August 23, 2023
Businesses wishing to pursue ambitious growth plans, implement new strategies for success and achieve new levels of profitability can only do so when their workforce is delivering in a coherent manner against a well understood set of priorities.
Many businesses experience a disconnect between their overarching strategy and the action that is happening at a tactical level, but they may not realise exactly where that disconnect is. This leaves them in a position where they remain unable to resolve it and continue to fight against invisible blockers to success.
It is estimated that up to 95% of a typical business' employees do not understand its strategic vision, nor their specific role in achieving it [1]. One way of identifying the success of a business' communication strategy in relaying important information throughout the entirety of the workforce is to launch employee engagement surveys to check alignment.
What is an employee engagement survey?
An employee engagement survey is a tool that enables businesses to gain insights into their workforce's satisfaction, commitment and overall well-being. It allows the business to uncover the extent to which the employee understands their place within the organisation. These insights can help a business to drive significant improvements in productivity, profitability, positivity and business culture.
Benefits of employee engagement survey
1. Identifying areas for improvement
One of the main reasons that businesses launch employee engagement surveys is to identify areas of the business that require improvement. This may relate to issues that staff experience with processes, policies, tools, leadership practices or their working environment, amongst many others.
By understanding the true pain points experienced by the workforce, a business can target its actions to effectively address those concerns, make meaningful changes and foster a collaborative working environment.
2. Boosting employee morale and productivity
Regularly cited benefits of an employee engagement survey typically focus on the way in which it can increase employee morale. When employees feel that their opinions matter, it can positively impact their morale and productivity.
Asking staff for their honest opinion is empowering and helps them to feel that they are an integral part of the decision-making process. By engaging with staff in this way, they are more likely to feel invested in the desired outcome that their work will achieve with a correlative positive improvement in performance.
3. Enhancing employee retention
Staff benefits surveys allow employees to tell the business that they work for what matters to them. When a business then acts on the information received and implements desired strategies for improving employee satisfaction, it will benefit from enhanced employee retention rates.
A stable workforce that collaborates to achieve a shared outcome is more resilient to setbacks and challenges [2], so acting on employee feedback and improving their working environment to facilitate their success often results in a more effective team.
4. Promoting innovation
Employee benefits surveys encourage staff to contribute ideas and suggestions for process improvements and new initiatives. By encouraging this creativity, businesses can often achieve significant business growth as employees are keen to pursue innovative solutions that will benefit the entire workforce.
5. Aligning objectives
When a business's employees understand how their role aligns with the overarching business strategy, they become more invested in the success of the business. Employee benefits surveys allow a business to communicate its objectives, seek feedback from its employees and ensure that objectives align at all levels throughout the workforce.
When the organisation's goals are aligned with those of its workforce, a shared sense of purpose is fostered, which promotes a unified effort towards achieving those common goals.
6. Continuously improve
By launching regular pulse surveys, it is possible to track progress over time to ensure that initiatives that have been launched are delivering the desired results. The data-driven approach provided by staff benefits surveys can support a business to continuously improve its performance.
In conclusion
There are many reasons why your business should engage with its workforce through employee engagement surveys, but for the results that you uncover to be meaningful, you must first understand exactly what you wish to achieve with the engagement.
This is where Terryberry can help. Our Be Heard Platform will elevate your employee engagement initiatives, ensuring that you ask the right questions at the right time, evaluate the data gathered in a fair and coherent manner and launch initiatives that are targeted to achieve staff satisfaction.
Terryberry can help you to gain valuable insights from the experience of your workforce and support you in creating a culture of openness, collaboration and continuous improvement, which will drive business growth, profitability and productivity.
Resources:
[1] https://hbr.org/2005/10/the-office-of-strategy-management