Technical Affairs
Mike Aamodt, Associate Editor
This month's technical affairs column features a guest writer. I received a question from an ACN reader about employee attitude surveys and asked Heather King, one of the nation's experts on this topic, to describe how she and her company conducted attitude surveys. Following Heather's column is another piece of HR humor.
Employee Attitude Surveys
Heather King
Hay Group, Atlanta, Georgia
I work for the Hay Group, a worldwide consulting firm that helps organizations achieve their strategies by effectively organizing, managing, motivating, and rewarding their people. My primary consulting activities in Hay's Research for Management Practice involve opinion research and corporate culture assessment.
We work primarily with human resource professionals and top managers of organizations. Specifically, we manage organizational survey projects that involve working closely with clients to develop and administer the instrument. After we compile and analyze the survey results, we then provide feedback to the client and work with them to develop action plans, feedback, and follow-up strategies to their survey results.
We use surveys to measure several different aspects of job satisfaction, and we determine which are the most meaningful to the company and its employees. Our surveys are tailored to meet the individual needs of the client. Typically, items cover a wide range of areas that may include the following: customer service issues, amount of authority and decision making ability, teamwork, communication, productivity, retention factors, pay and benefits, management/supervisory effectiveness, employee involvement, identification, and accountability with work.
There are several ways to develop a survey: focus groups, item banks, one-on-one interviews, and meetings with management. We typically develop surveys through focus groups and meetings with management. In meetings with management, they tell us the types of issues they want to target in the survey. We then conduct focus groups that are made-up of a representative sample of employees. This process involves meeting with small groups of employees to talk about broad issues affecting job satisfaction, good and bad aspects of working for the company, the company's values, and characteristics of the culture. We typically keep management employees in one group and non-management employees in another so that people feel free to say what is on their minds. All the information is then used to recommend items for the survey. These items are ones that are part of our database or are developed to meet the company's specific needs. Items can also be generated in meetings or focus groups, where the participants in the meeting develop several items, then rank order them in order of importance.
One-on-one interviews are used in the same fashion as focus groups; to identify broad areas of concern. A structured interview is used, and employees answer the questions and talk about areas they feel are important.
Many organizations use "off-the-shelf" surveys that are already developed to measure such areas as job satisfaction. These surveys, as well as item databases, typically allow the company to compare its results with those of other organizations. Hay has the world's largest database of items that companies can use to compare their results with those of other companies.
There are several survey formats; perhaps the most common of which is the paper and pencil form. Scannable surveys typically allow for quicker and more cost effective data processing, especially for very large groups. Surveys can also be administered online through the Internet or network, faxed, or completed over a telephone.
Most of our surveys contain a list of categories (e.g. gender, race, department, length of service). We use these categories to present the survey information in a way that will be most meaningful to management. Most of our surveys contain at least one open-ended question and anywhere from 15 to 150 closed items with a four- or five-point scale such as agree/disagree.
Communication regarding the survey is very important. Employees need to know when the survey is coming, and what its purpose is. They also need to know how and when the results will be reported and used. A cover letter from the top manager in the company that provides employees with this information is typically included with the survey.
Once the survey is developed, we will coach the client in administration procedures and emphasize the importance of confidentiality. We ask that the employee's name not be placed anywhere on the survey, and if possible, not on the envelope. We also ask that the survey not be attached to something that has the employee's name on it (i.e., a paycheck). If the survey is administered in groups as is often the case to increase the participation rate, each person should be provided with an envelope in which he/she can seal the survey and then deposit in a central location.
As the surveys are received, the data are entered (or scanned), and comments are transcribed verbatim. We usually sort the comments and data by some or all of the categories listed on the survey. In order to assure anonymity for the respondents, we typically will only report an individual's group response if there are at least five or ten people. Our clients typically receive a report with overall company results, one that includes a comparison of all the individual department results, and a separate report for each department.
After the results are compiled, we write a narrative summary of the results that includes a brief background about the survey, overall findings, and recommendations for improvement. The company's strengths that were identified by the survey, as well as opportunities for improvement are highlighted.
We then present the results to management, highlighting strengths and opportunities for improvement, and discussing with them why they feel the results turned out the way they did. We also talk about providing feedback, developing action plans, and following-up on the survey.
Clients are encouraged to provide employees with some sort of feedback as quickly as possible. For larger organizations, this may involve summarizing the findings in a newsletter; whereas in smaller organizations , employee meetings are typically conducted. After the top manager reviews the survey results, he/she will meet with the executive staff. In this meeting, the results are presented and discussed, areas for improvement are targeted, and an action plan is developed. A meeting is then held for all employees to give them feedback. The results are presented, and areas for improvement are shared. Feedback meetings are then conducted with smaller groups (usually departments). These meetings are used as an exchange of information, and employees talk in detail about the issues identified in the survey.
One to three areas for the group/department are usually targeted for improvement, and an action plan for dealing with these issues is developed. Action plans can also be developed from the bottom of the organization up, starting with individual employee teams/departments and ending with the senior team. This is also an effective way to respond to survey results an helps employees feel more involved in the process.
One of the most important stages in the survey process is follow-up. After action plans are developed and implemented, we encourage the client to follow-up periodically to see if and where there have been improvements. Informal follow-up can easily be done on a monthly basis by asking people (either in a meeting or one-on-one) how they think the organization or department is doing in a particular area. Formal follow-up can be done using a very short survey that measures how things have changed in the last few months. Follow-up gives the company an opportunity to "market" their efforts to employees, determine if changes in action plans are necessary, and then redirect their efforts as needed.
Companies conduct surveys at different intervals from every quarter, semi-annually, annually, to once every two or three years. Surveying more frequently allows organizations to target particular issues, and discover how they are doing in the areas in which they have made changes. Surveys are a valuable means of gathering a large amount of data from a large number of employees in a relatively short period of time, and an excellent tool for measuring job satisfaction.
Heather will be happy to answer your questions about attitude surveys. She can be reached at (770) 901-5638 or Heather_King@haygroup.com.
HR Humor
An ACN reader send me this great example of how most of us would love to respond to a rejection letter.
Dear Mr. Smith:
Thank you for your letter of April 17. After careful consideration, I regret to inform you that I am unable to accept your refusal to offer me employment with your organization. This year I have been particularly fortunate in receiving an unusually large number of rejection letters. With such a varied and promising field of candidates it is impossible for me to accept all refusals.
Despite your organization's outstanding qualifications and previous experience in rejecting applicants, I find that your rejection does not meet with my needs at this time. Therefore, I will initiate employment with your firm immediately following graduation. I look forward to seeing you then.
Best of luck in rejecting future applicants.
Sincerely,
Mike Aamodt, a Professor of Psychology at Radford University serves as our Associate Editor for the Technical Affairs column and as our unofficial humor editor. If you have a technical question you want answered/discussed, wish to comment on this month's article, or want to share a humor item please contact Mike. He may be reached by email(maamodt@runet.edu), phone [(540) 831-5513)] or fax [(540) 831-6113].
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