Do employees care about employee feedback surveys? If hanging out at the Twitter cooler is any indication, some seem to care about them–a lot. CultureIQ took a look at some very recent posts, from the month of February, that got very emotional about employee listening (whether the Tweeters thought surveys had value or not).
In this random, very unscientific sampling of Tweets, we saw passions run the gamut:
From searing survey-question critiques:
To joyful anticipation of payback:
To deep cynicism about survey effectiveness:
To one very alarming accusation of coercion:
While these Tweets obviously must be taken with a grain of … seed, it’s certainly interesting to see such strong opinions expressed over just a few days. In a recent TLNT.com essay about why most employees don’t seem to trust HR, talent-management expert John Sullivan urged leaders to “take the time to monitor internal social media sites and to work with your affinity groups to identify workplace issues that impact trust.” We think that’s a worthwhile endeavor for gauging feelings around employee surveys, too.
Snark-fighting survey tactics
If you have a feeling people in your organization don’t quite trust your survey or understand its intentions, CultureIQ recommends three remedies (with handy resource links):
• Make sure your questions are well thought out and crafted
• Clearly communicate the survey’s intention and what you hope to achieve
• Take meaningful action based on survey results
These guides may not be a full-proof shield against social-media snark, but they’ll go a long way in building a culture of trust around surveys, something that’s essential to build to get real value from your listening program