Optimizing Employee Engagement: Surveys & Standardized Tools

Have you ever seen the movie “Up in the Air”? In the film, George Clooney’s character, Ryan Bingham, is a corporate downsizing expert (a.k.a the person hired by HR to fire people) who travels around the country firing people. As he explains in one scene, “The slower we move, the faster we die. Make no mistake, moving is living.”

While this sentiment may be true in some industries, it can also lead to disengagement and burnout among employees. After all, Ryan’s job requires him to deliver bad news to people who are losing their jobs but does it with a detached efficiency that borders on callousness. So emotionally-detached was Ryan that one of the employees he fired suffered from major depression and met His Creator abruptly.

What does this reference have to do with our topic for today? It’s for you to understand the trends in employee engagement and how it affects not just the office dynamics but also the well-being of your workers.

Employee engagement assessment can help organizations like yours understand how their employees are feeling about their work, and identify areas where improvements can be made to increase engagement and job satisfaction. Just like Ryan Bingham, you need to keep moving forward, but you also need to prioritize the well-being and engagement of your employees to be successful in the long term. To do this, there are several tools you could use that aid in getting the pulse of your employees, to consequently adopt engagement strategies and activities that can help increase their engagement at work.

Tools for Employee Engagement and Assessment

According to a study by Human Capital Analytics Group, 69% of the companies in their sample use external providers to carry out employee engagement surveys. Why is that, you ask?

Well, for one, external providers may have more expertise and experience in conducting surveys and analyzing the results, which can lead to more accurate and insightful data. Add to the formula the perceived objectivity and benchmarking quality of the tools they use, which eliminates the potential biases and thus fulfills the ethical data sourcing.

Also, anonymity. If you’re an employee, you might not want your bosses to learn about the survey answers you turned in, right?

Anyway, employee engagement surveys come in all shapes and sizes, but they all have the same goal: to measure how engaged and satisfied employees are with their work. Different surveys may focus on different aspects of the work environment or use different question formats, but they all provide valuable insights that can help you create a better workplace for your employees.

No matter which survey tool you prefer, the key is to use the data gathered from the survey to make meaningful changes to the work environment. By listening to employees and addressing their concerns, you can create a workplace where employees feel valued, supported, and engaged.

Gallup Q12 Survey

The Gallup Q12 Survey is one of the most widely used tools for measuring employee engagement. It consists of 12 questions that cover a range of factors that can impact employee engagement, such as job satisfaction, communication, and recognition.

Below are the 12 questions being asked in the survey:

1. “Do you know what is expected of you at work?”
2. “Do you have the materials and equipment you need to do your work right?”
3. “At work, do you have the opportunity to do what you do best every day?”
4. “In the last seven days, have you received recognition or praise for doing good work?”
5. “Does your supervisor, or someone at work, seem to care about you as a person?”
6. “Is there someone at work who encourages your development?”
7. “At work, do your opinions seem to count?”
8. “Does the mission/purpose of your company make you feel your job is important?”
9. “Are your co-workers committed to doing quality work?”
10. “Do you have a best friend at work?”
11. “In the last six months, has someone at work talked to you about your progress?”
12. “In the last year, have you had opportunities to learn and grow?”

Kenexa Employee Engagement Survey

The Kenexa Employee Engagement Survey is a tool that can help you understand how happy and motivated your employees are. It’s like a questionnaire that asks employees to rate different aspects of their job and work environment, such as their relationship with their team leaders, their opportunities for career growth, and their overall job satisfaction.

The survey covers nine different areas of employee engagement, which are like different pieces of a puzzle that come together to create a complete picture of employee satisfaction. These areas include things like job satisfaction, career development, relationships with supervisors, and peers, leadership, work environment, organizational culture, employer brand, and customer focus.

By asking employees to rate these different areas, you can get a sense of where they’re doing well and where they need to improve. For example, if employees are giving low ratings to questions about their relationship with you as their boss, that might suggest that there are issues with communication or support that need to be addressed.

On the other hand, if employees are giving high ratings to questions about career development, that might suggest that you are doing a good job of providing opportunities for growth and advancement.

Overall, the Kenexa Employee Engagement Survey is a powerful tool that can help you identify areas where they can improve employee satisfaction and engagement. By listening to employees and making changes based on their feedback, you can create a happier, more motivated, and more productive workforce.

TINYpulse Employee Engagement Survey

As an employer, you’ll want to know how your employees are feeling about their work and workplace. But instead of waiting a whole year to fill out a survey, you make them answer questions every week through TinyPulse, a tool that helps organizations measure and improves employee engagement.

The questions cover a wide range of topics, like how satisfied your employees are with their job, whether they feel like they have opportunities for career growth, how well they communicate with you and their colleagues, and how they feel about their work-life balance.

The cool thing is that the TinyPulse survey is completely anonymous, which means they can be totally honest without worrying about getting in trouble. And, since the survey is done on a weekly basis, you as an employer can get a real-time understanding of how they are feeling.

TinyPulse also has a feature called “Cheers for Peers,” which is a way for employees to recognize and praise their colleagues for their hard work and contributions. It’s a nice way to boost morale and create a positive work environment.

Once the survey is completed, the results are presented in a way that’s easy to understand. This can help you quickly identify areas where they’re doing well and where they need to improve. And, since the survey is customized for each organization, you can get a sense of what’s important to your employees.

Overall, the TinyPulse employee engagement survey is a great way for leaders to get real-time feedback. At the same time, it can help make improvements based on that feedback. It shows that you care about how they feel and are willing to make changes. As a result, it can help create a happier, more engaged, and more productive workforce.

Culture Amp Engagement Survey

The Culture Amp survey is a bit different from other surveys because it takes a more holistic approach. Instead of just asking about job satisfaction or work-life balance, the survey covers a wide range of topics, including how your employees feel about the company’s mission and values, whether they feel like they have opportunities to grow and develop their skills, how well they’re managed by you, and how supported they feel by you and their colleagues as a whole.

Another cool thing about the Culture Amp survey is that it’s customizable. You can choose which questions to include based on what’s important to your team and your employees. This means that the survey can be tailored to specific industries, company sizes, or geographic locations.

Like other surveys, the Culture Amp survey is completely anonymous. This means your employees can feel comfortable being honest in their responses. Once they complete the survey, you can receive a detailed report that shows how employees responded to each question. You can also get insights on the trends and themes that emerge from the data. This helps you identify areas where you’re doing well and where you need to make improvements.

One unique feature of the Culture Amp survey is that it also provides “Pulse Surveys.” These are shorter surveys that can be sent out on a more frequent basis. These Pulse Surveys can help you track changes in employee engagement over time and make adjustments as needed.

Overall, the Culture Amp employee engagement survey is a great tool for your team to take a more comprehensive approach to measure and improve employee engagement. By understanding what’s important to employees and where you need to make changes, you can create a better work environment for everyone.

Conclusion

Employee engagement is a critical factor in the success of any organization. Without a motivated and engaged workforce, your team might struggle to meet its objectives and thrive in today’s competitive market. Hence, measuring your employee engagement is crucial to identify areas for improvement, promoting employee satisfaction, and boosting overall performance.

Luckily, there are numerous employee engagement survey tools available, each with its own unique strengths and weaknesses. Popular options include Gallup Q12, Culture Amp, and Kenexa, which offer expertise, anonymity, benchmarking data, and resources. These help you gain valuable insights into your workforce.

At the end of the day, a happy workforce is a productive one. Companies like yours that invest in their employee’s well-being and job satisfaction will reap the benefits of a motivated and engaged workforce. As a result, this same workforce will be committed to achieving organizational goals. So don’t hesitate to explore the various employee engagement survey tools available. Take action to create a positive work environment that fosters success and growth.

If you want to know more about how you can engage your team toward collective success, drop me a message in my inbox so I can help.