase in the actual satisfaction of the employees.
So, you have a load of surveys on your desk and your HR reps are bringing them in bulk for you to do research on. You might not know it, but you’re in a predicament when the number of ESSs exceeds two per year and we’ll let you know why in the following.
Why are Employee Satisfaction Surveys in Huge Numbers a Problem?
It’s really simple: your employees are eternally unsatisfied with the work conditions, the benefits, the sick and vacation days, their salaries and whatnot, even though you did everything humanly possible to mend the situation from the last survey.
This can mean either of two things: you’ve missed out some important requests and your employees cannot be satisfied without running your company into the ground or in debt.
Again, two surveys per year are usually more than enough, especially when everybody is getting along just fine and has no reason to complain.
When workers do complain even if they have no reason to do so, you should take that as an alarm, because it just might mean that your employees see you as a naïve man that would do things that he ought not to do in order to pamper them.
What Questions Should I Ask in a Good Survey?
One way to put a stop to the mounting surveys on your table is to make an all-encompassing one. Questions like “Do you feel like you’re given enough opportunities in this company?”, “Do you feel like your job description is clear and that your responsibilities are as clear as they can be?” and “Do you like who you’re working with?” should not be missing from a satisfaction survey.
Do not ask obscure questions that have little to no practicability in increasing the satisfaction of your employees. If you ask: “Do you feel like you could be paid more?”, the answer will be a unanimous “Yes”, and they might expect raises soon, which can very well be out of the question.
Oftentimes, dissatisfaction can stem from dysfunctional work relationships, grudges, boredom, overworking and many other things, not necessarily from the financial side of things.
Work with your HR reps to create a survey that gives you an accurate insight into what makes your employees happy and what makes them think about calling in sick every day.
The Bottom Line
Employee Satisfaction Surveys are a valuable tool for gauging the overall happiness of your workers. However, they can be of no actual help when they don’t ask the right questions.
So, if you’ve taken a number of ESSs already and your workers are still as unhappy as ever, you might want to reformulate those questions, because it has nothing to do with them being spoiled brats.