The radial button on an Internet employee survey only allows for one choice. Your pencil marks fill in one bubble a question, indicating measures of satisfaction but not the details of the choice. Most surveyed employees could expound upon the choices and the truth behind a choice – if given the option.
A Crucial Option – Feedback Sessions
Feedback sessions are a vital survey element, the qualitative data substantiates the quantitative data generated from the survey. Delving into the specifics behind employee choices can benefit the employee and the organization, the employee feels heard and the organization has explicit details that form the bridge from data to action.
If a survey yields low scores on particular items or very high scores on others, a feedback session can “peel the onion back”, thereby examining the true reasons behind the scores.
The Keys
Feedback sessions are a most important phase of any employee opinion survey. Typically feedback sessions should focus on five key objectives:
- First, testing the validity of the statistical results by monitoring employee reaction to the information;
- Second, commenting on any organizational or departmental changes, either negative or positive, since the survey was administered;
- Third, validating of statistical data with qualitative information from the employees;
- Fourth, including employees in the conclusion-making and action-planning processes, with a particular emphasis on garnering their solutions to issues highlighted by the statistics; and,
- Fifth, determining the level of significance of specific items mentioned in the survey; this objective greatly assists management in setting the right priorities for change.
- Feedback sessions are structured like focus groups and when facilitated by a neutral third-party, more free-flowing commentary regarding employees’ reactions to the results and to any organizational changes made since the survey’s close is the outcome.
Sessions should typically include a departmental review of survey results. Employees are told how their department scored on each survey dimension, and how their work group compares to the total organization. Next, employees are encouraged to provide feedback regarding the survey results; providing the organization with the qualitative information needed to fully understand the statistical results.
In order to determine the level of significance of specific items mentioned in the survey; feedback sessions greatly assist management in setting the right priorities for change.
Parking Lot Makeover Increases Job Satisfaction
One HR Solutions client’s scores revealed a strong dissatisfaction with parking. Upon review of this result, the CEO was very adamant that the parking score was a result of the employees’ perception of expensive parking costs.
Yet, by means of the feedback sessions, it was discovered that the true reason employees were dissatisfied was not due to the cost of parking, as management had initially thought, but due to the lack of security for employees working the later shifts. Employees explained that they felt unsafe while walking to their cars at night since the lot was poorly lit, that the parking lot’s Security had refused to escort those who asked, and people had been attacked in the lot.
When the management team was presented with the findings, they were shocked. They quickly met with the owners of the parking lot, which resulted in improved lighting in the lot, as well as security cameras. As an added bonus, management and the owners of the parking lot were also able to work out an employee discount for the parking fees.
Harness the Power of Feedback Initiatives
Feedback sessions can do the same for your organization. HR Solutions’ consulting experience verifies that when feedback sessions are conducted properly, they are conducive to actionable devices, proving that a survey is more than a series of questions, followed by numerical data. The sessions can help your employees feel confident and effective; focusing on the immediate changes and the long-term resolutions to help your organization develop into a choice working environment.
If your organization would like HR Solutions to conduct your Feedback Sessions, train individuals at your organization to facilitate Feedback Sessions, and/or assist you in planning your Feedback Sessions please contact us at 312-236-7170 or info@hrsolutionsinc.com; we can even conduct your Feedback Sessions if we did not administer your employee survey. There is no reason to not add this incredible element to your employee survey process, a great solution from HR Solutions!