Abstract

Employee surveys are tools for improvement and communication. Employees can use them to evaluate improvement efforts and identify problem areas. For managers, the survey provides communication with employees. Follow-up actions that respond to employee surveys are vital. Fear of surveys, by both employees and managers, can be reduced. For example, summarizing survey results only for groups of 10 or more people and having a manager review results only for his or her area should allay some fears. To implement a successful survey: plan well; be sure employees and managers understand the purpose of the survey; provide feedback and action in response to survey results; and have stakeholders, including union officials and managers, participate in survey development. To prevent loss of interest, keep survey frequency to once every 18 or 24 months for everyone, or use a continuous survey in which the small random sample of respondents changes periodically, perhaps monthly. Implementation of a survey follows the plan-do-check-act cycle.