Employee satisfaction has become a very important determinant of a company’s productivity. Employees are demanding more and more from their organization in exchange for their services. Employee turnover is very high in most industries, and retaining good talented employees has become an arduous task for even the best companies across the world today.
Every company is faced with the challenge of understanding what drives employees most. Satisfied employees not only remain with the company but are more productive. They are also loyal and are most likely to recommend their company’s products and services whenever and wherever possible. They would also help the company to attract the best talent for future recruitment.
Almost every company conducts employee satisfaction surveys now and then to feel the pulse of the employees. The most relevant and important aspects that need to be covered in an employee satisfaction survey questionnaire are: the employee’s understanding of the company’s mission and long-term strategy; the employee’s confidence in the company’s leadership; the employee’s understanding of his/her role in the company; the importance the employee gives to authority and responsibility in his/her job and the extent to which these needs are satisfied; the employee’s trust in the company’s culture; the employee’s idea about the system of communication within the company; the morale, team spirit and professionalism in the company; the employee’s relations with the supervisor/peers/management; the extent to which the company satisfies the employee’s explicit as well as implicit needs such compensation, training and development, vacation and other benefits, personal accomplishments, recognition, empowerment, job security, appreciation and encouragement, and so on. Open-ended questions such as ‘what is the best thing about working for this company’ or ‘what do you dislike most in the company?’ are very useful in understanding the exact cause of satisfaction or dissatisfaction.
The questionnaires also generally contain other questions such as the employee’s annual income, age, sex, personal details about the family, marital status, the department working in, previous employment record and others. These are useful in analyzing the data more accurately.
However, most companies do not pressure employees to provide these details if the employee is not comfortable with it. It is also very important that the answers are kept highly confidential so that they are not used against the employee.
The questionnaire should be ideally small enough to take around 20-30 minutes of the employee’s time, easy to understand and open enough to encourage additional comments or suggestions. The surveys can be conducted on paper or online. Online surveys are faster, cheaper, and are found to have a high response rate. They are also easy to interpret, as comments written by hand on paper are sometimes difficult to decipher.
Generally, employee satisfaction surveys are conducted by the HR department, but these days, companies are outsourcing them to third-party survey agencies which are able to provide unbiased as well as expert advice on the survey results. There are many companies today that are offering comprehensive employee satisfaction survey services professionally.
Related Articles of Interest :
-
Employee Exit Surveys
10 August 2010 8:30 PM |
No Comments
Employee surveys are an ideal way to feel the pulse of employees. Today’s organizations are plagued by high employee turnover. Understanding the exact needs of an employee is a very big task. Attracting as well as retaining talented employees has become very challenging. It is...
-
Employee Retention Surveys
10 August 2010 8:30 PM |
No Comments
Employee retention is one of the biggest challenges of businesses today. Attracting the best talent is an arduous task, but retaining these employees is even more difficult. Increasing globalization has made this even more difficult, as employees are ready to shift jobs and relocate to...
-
New Employee Surveys
10 August 2010 8:30 PM |
No Comments
New employees can be a reliable source of information for a company. Most companies ignore the wealth of information that new employees are likely to bring from their previous experiences. As a result, a lot of valuable information gets swept away in the process of...
-
Employee Benefit Surveys
10 August 2010 8:30 PM |
No Comments
Employee benefits are an integral part of overall employee satisfaction. Pay and benefits greatly influence an employee’s productivity, loyalty, turnover, and morale. Most companies pay competitive salaries but fail to understand what motivates employees in the form of benefits. Benefits can be optional, and differ...
-
Employee Attitude Surveys
10 August 2010 8:30 PM |
No Comments
Employee surveys are an ideal way to understand the feelings of employees. They help to feel the pulse of the employees, which can determine the cause of several problems like high absenteeism, high turnover, organizational conflict, disputes, and high employee dissatisfaction. These, in turn, would...
-
Employee Surveys
10 August 2010 8:30 PM |
No Comments
The steady growth and prospects of any company are to a great extent subject to the people working there. The survival and sustenance of the company in the market calls for adequate attention to different aspects concerning the employees. This entails proper understanding of the...
-
Employee Salary Surveys
10 August 2010 8:30 PM |
No Comments
Employee salary surveys are conducted by organizations to determine the latest trends in salary and compensation. This is very useful, since companies can set their own salaries on the basis of these results. This would enable the company to attract as well as retain the...
-
Customer Satisfaction Surveys
10 August 2010 8:30 PM |
No Comments
Customer satisfaction lies at the base of the success of any business. It not only leads to retention of the existing customers but also calls forth new customers. The survival and sustenance of companies in the market amidst heightened competition is possible only by being...
-
Online Surveys
10 August 2010 8:30 PM |
No Comments
Online surveys have gained popularity with increased use of the Internet. Online surveys are conducted to find out the characteristics, behaviors, opinions, and awareness of a particular target group. Usually, large companies make use of online surveys to know more about their customers. A major...
-
Free Fun Surveys
10 August 2010 8:30 PM |
No Comments
Surveys comprise a set of pre-determined questions used by large companies to collect responses from the public. Surveys can be fun, depending on the questions being asked and the company that administers the survey. For example, if one is crazy for pizzas, then one can...