What your employees really need in the new year

Do you know what your employees need and what their corporate culture is like? How satisfied are your employees in general, how do they feel about the implementation of your measures and are they possibly missing something to be even more committed, motivated and innovative? A simple way to get honest feedback: Ask your employees directly! Employee surveys such as the Trust Index™ Survey from Great Place To Work® are more than just a list of questions or a means to an end for a label. They offer organizations the opportunity to really listen and involve employees. To show that the opinion of every employee is wanted, heard and valued.

More employee involvement with the Trust Index™ employee survey

Employee surveys are a great tool for identifying potential and areas for action and addressing these in a targeted manner. At the same time, they are an ideal opportunity to obtain honest feedback from employees and actively involve them. This allows you as an organization to show that you care about your employees and at the same time lay the foundation for a trust-based workplace culture. And this trust is the cornerstone for high employee satisfaction, which in turn leads to more employee involvement, commitment and overall better performance. That all sounds fantastic! But what questions should you ask your employees so that they can measure the right things and derive the right measures from them?

The Trust Index™ Survey is a reliable employee survey that provides the basis for analyzing and developing the workplace culture into a Great Place To Work. The results of the Trust Index™ make the workplace culture tangible. And thanks to the anonymity, you receive an objective view of the current state of employee satisfaction regarding the important factors of your workplace culture, allowing you to identify and develop strengths and potential.

But regardless of the type of employee survey we are talking about, it is important to actively and regularly ask employees for feedback.

Larger organizations conduct employee surveys more frequently

According to a representative study by Great Place To Work® Switzerland, 55% of organizations with more than 250 employees regularly conduct employee surveys. In contrast, only a quarter of all organizations surveyed with 50 or fewer employees conduct regular surveys. This is also the result of a study examining the use of employee surveys in Germany, Austria and Switzerland: Of the 249 large companies surveyed in Switzerland, only two thirds conduct surveys on a regular basis.

In smaller organizations (less than 50 employees), more than 70% do not conduct regular employee surveys - often due to a lack of resources. Be it a lack of time or budget. There is also often a fear of a lack of impact or that the value proposition is not particularly high. This is an understandable barrier to entry. We therefore wanted to know whether there are success factors that can increase the benefits and impact of employee surveys. The key words here are regularity, participation and follow-up!

Regularity

Conducting regular surveys increases the trust of employees in the organization and thus the overall trust within an organization. For example, the Trust Index™ is on average 15.5% higher in organizations in Switzerland where an employee survey is conducted regularly. But why these differences in perceived workplace culture? One possible explanation may be obvious and yet neglected: an organization's interest in active employee feedback is in itself an indicator of a good workplace culture.

It has been shown that regular implementation is associated with a more positive perception, particularly in the dimensions of collaboration, team spirit and organizational support. These three elements are central to a functioning corporate culture and form the foundation for its development.

Participation

If a survey is conducted regularly, employees are also more willing to take part. This finding is also supported by our representative study. In organizations where surveys are not conducted regularly, just under 48% of employees express their willingness to participate. If, on the other hand, regular surveys are carried out, around 90% of employees intend to take part in them repeatedly. This is because regular surveys lead to greater trust in the survey instrument.

At the same time, employees are reassured that they can give regular feedback. Surveys are thus integrated as an essential part of the feedback culture. The higher participation rate (i.e. the ratio of participants to the total number of employees) also makes the survey more representative. The findings and measures derived in turn meet with greater acceptance and thus involve more employees.

It is therefore extremely important for the credibility of the company that something is done with the results of the survey. It needs an appropriate follow-up!

Follow Up

In addition to conducting the survey itself regularly and ensuring that it is as representative as possible, what happens with the results and the extent to which findings lead to concrete measures is ultimately decisive. If change processes are not driven forward decisively enough until they eventually "fizzle out", your survey will lose credibility. So think through the follow-up process carefully in advance and always communicate the planned steps clearly and transparently.

The first step is to communicate the results of the survey internally. The form in which this is done (internal e-mail, intranet, presentation by HR or management, etc.) is of secondary importance. It is more important that, in addition to celebrating the positive feedback, you also openly present potential areas for action. Show employees that you recognize their opinions and want to actively improve the current situation. For example, you can also involve employees in defining relevant areas for action and developing solutions. The joint development of measures is crucial in order to give employees a voice beyond the survey and to make them jointly responsible for the development of the workplace culture as part of the organization. And this leads to more trust, more motivation and a better workplace culture overall.

Compete with the best

However, employee surveys not only have enormous added value within the company. They also offer organizations the opportunity to compare themselves with other companies within a size, region or even sector. To this end, Great Place To Work® collects a representative benchmark for Switzerland in a regular cycle, for example. This gives organizations that take part in a Trust Index™ survey the opportunity to measure themselves against other Swiss organizations. But that's not all: they also have the opportunity to measure themselves against the best in the Best Workplaces™ Switzerland and see how they compare nationally. Are you one of them? Then take part in the Best Workplaces™ Switzerland 2022!