Employee Surveys That Work

chapter one

GOALS

DEFINE A CLEAR SURVEY PURPOSE

Conducting an effective employee survey requires a substantial amount of time, energy, and resources. You have to have a clear purpose for the survey, and the questions need to be worded accurately. You should minimize survey length to yield a response rate that is sufficient for scientific accuracy. The results should be presented in a format that maximizes usability, and you need to engage all of the relevant stakeholders in the feedback and action-taking process. These and more principles hold for all surveys regardless of length—even short “pulse” surveys. Each chapter of this book addresses one or more of these aspects. In this chapter we start with purpose.

Recognize the objectives and tradeoffs. ...