Reviews

"PPI's employee survey package is excellent! Period. First and foremost, it provided what was most important to us ... a reliable and valid instrument. The rest is pure gravy. It's easy to use, easy to follow, and has useful real-life examples. Our team confidently put together a 24-question survey, in a relatively short period of time, and used the feedback method recommended to deliver results. We'll use it again for our follow-up survey. I highly recommend it."
-Claudette Bujold-Poirier, The Jackson Sun, from Jackson, TN, United States

 "The guidebook is written in user-friendly language and is very comprehensive. It gives you all the tools you need to conduct an employee opinion survey."
- Julie Dauria, Future Directives Human Resource Outsourcing, Cheshire, CT, USA

"...a great resource manual for us...I'll feel on safe and steady ground using it to counsel my clients..."
- Robert DeLisa, President, DeLisa Consulting Group, Old Saybrook, CT

"The only aspect of employee surveys that this new book...does not provide is doing the employee survey for you."
- Ruth M. Brennan, Ph.D., President, Business Intelligence Quest, Trumbull, CT

Excerpt

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Chapter 1 - Introduction

Every year, thousands of organizations survey their employees with the goal of improved business operations. Some use these surveys successfully, but many don’t. The goal of this book is to help you succeed.

The employee survey is often thought of as something that’s done during times of difficulty. There is some truth in this. Many companies conduct surveys when management sees symptoms of poor morale or other workforce problems. In our experience, at least as many organizations come from a positive starting place, and they use surveys to reach new levels of excellence.

If asked what they are seeking by doing a survey, both types of survey-givers would probably have one reply in common: “We want to know how to increase workforce commitment.” By commitment, most mean their employees’ intentions to stay with the organization and job and their willingness to give full effort. Commitment means attention to the work, good attendance, effective teamwork, and reduced turnover. These are all common and predictable goals.

But does commitment result in favorable work outputs—or is it the other way around? In our view, employees who are already performing at high levels are more committed to their jobs. High-level job performance and high-level employee commitment go together. In fact the ability to perform well on the job seems to increase commitment. Therefore, no matter whether you start from a negative or positive position when you decide to do a survey, you should design the survey to detect and remove barriers to high-level performance. Your aim is to increase workforce commitment and create other positive results.

What are the characteristics of a high-performance work culture? The following organizational model describes the well-researched and validated approach created by Clark Wilson, Ph.D., in his Task Cycle Theory. In a high-performance work culture, the organization meets these criteria:

1. People know what has to be done (outcome of clear goals).
2. They know why it must be done (outcome of clear vision).
3. They can develop an effective plan to carry it out, an outcome of their training and expertise.
4. They have access to the resources to execute the plan.
5. They are alert to cues and feedback that show them the effectiveness of their efforts—and are able to make adjustments.
6. They maintain energy and enthusiasm despite difficulties.
7. They feel recognized for their contributions.

The Wilson organization’s research has shown these characteristics have strong links with above-average business results. Furthermore, managers with high skills mastery in these areas have better subunit performance and employee morale than managers with low skills mastery.

What are some of the biggest barriers to achieving an organization that enables high-level performance? The Wilson model provides some good answers, but there are many other models as well.

These models can be very useful in guiding questionnaire development, but theory goes only so far. In doing an employee survey, you have realism to gain, such as only employees can deliver. If the survey is well done, you’ll obtain accurate information on topics employees may be too intimidated to broach—and about which management may be misinformed. Surveys can involve everyone in a productive discussion of work and reward issues. They can provide snapshots of “reality,” as people at different levels and locations describe it. If an employee survey is done well, it provides an unparalleled opportunity for honest exchange. It removes the interpersonal dynamics of face-to-face conversation.

We discuss goals for employee surveys at length in the next chapter.