Ferdinand Wintermantel
Employee surveys are not merely an employer branding tool. They serve primarily as an established means of gaining insights into the working atmosphere and creating a sustainably positive working environment.
Through good employee surveys, companies of all sizes gain valuable knowledge about strengths and potential areas of action and the opportunity to proactively influence engagement — understood as the targeted investment of energy by employees in corporate goals — and the effective implementation of tasks as a unit.
The employee survey tool not only amplifies the voices of employees within the company, but it also ensures that their needs, concerns, and ideas are taken seriously.
This promotes commitment and implementation as well as individual employee satisfaction and the recommendation of the company as an employer.
In other words, also the goals of employer branding.
Central to the success of employee surveys is the emphasis on authenticity and objectivity.
By emphasizing honest dialogue and transparent processes, the focus is on the employees and thus on the sustainable development of the company. Good employee surveys can have positive effects on the internal and external perception of the employer brand, but the interests and well-being of employees should always take center stage.
While companies tend to emphasize strengths in external communication, the consistent handling of areas of action plays an important role, especially in internal communication. Managers and HR-experts have a responsibility to find suitable measures and to conduct appropriate and targeted dialogues with employees.
In any case, the results on which actions and dialogues are based must be grounded on the most objective foundation possible.
It is precisely here that HR-managers and leaders often find themselves in an inner conflict regarding the positive external effect:
This conflict can influence the objective basis of an employee survey in many ways. Examples range from the formulation of leading questions to the concrete communication from leadership of expectations to obtain the best possible results to the “dual-survey-approach”.
By dual-survey-approach we mean the approach of conducting two separate employee surveys: one survey is conducted for internal reasons with the intention of driving true change and one survey is conducted for external branding purposes with the intention of receiving best possible results. This approach is not advisable in many ways, as it not only involves double the time commitment and at least twice the cost, but it can also lead to disappointment in the long run for new talent recruited due to an inauthentic representation of the company.
To avoid this, one authentic, scientifically-based, objective employee survey should be conducted from the very beginning. Companies need to ensure that the results of employee surveys feed into an honest and constructive discourse, are based on real data, and lead to real change.
An employee survey should be intended to promote transparency and identify areas for action so that not only engagement and implementation are improved but also the company as an authentic employer is strengthened from within.
Social Scientist ( M.A.) | Sociology, Politics & Economics (B.A.)
Consultant
Xact By Rambøll
M +49 1522 2583928
ferdinand.wintermantel@ramboll.com
