Survey Says...Why Feedback from Your Employees is a Big Deal

So, you don’t think soliciting feedback from your employees is a big deal, or worth your time and resources? A recent Gallup poll gathered that only 13% of employees worldwide are engaged in their jobs, with the remaining 87% feeling disengaged or even hostile toward their organizations. Uh-oh! This drives organizations to constantly and actively look for ways to increase employee engagement – and surveying your people is a great place to start.

Interestingly, companies with high employee engagement also had twice the customer loyalty compared to companies with average engagement levels, according to New York Times bestselling author and tech entrepreneur, Kevin Kruse, who put together a master list of 32 findings on employee engagement research. To better explain the correlation, Kruse modeled a five-piece chain: employee engagement leads to productivity, service and retention, which leads to customer satisfaction, which leads to customer loyalty, resulting in company growth and profit. In short – happy employees make for better revenue and stock prices. The Gallup poll also showed a 20% or better boost to productivity and profitability for companies with high employee engagement.

While surveys may bring negative issues to light for managers and executives at companies, they have also consistently proven to be beneficial to companies and appreciated by employees. For example, asking what your employees need or might be missing in the workplace is usually a question asked during an exit interview. Instead surveys to current employees might ask what the company needs to do in order to keep an employee. Knowing what motivates or demotivates an employee is key in continuing with employee engagement and happiness.  

In the spirit of listening to our employees and working hard to keep them satisfied, TSP conducted a survey earlier this year, in which we were able to gather comments and ideas from our employees. The survey proved that our company’s direction is aligned well with our employees in terms of values and ethics, direction, and cooperation. The lack of negativity in our workplace proved to be one of the strongest points that came out of the survey. In fact, our score in alignment was 10% above the national benchmark, and so was effectiveness (5% above the benchmark). Efficiency, execution, communication up to managers, open mindedness and encouragement of new ideas were also positive points from our survey.

Surveys aren’t all about the positive points, though. More importantly, they can show your company what it needs to improve upon. For example, based on survey feedback last year, we had a goal to improve upon the sense of connection to TSP that our #TSProckstars feel. We’re proud to say that this number has increased from last year due to the proactive steps we’ve taken. These steps include bulking up our communications to employees about company news, starting quarterly company update calls from the CEO, and adding FirmPlay to our social media tools, which gamifies social media sharing of TSP content. These steps have all helped our employees work at their full potential and feel informed about important decisions in the company.

In the era of fast and constant communication, it’s important that companies of all sizes and across all industries take steps to connect with their employees. After all, organizations are made up of people, who appreciate being engaged and interacted with like people!

Do you have a handle on what your employees value in the workplace, and what you can improve upon as an organization? If the answer isn’t a resounding “yes,” have you considered surveying your employees each year to benchmark your company and work toward progress? If not, it’s likely time to face the music! Much of satisfaction at work comes from an accepting and positive work environment – we can all agree that the place where we spend most of the day should be one where we’re content to be!