Employee Opinion Survey: For the Cat Needs to Get Out of the Bag
There! It's coming back. The
voice that's telling you to unplug your mouse and dart it at the bald pate of
your pompous, self-important boss. This noise in your head is haunting your mind
till you are left with no choice to believe that you are Jan Brady of the
classic Brady Bunch. Except that unlike Jan these are not just voices in your
head but in fact are your opinions on the various dynamics of the workplace. And
you are not alone in feeling disgruntled and disillusioned by your opinions not
being heard.
A recent employee opinion survey has revealed that the suppression of employee
opinions is one of the top 3 reasons for employee turnover in many companies.
So what causes so many employees to be unheard and how can we improve this
situation so as to benefit both the employer as well as the employees? Employee
opinion survey is one sure way of doing just this. Through the survey, employers
are able probe into the opinions of the employees on the various issues,
problems, changes, suggestions they have to offer.
Employee opinion survey is thus an important tool for the management to
understand the needs, desires and wants of their employees.
Broadly an employee opinion survey is used for assessing training needs of
employees, effectiveness of training, 'Career-pathing,' employee opinions on
performance appraisals-the process as well as the result, opinions on
organizational practices, the opinions on a particular change etc.
The growth of employee opinion surveys in recent times has not gone unnoticed
and at the same time it has been affected by other dynamics of the business
world too. The implication of globalization on employee opinion survey may have
resulted in integration of workforce of a company across the globe, but it has
also necessitated that the employee opinion survey must take into account the
geographical and cultural environment.
For example, in a particular part of the world employees were asked to rate
their HR trainers post the training program, in order to judge the effectiveness
of the same. The same question seemed abhorrent and disrespectful to employees
in another part of the world when posed to them.
Similarly, problems of high attrition, frequent technology changes and
increasing competition in the marketplace have led many a company to realize
that an employee opinion survey helps the company to evaluate and identify the
knowledge its present pool of employees have and thus embark on the journey
towards knowledge management.
However employers are likely to encounter the following problems in
administering the employee opinion survey in their organization. Of these, the
following five are the ones that are most commonly faced by employees:
This however, is not reason enough for organizations to not take advantage of
the benefits an employee opinion survey has to offer. Despite the
above-stated problems, employees also perceive an employee opinion survey as a
chance to participate in deciding the features of their work environment and a
feel-good wave tides over in the organization making employees feel values,
appreciated and listened to. The best approach therefore would be to
continuously evaluate the employee opinion survey within the organization
through feedback from employees, consultants and eminent experts so as to get
the cat out of the bag in a manner least difficult.