Survey employee attitudes to improve organization

A key instrument to ensure organizational health is a yearly attitude survey.

The first step is to develop the survey. Carefully determine the topic areas and question wording, since the first survey will serve as the benchmark measurement for future surveys. Results might not be comparable from survey to survey if you change topics or questions.

Typical categories include hiring, orientations, promotions, training, supervision, compensation and benefits. Ask if the organization uses sound recruiting and selection practices that net good co-workers. Are job duties and expectations fully explained prior to candidate job offers? Do those hired fit into the department and company?

Do new-employee orientations truly train the person to be a productive worker? Do you fully cover all information necessary for recruits to be successful?

Are team members able to apply for promotions? Is the person who will fill the job determined before the position is even posted? Is the selection process fair?

Do associates receive needed, ongoing training to adequately fulfill areas of accountability? Is customized in-house training available, and are public seminars an option to improve skill levels?

Does the supervisor regularly provide positive feedback? Is constructive criticism rendered immediately and confidentially? Is there an open-door policy encouraging two-way communication? Is the atmosphere fun while remaining professional? Are performance evaluations conducted fairly and on time? Are important tasks delegated? Is goal setting used? Is staff satisfied with job duties?

Are starting wages competitive and raises acceptable? Is the benefit package comprehensive and affordable?

Word the questions as statements of belief. For example, to find out the satisfaction level with overall benefits, word your first statement in that category, "I am satisfied with the overall benefit package."

Create additional, more specific in-quiries, such as "I am satisfied with the major medical benefit." The level of specificity is up to you, such as "I am satisfied with the $200 deductible." Don't forget to add space for hand-written comments under each major section.

Devise a five-point rating scale. The verbal anchor for a 5 rating might be "strongly agree," 4 "agree," 3 "neutral," 2 "disagree" and 1 strongly disagree." Guarantee complete anonymity of re-spondents.

Larger corporations will want to code the forms by department or location for more in-depth analytical purposes.

Be sure to inform associates of any special coding to maintain trust. Ensure surveys will be received and reviewed by a neutral third-party, such as the internal human resource department or an external human resource consulting firm.

Establish a deadline date but continue to accept responses as late as possible. A typical response rate is 20 percent to 25 percent. Numerical calculations to perform include the mean, median, mode and percentages for each question and category.

Share partial or complete results with all employees. Conduct extensive internal promotion about what the business is doing right. Identify areas needing im-provement. Immediately correct easily fixable issues.

Begin short- to long-term plans to resolve the more complex challenges, and provide regular updates to staff members. Communicate problems that will not be changed and explain why. The most important consideration to associates is the fact they are being listened to and some of their concerns are being acted upon.

Surveys will measure organizational health, and smart associations will begin changes to better care for their invaluable people asset.

(Lynne Haggerman is president/ owner of Haggerman & Associates, an employment, management training, human resources consulting, and outplacement firm.)