The guiding principle of employee surveys is that if you are not prepared to take action on the results, then you should not conduct the survey. Research has shown that after completing a survey, employees are more interested in seeing positive change than they are in hearing about the results. Employee surveys have little or no value if they are not used to improve the workplace. This is why an effective action planning process is possibly the most important component of a successful employee survey.
Survey results are merely a starting point. Because survey results do not fully depict the underlying root causes of key issues, action planning is needed in the form of discussions between managers and employees so opportunities for improvement can be identified and potential solutions developed. Taking action on these opportunities enhances the work environment, and increases the overall level of employee engagement.
Although action planning is the most important part of the survey process, it is also the one activity that many organizations fail to deliver against. One of the primary reasons for this failure is the lack of a clear and consistent action planning process across the organization. The ideal situation is for each manager (from top management to first-line supervisors) who receives a survey report to work with his/her team to identify and prioritize areas requiring improvement, then develop and implement an improvement plan that is regularly reviewed.
There are five key steps involved in the action planning process:
- Review survey results
- Conduct survey feedback sessions
- Complete survey action planning
- Communicate and implement improvement actions
- Measure results and celebrate success
A thorough action planning process will greatly enhance the value of your survey and demonstrate to employees that your company is committed to building a positive workplace. It’s not only the right thing to do for your people, but it also makes good business sense.
