Best practices

To guarantee a personnel survey to be successful, it is important to take into account aspects like:

Create a broad support group A survey will be successful only if wanted and supported by all parties involved (direction, work’s council, management, employees, P&O). Employees need a clear message that the survey is about more than just finding out what they think, but that the survey results - however they turn out in practice – will provide the basis for an action plan.

Internal communication
Crucial to guaranteeing a maximum response level is communicating to all personnel well in advance and in sufficient detail. Use all possible channels of communication. Give the communication survey a specific company name: this name sticks in people's minds and facilitates communication when improvement actions are introduced at a later stage.

Guaranteeing anonymity and confidentiality
Guaranteeing that the data, which an employee fills in, will be processed anonymously is crucial to obtaining a sufficient response rate and really honest answers. This is also one reason for having communication measurement undertaken by an external party. It is not enough that the guarantee of anonymity is genuine; it must also be felt to be so by employees. The organization needs to clearly put across the message that the external partner will report only when there are a minimum number of respondents per segment, in order to eliminate the possibility of identifying an employee.

The quality of the questionnaire
The questionnaire must be unambiguously worded and accessible to all surveyed employees. Words must be used in line with the company’s own jargon.

Communicate results in detail
Accessible and attractive reporting of results to all employees makes it easier to implement an action plan. This communication must put out a clear message that you as employer are pleased with the contributions received. This message should mention items for improvement and the broad outlines of the follow-up process, but also the positive results.

Timing
When setting dates for a personnel survey it is important to take into account aspects like holiday periods, other projects and previous surveys.