Employee survey data: from data to insights
You just wrapped up getting feedback from employees via your employee engagement survey and it’s time to dig through the data. So, now what? When trying to convert the feedback received into action and improvement, the most critical step is to find the story in the data. And ideally, find the one story that explains the others.
An employee engagement survey is a powerful tool for getting feedback from employees. Next, you’ll need to ask yourself some important questions. Here are five we recommend:
- Was the feedback what you expected to hear or was it surprising — and why?
- What are the survey results telling us matters most to our employees?
- Can the employee feedback be explained, and does the data help this make sense?
- Is the feedback concerning — and if so, what are we going to do about it?
- What results do we want to see next time, and how can we get there between now and then?
An employee engagement survey if an effective way for getting feedback from employees. You can also get more information through open-ended follow-up questions. That said, wading through hundreds — or even thousands — of employee feedback comments can get overwhelming at times.
Getting Constructive Employee Feedback – What to Consider
Here are some important tips to consider when getting feedback from employees:
- Keep your goal in mind. Like the rest of the employee survey, the best goal is to identify barriers. Pick a common theme to target.
- Without a lot of luck, you won’t find clear solutions in the employee feedback comments. That’s because solutions come from conversations about comments.
- Use comments to add emotion to the story you find in the data — not to find a story in the data.
- Think of employee feedback and the comments they offered as specific tools to build support and buy-in.
- If you’re new to a department or organization, remember that survey comments will go a long way to help you understand the current culture.
- Employee feedback from just one individual can be distracting. Instead, focus on serving your culture, rather than one person.
At Energage, our goal is to help organizations to become better places to work. So we love when people ask us what to do with the employee feedback they got through their employee engagement survey. Your survey results are a great way to start conversations that inspire action. And remember, the only thing worse than not giving your employees a voice through the survey is not doing anything with the employee feedback they took the time to offer.
