Employee Satisfaction Surveys

Miriam George

Do any of you conduct employee satisfaction surveys? We specifically would like to get feedback regarding evaluation of supervisors, the work itself, and the work environment. We would like to somehow conduct the survey in a manner that will encourage honest answers without fear of retaliation.

Gar

[font size="1" color="#FF0000"]LAST EDITED ON 08-08-01 AT 10:55AM (CST)[/font][p]In a pervious HR assignment we called them "upward evaluations" and "360 evaluations." It was conducted by an out-side firm and performed annually. Briefly, the rules we used were:

1. Each supervisor's results were shared with him/her. They were the basis for additional "development" if need be. Employees who participated were never identified and supervisors were told in no uncertain terms that retaliation will not be tolerated.

2. Where problems were identified (i.e., interpersaonal relations, etc.), the supervisor had two appraisal periods to improve. If no improvement, the problem was noted on the performance evaluation and the supervisor could lose a salary increase. If no improvement by the next appraisal period, more drastic measures could be taken.

Assuring anonymity in large organizations to mitigate retaliation wasn't difficult. In smaller organizations it was a problem. Although the written responses are typed, supervisors of smaller organizations are familiar with their employee's writing styles and views on certain topics/issues.

Interestingly, most younger supervisors had no problem with the process and many valued the feedback. Older supervisors didn't like it. Many felt their employees "do not have a right" to evaluate them.

Mike Maslanka

not a big fan of 360 reviews...mamangers sometimes are popular and get good reviews because they act as buds,not managers---that is making hard decisions...also,like the internet,where no one knows your identity,people tend to stretch the truth,it just lends itself to doing so(what do i look like?oh,i'm 6'3,rock hard,and handsome!),and i think they do the same thing on 360 reviews and the manager is the victim...what do you all think?...regards from texas,mike maslanka,andrews and kurth,214-659-4400

DB

I worked for an HR consulting firm which conducted an Employee Opinion Survey. It was NOT a 360 survey because the questions covered a wide variety of areas (Pay, Benefits, Safety, Top Management, Organizational Climate just to name a few). It only asked general supervisory trait questions (example: I feel my supervisor is honest with me.) The survey contained about 80 standard questions which were ranked as Agree/Disagree or on a 5 point scale (Strongly Agree, Agree, Neutrel, Degree, Strongly Disagree) and designed to validate one another. My company would go to the client's location, explain & admninister the survey to all employees, take the sealed envelopes back to our office, tabulate the responses (type the written comments and crunch the numbers) and provide a written analysis of how feelings in one topic or work unit impacted other things. Based on the frankness of the written comments, most employees were very honest as long as the group size was at least 15-20 people. We would not let a client make groups smaller than 10 and the clients never saw the original surveys. Email me at [email]ofalfin3@apci.net[/email] if you want more information. I don't work there anymore. Perhaps I can suggest the type of companies for you to contact that may provide similar services.

Margaret Morford

I would be glad to discuss a very different type of employee satisfaction survey done by an outside consultant who interviews a cross section of the employees one-on-one. Management finds out about the major issues effecting morale and usually which of the supervisors are truly good supervisors and which, if any, are having problems as well as the nature of those problems. The consultant also makes strategic suggestions about what to do about the issues that come up in the survey. Call me if you are interested and I'll discuss it further with you. My number is 615-371-8200.

Margaret Morford
theHRedge