Employee Surveys: Four Common Pitfalls to Avoid

On the day that we launched Holistic, the first thing we did was set out to write an employee survey. Even as we were doing it, we publicly stated, "We don't want to just be an employee survey company," but we quickly realized that understanding employee sentiment was crucial to our success at Holistic.

Over the past five years, this has been confirmed. We have conducted hundreds of employee surveys, including multiple surveys for the same clients over several years. Utilizing our service has fueled tremendous success and a deeper understanding of companies.

Listening to employees has never been more important. We have witnessed significant growth in the importance of employee sentiment, and Holistic's understanding of how sentiment interacts with empirical data has also grown immensely.

As such, we would like to take a few minutes to outline four common pitfalls that we encounter with our clients when they embark on an employee survey. We hope that by reading these, you can avoid common mistakes and achieve better outcomes with your surveys.

Mistake number one: a failure to communicate.

The most prevalent error we observe is inadequate communication surrounding employee surveys. Timing, expectations, confidentiality, and action—all of these aspects inevitably raise questions among employees. If an organization fails to effectively communicate what's happening with the survey, it might as well not conduct the survey at all. At Holistic, we offer our clients a comprehensive communication platform, including pre-survey, during-survey, and post-survey emails, talking points for leaders, and employee-facing reports. This enables organizations to effectively communicate survey results. Without a doubt, this is the most significant mistake we encounter.

Mistake number two: paranoia fuels a different approach.

Many organizations worry about the response they expect to receive from the survey. This may be due to a general sentiment of distrust or timing concerns. For example, some organizations wait to conduct the survey until sufficient time has passed after a layoff, fearing negative sentiment. Others change the nature of their questions because they are afraid of opening a Pandora's box. We always tell our clients that nobody will share something on the survey that they haven't already thought. By not providing an opportunity for employees to express everything on their minds regarding the company, organizations are limiting themselves. Conducting a survey is an opportunity to reset and recalibrate the employee experience, allowing the company to adjust its expectations and refocus for the future. It's critical for our clients to embrace this opportunity and avoid pre-determining the answers to the questions. We always encourage our clients to trust the process. Giving the survey a chance to operate often results in surprisingly positive feedback.

Mistake number three: lack of preparedness to act.

If you ask employees about their experiences, you must be prepared to act on their feedback. This is an unquestionable requirement. You don't always have to give employees exactly what they ask for or want, but you owe them a response. This is a fundamental point we emphasize to every client. Often, there are low-hanging fruit—things the company can readily address and deliver to its employees. This is excellent. However, there may also be requests from employees that are not practical, plausible, affordable, or feasible in any way. And that's okay too. This presents an opportunity for the company to set boundaries and be transparent with employees about what it can and cannot do. To reiterate, if you ask your employees what they think, you must be prepared to respond.

Mistake number four: failure to look holistically at the survey.

As mentioned earlier, the survey is an opportunity for transparency, a reset, and a chance to improve. It allows grievances to be aired and voices to be heard in a structured way, showing employees that their well-being matters. However, companies often make the mistake of solely focusing on specific feedback and attempting to improve individual aspects. This is not the right approach. The goal should be to improve the overall work environment and the employee experience. The feedback received from employees provides valuable insights on how to achieve that. It's crucial to take a comprehensive view and explore ways to enhance the organization as a whole. By doing so, employee satisfaction and engagement will improve as well, and the net promoter score will be a trailing indicator of success. Improving the quality of the organization and effectively communicating these improvements to employees will ultimately raise the net promoter score.

These are the four common pitfalls we have observed that everyone should keep in mind when conducting an employee survey. In celebration of our fifth anniversary, Holistic is offering a limited number of free employee surveys to new clients interested in exploring this space. If this interests you, please let us know by filling out the form below, and we will gladly work with you on a free employee survey to help you gain a better understanding of your people.

We always emphasize that it's "people first and people always." Understanding where your employees are coming from and committing yourself diligently to their well-being is one of the most valuable things you can do for your organization. We look forward to helping you pursue these goals.