Why employee surveys don't work

Why employee surveys don't work

[elliecarlson]

I felt alright with my job at the time one of these came through, but the lowest level of management (who were more than names and faces to me) were treated very horribly and were clearly putting on brave faces about their frustration and hopelessness despite being hard workers. Told the survey that I was disappointed with how they were being treated, emphasized how they acted as a barrier and a punching bag between me and harsher upper management, and asked for something to change. One of them quit a few weeks later and they couldn’t find a replacement for her. No one was willing. We all knew that 20/hr to do most of hard/intellectual/problem solving work, direct a team, and deal with BS from above, below, and all around wasn’t worth it. Oh yeah, and they were constantly being called while off the clock.

[jesmith]

The problem with employee engagement advice is that it's offered as theory, unsupported by examples of companies who followed that given advice and consequently improved their business metrics. The problem with surveys is that HR asks the questions; employees know from experience that nothing much happens with HR surveys. Think about that: HR cannot force change on disinterested leadership, and you can bet the employees know that they've been down that road before. This morning, I just listened to a Gallup "WOrld of Work 2024" webnar. No mention of anyone having used the Q12 questions and improved their business metrics. None of the guest speakers cited examples of transformational EE/EX change. Based on the lack of results, the EE/EX business is nothing but snake oil. Imagine the providers were asked these questions: "Where have you done this before? How long did it take? Who led the initiative? What was the CEO's role? Was HR involved? What was the impact on the financials, and were the results sustainable?" Most importantly, "What percent of the fees were based on the impact on the income statement?" Josh, these are reasonable questions but not likely to be asked by HR. Therein lies the problem. Cheers, Jim

[KitPang-rs]

Gotta practice what you preach. Serious

[StephanieNargeot]

Ooo, she's good. It's all about the action and culture. You gotta do a better job engaging employees.

[joshadams]

Ahh.. the surveys that are completely useless bc upper management doesn’t care anyway!

[noobdruid]

Just don’t do a survey. Giving a complaining culture another avenue complain. Might as well give an addict their addiction.