Why employee surveys are important for long-term success

Employee surveys are the best tool there is to really get into the heads of your employees, understand their struggles, know what to improve, and gather business, plus, ideal operation insights. This blog look at all the 10 most popular employee surveys types and how they can contribute to building the highly-sought feedback culture.

The best companies are constantly innovating products or services for their customers. However, this constant improvement starts at the employee level. The team members are the engine behind long-term business growth. 

These people are the ones who deliver the product, speak with customers, and help the business operate daily.

Acquiring, developing, and retaining talent is the key to future success. Keeping your best employees starts with listening to their concerns. Without establishing a feedback loop, employees will not perform as well. 

Employee surveys help to keep track of and improve collaboration between teams as well, ensuring that each employee feels valued and heard. 

Employee surveys are one of the top methods of obtaining feedback from team members. There are several ways to launch surveys, and each strategy has its benefits. 

This article discusses the different types of surveys, what a feedback culture looks like, and how a company can establish an open-minded work environment.

What are employee surveys?

Employee performance surveys are a valuable tool for continuous improvement. They are questionnaires that obtain constructive feedback and reviews from employees about the company.

Surveys gauge opinions on employee morale, engagement, and relationships with managers and leaders. Company leadership will collect the good and bad feedback, evaluate it, and then implement potential changes.

Gaining insights into the employee experience is critical for long-term business success. Here are ten types of employee surveys that organizations will use.

1. Employee attitude surveys

Employee attitude surveys will evaluate the team's feelings and emotions about the workplace. It seeks to understand how employees feel when they show up to work.

This type of survey is valuable for company culture and can provide insights on how leadership can establish a welcoming workplace culture.

Distributing an employee attitude survey is a great starting point to integrate a feedback culture. You’ll get an idea of how your employees feel about the workplace, their job duties, and their growth potential.

2. Employee satisfaction surveys

Employee satisfaction surveys go a bit deeper than employee attitude surveys. They uncover critical issues that cause employees to feel dissatisfied. These surveys allow team members to share everything that is on their minds. Companies can use descriptive feedback to pinpoint the exact cause of the issue. 

Human resource departments typically issue employee satisfaction surveys to the entire company. They act as a third party to survey actionable insights on how they can help the company leadership team implement changes to solve these issues.

3. Employee engagement surveys

Employee engagement surveys evaluate how dedicated, motivated, and excited employees are about their jobs. Our relationship with our work will be a direct indicator of our performance.

This survey will uncover feelings about their tasks, projects, and relationships with coworkers. Employees can also suggest ways the company may boost their engagement.

It’s a good idea to issue employee engagement surveys periodically. This allows leadership to understand what the employees are going through before anything becomes a major problem.  

Giving engagement surveys between performance reviews will help employees ramp up their strengths before a more formal assessment.

4. Employee opinion surveys

Similar to engagement survey, employee opinion surveys will help leadership uncover the beliefs and views of their employees. With these questionnaires, management can understand what motivates their employees. It can serve as a critical tool in employee retention. 

If management knows what drives their team members, they can develop employee engagement activities to keep them around for longer.

Companies should issue employee opinion surveys periodically. Employee perceptions about their jobs, strengths, and the company’s core values can change over time. It’s important to always have an idea about how they feel about the workplace.

5. 360 surveys

360 feedback surveys will evaluate employee feedback from several perspectives. This questionnaire gives leadership a much more conceptual view of employee feedback. 

It will gauge opinions from supervisors, coworkers, vendors, customers, subordinates, and vendor partners. The feedback will enable the company to implement impactful changes for long-term success.
Conducting a 360 survey annually, or even twice a year, helps everyone see where they fit in the broader scope of the company. All employees will learn how they work with others and how their job duties fit into the company’s mission.

6. Organizational assessment

This survey evaluates the essential strengths and weaknesses of an organization. It analyzes employee opinions about operations and growth from a global standpoint. Much like the 360 surveys, it provides a comprehensive view of how the organization operates.

Many companies perform organizational assessments at the end of their fiscal year. While they calculate all the expenses and profits, they take a look at the internal workings of the company as well. This timing allows them a chance to shift focus if necessary.

7. Employer improvement surveys

These annual surveys provide team members the opportunity to deliver constructive, valuable criticism about the company. 

The survey is usually anonymous, allowing employees to be honest about their opinions. 

Employer improvement surveys enable the company to identify what is not working and then develop strategies for process and quality improvements.

8. Employee exit survey 

Much like the employer improvement surveys, the employee exit survey will be a “no filter” feedback mechanism. When employees leave the company, they are less worried about the consequences of what they say. 

Therefore, the survey questions are developed to deliver critical insights into growth opportunities, workplace culture, training improvements, and other organizational programs.

If you don't know how to start with the exit interview questionnaire, here are some ready-made exit interview questions for your reference.

9. Professional development surveys

Continued education is vital for any employee. Conducting professional development surveys annually will help employees target their optimal development tools and necessary training. Management will understand what they need to offer to retain employees and help them grow.

10. Employee benefit surveys

Benefits are another critical factor that future and current employees value. Whether you want to retain employees or attract new ones, benefits will be a huge influencer. Employee benefit surveys will gauge employee opinions about the current benefits situation. 

The feedback allows the company to adjust the benefit plans to their employees’ wishes.

These surveys should happen before open enrollment, with enough time for the company to find different providers to suit employees’ needs.

What is feedback culture?

Image Source: Giphy

A feedback culture is when a company welcomes opinions from its employees, listens to them, and then implements improvement for the organization, teams, and individuals. An ideal culture fit is when employees feel that their voices matter, which will impact the quality of work.

Positive company culture starts with leadership and works its way down. 

Managers need to maintain an open-door policy. Not only do the leaders need to be accessible, but they also need to listen to everything their employees say.

If an organization wants to properly invest in its talent, it must create business strategies and a workplace that fosters growth. This growth is impossible without the presence of a feedback culture.

Why is feedback important in the workplace?

Now that we discussed the concepts behind a feedback survey and culture, we must address why feedback is critical for the strength of the workplace. Feedback drives quality decision-making and enables companies to perform at their best.

Optimal feedback makes a positive impact on company culture. When internal communications are open, employee satisfaction rises because they feel heard and appreciated. Employees know they can give and receive honest feedback, particularly when you’re managing a virtual team.

For example, Cargill took a hard look at its feedback mechanisms in the workplace. The company struggled to engage and motivate its 160,000 employees. 

The organization initiated a daily performance management system, which integrated feedback into everyday conversations. Then, the company boosted its job satisfaction rate up to 70%.

Feedback is consistent with active listening & emotional intelligence

When your company takes the time and resources to distribute a survey, it sends a message to the employees. It shows them that the company wants to understand. Employees also want to know how their opinions will impact the company values. 

As your company launches surveys, it should convey why the team members’ feedback is helpful and how leadership will apply it.

Feedback serves as a motivating mechanism

Image Source: Giphy

Seeking feedback from employees can influence them to approach their work with purpose. When employees see that their voices impact business decisions, it will redefine their relationship with their job. 

Highlighting employee strengths helps them see what they’re doing well, which leads to satisfied employees.

Feedback can also motivate the company’s management. When you receive insights from vendors and suppliers, it can transfer into more sound decision-making for the organization. As a result, management will better exemplify the company’s core values.

Feedback is always available

One of the top benefits of feedback is that it is always around. Although formal feedback takes place through a survey, there are always opportunities to communicate these insights. When employees interact or speak with each other, they communicate real-time feedback. 

The important thing here is what employees do with the feedback after they hear it.

Feedback is a resource for lifelong learning

Feedback serves as new, insightful information for all parties involved. Maybe the management team is not seeing something that the employees do. 

When the company consistently asks about an employee's experience with the organization, it can yield new insights that lead to process improvements and new programs.

Feedback elevates performance

When your employees provide feedback, they should always feel motivated by continuous growth. Always provide the context behind the feedback, whether it’s positive or negative.

When employees and managers receive feedback during their performance reviews, it allows them to be more productive with tasks that will enable the organization to prosper in the long run.

How do employee surveys create a culture of feedback?

So, how does a company establish a feedback culture? In addition to launching employee feedback surveys, here are some effective strategies to develop an organizational culture open to feedback.

Surveys make your employees’ expectations clear

For a company to flourish in strong company culture, everyone must be on the same page. When a company surveys its employees, it provides a good idea of how employees want to be treated. 

Through surveys, team members deliver insights about how they view a healthy relationship, how they expect to communicate, and what they think their role means to the company.

Surveys boost transparency about how certain decisions are made

Employees love to see their opinions result in meaningful change. Therefore, the organization needs to highlight decisions made based on any feedback loops. Describing “why” you decided something will help keep everyone on the same page.

Feedback is a valuable tool, which is why company leaders must reply and act on survey feedback. Engaged employees want to know that it is worth their time to voice their opinions. Avoid discounting the value behind recommendations and then be transparent when changes occur.

Are Employees Being Surveyed Enough?

Many talent development leaders believe that proper surveys should launch 1-2 times per year. Depending on the business and amount of employees, this number could change. It also depends on the type of survey you distribute. 

According to a study cited in Workforce Science, companies survey their employees 1.5 times per year.

However, your company can stand out from the pack by implementing surveys at least three times per year. According to an Achievers article, only 21% of companies conduct three or more surveys per year.

While companies should conduct a formal survey once or twice per year, a true feedback culture is 24/7 as every conversation is an opportunity to learn about your employees, their motivations, and how to be a better company. And believe it or not, you have the ability to record real-time feedback 24/7 with the right tools. Sprynkl engagement app is a good example of a tool that can collect real-time peers feedback while facilitating a fun and authentic culture every employee loves.

Your organization should be systematic about conducting periodic performance reviews, 1-on-1 conversations, and focus groups.

Final Wrap Up: Resources To Explore

As you can, it takes time, effort, and patience to establish a feedback culture. The most important thing is to make sure your employees feel valued. When they trust that the organization will listen to them and be open to change, they will stay motivated. 

Feedback is both formal and informal, which is why every team member should focus on becoming the best version of themselves. 

While it might seem daunting to implement surveys and feedback into the work culture, there are Grove HR's resources available to simplify the process. Grove HR, Survey Monkey, and ConnectTeam are great starting points.

Using these examples will help you understand how to create a feedback culture. Taking the time to customize these resources for your company values will help employees feel even more understood.