Employee survey

An employee survey can only yield meaningful results if the objectives and topics have been defined beforehand in a company-specific manner. A standard questionnaire or even simply compiling "interesting" questions from the internet usually only results in unproductive data. It's important to note that a survey can only provide insights based on existing assumptions. These assumptions must be formulated as hypotheses and used as the basis for developing the questionnaire. Therefore, a survey cannot generate entirely new insights, but can only verify or falsify existing assumptions.

The very fact of the survey itself, as well as the topics covered, inevitably attracts the attention of employees. This can lead to confusion and pressure to meet expectations. Therefore, only topics on which management is open to change should be included. However, a survey can also be used specifically to prepare employees for planned change processes by asking about the relevant topics. A survey should "have consequences," meaning that measures should be initiated promptly based on its results. A purely sentiment-based survey that has no consequences usually leads to frustration among respondents.

1. Survey Design and Organization: A project team will be formed, including key stakeholders such as the works council. The type of survey (e.g., sample or census, written or electronic, scope of open-ended questions), the timeframe, and the milestones will be defined. The project team will also develop and finalize the survey and analysis design.

2. Goal setting, topics and hypothesis formation: The primary objective is defined and the need for action within the company is identified. Based on this, the topics are defined and the hypotheses are formulated.

3. Questionnaire Development and Testing: The individual questions of the questionnaire are formulated based on the hypotheses. Particular attention is paid to clarity and ease of understanding. Once the works council has given its approval to the questionnaire (legitimate co-determination!), the questionnaire is presented to a test group.

4. Information and motivation campaign: Various company-specific measures will be developed to motivate employees to participate in the survey (posters, presentations, company magazine, circulars, etc.).

5. Conducting the survey: If the preparation has been carried out carefully, the survey can be conducted. The completed questionnaires must be subject to ongoing return tracking and stored securely. For written surveys, reminder letters may be sent.

6. Data Analysis: The questionnaire data is stored in files using evaluation software. Depending on the client's requirements, statistical methods (frequency, correlation, or regression analyses, etc.) are used for analysis. The use of statistical methods should be agreed upon in advance with the works council, as profiling and analysis could be misused for performance and behavior monitoring.

7. Analysis of the results: The survey results are presented in a clear and concise format (e.g., bar charts, traffic light charts). A separate analysis of weaknesses is recommended. This allows for the identification of root causes and the highlighting of potential courses of action. Open-ended questions require separate evaluation. Clusters can only be formed from these questions after the fact. The results analysis concludes with a strengths and weaknesses assessment.

8. Recommendations for Action: The survey results clearly revealed the employees' perspective on the company's problem areas. The company must demonstrate, within a reasonable timeframe, its efforts to address these weaknesses. Professore.de offers suggestions and proposed measures in this regard.

9. Implementation of measures and communication: Professore.de provides support during the implementation of the measures by the company and accompanies the internal communication of the survey results and the implementation of the measures.

10. Coaching of Executives Follow-up measures can include coaching of executives. professore.de offers experienced coaches for this purpose.