WORKPLACE: Your Employees’ Opinions Count!

It has been said that one of the most effective forms of flattery is to ask for one’s opinion. When was the last time you asked your employees for their thoughts about your company, management, pay, benefits, safety practices or feelings about trust? Over the years we’ve found that some of the best ideas and most valuable information are locked inside employees’ hearts and minds. Oftentimes, only after a crisis, lawsuit, government investigation or union campaign, do employers realize the lost opportunities and high costs associated with proactively failing to ask employees their opinions.

What we’re talking about is an employee opinion survey, which — when conducted properly — is one of the finest tools available for taking the temperature of the workforce. Time and time again, by means of an opinion survey, we uncover cancers that are growing inside organizations and, 99 percent of the time, management had no earthly idea the cancer even existed.
Most employees will share their concerns and their ideas for solutions if they are given the opportunity to confidentially express their feelings by means of a process they trust.

Some managers and business owners are uncomfortable about asking people’s opinions because they prefer to deal with “facts.” My response? It is a “fact” that your employees feel a certain way…so, isn’t it better to know and understand these feelings and attitudes than to guess? When it comes to human resources, there is no exact science. The most we can do is gather as much information as possible about feelings, thoughts, ideas, concerns and attitudes and then weigh these against realities, logic and facts. The process is ongoing and is best accomplished by conducting confidential, comprehensive employee opinion surveys.

EMPLOYEE OPINION SURVEYS. Taken in its proper context, information gleaned from employee opinion surveys can be extremely beneficial to an organization. Of course, the survey must be designed and administered properly to maximize the return. Take a look at some of the advantages of conducting a survey. Employee opinion surveys:
• Provide employees with an opportunity to direct any concerns toward management instead of a third party such as a union, attorney or government investigator.
• Alert management to causes for any employee dissatisfaction like those related to new management, significant changes, policies, benefits or unusual situations such as harassment or discrimination.
• Open the lines of communication further within and across the company.
• Enhance management credibility by reinforcing a message of concern and value for employee opinions (this is especially significant when management uses a third party to gather and interpret results).
• Improve morale by simply providing employees with an opportunity to vent and discuss any issues or concerns.
• Increase productivity when management implements employee suggestions and addresses important, necessary changes.
• Gather pertinent information that can help shape the future growth and development of the company.
• Measure the perception of confidence and trust in leadership at all levels.

PLAN WISELY. Conducting an effective survey requires careful planning. Keep in mind that the most significant concern employees have during a survey is confidentiality, so you may want to consider working with an outside company who will actually administer the survey on-site and collect the responses. The result is that you allay employees’ fears of repercussion for giving their honest opinions.

A comprehensive survey project includes these components: A uniquely designed survey form that measures opinions on current company issues; a supplemental management questionnaire to capture thoughts, ideas and opinions from management; confidential interviews with a random selection of employees from each department; consideration for employees with disabilities or who cannot read/write; a toll-free survey-by-phone feature for employees who are absent the day of the survey; a combination of results for locations, departments or positions with fewer than five employees in the group (to preserve confidentiality); guaranteed anonymity for participants; multiple options for reporting and cutting the data; development of benchmark statistics for comparison with results from future surveys; and proper plans for communicating results to employees and for addressing issues.

AVOIDING MISTAKES. One of the worst things a business can do with the results of a survey is nothing. Morale is sure to decline when employees who feel they have poured their hearts out perceive that their opinions are disregarded. For this reason, carefully designed meetings should be conducted with management prior to the survey to discuss the purpose, the administrative process, their involvement and the validity of the results.

Another important point is this — prior to conducting a survey, it is critical for upper management to support the process, approach the results with an open mind and quickly address with employees any significant concerns identified from the results. This is the “buy-in” piece that is essential to the success of the survey.

MAXIMIZE RESULTS. Remember — when you ask employees for their opinions, you are going to get them. Prepare yourself for some surprises and some direct, blunt responses. In a confidential setting, most employees don’t hold back. As a result, many employers find that they have issues to address and decisions to make. The good news is getting results and resolving issues doesn’t need to break the bank. Oftentimes, it’s the small changes that have the greatest impact. In a recent survey we conducted, all of the service employees complained about their uniforms shirts — they were too hot, they were itchy and they were difficult to clean. As a result of the overwhelming employee response, the company researched new uniform options, switched companies, improved employee morale and even saved money! A win-win for everyone.

Fact: You cannot manage what you do not know. Why not find out what needs to be managed?

The author is president of Seawright & Associates Inc., a management consulting firm in Winter Park, Fla. She provides human resource management and compliance advice to employers across the country. She is the author of The Employment Genie and can be contacted at 407/645-2433 or jseawright@pctonline.com.