Employee surveys: The vital signs of your organization’s...

Employee surveys:

The vital signs of your organization’s health

Allen KaminManager, Organizational and HR Analysis

March 9, 2012

Forum Introduction

3GE Title or job number

3/7/2012

Developing Health™ Program

GE Foundation

grants

Skill-based

volunteering

$50MM multi-year commitment launched in 2009 Focus on underserved populations across US

Goal:Improve ACCESS to primary care in targeted underserved communities across the US through direct health center support and system capacity building.

How it works:1. Health centers are invited to partner through formal selection process.

2. GE Foundation grants fund programs to drive ACCESS to primary care.

3. Local GE employees and retirees offer skill-based volunteer support.

Leadership

network


3/7/2012

Developing Health™ US Program Reach

SALT LAKE CITYSALT LAKE CITY

HOUSTONHOUSTONNEW ORLEANSNEW ORLEANS

ATLANTAATLANTAGREENVILLEGREENVILLE

WILMINGTONWILMINGTON

BALTIMORE/DCBALTIMORE/DC

NEW YORK CITYNEW YORK CITY

FAIRFIELD COUNTYFAIRFIELD COUNTY

SCHENECTADYSCHENECTADY

ERIEERIE

MILWAUKEEMILWAUKEE

LOUISVILLELOUISVILLE

CINCINNATICINCINNATI

CHICAGOCHICAGO

LYNN/BOSTONLYNN/BOSTON

A growing network of health center partners…

72 health centers across 19 cities

80%+ FQHC’s… all with

low-income clients

2009

2010

2011

GE launch

MIAMIMIAMI

NON GE CITYNON GE CITYGE CITYGE CITY

DAYTON/KETTERINGDAYTON/KETTERING

GRAND RAPIDSGRAND RAPIDS

Leadership Network for health centersSponsored by GE Foundation

What is it?

A forum for Developing Health partner health centers to share ideas, challenges and

best practices, facilitated by GE Foundation.

What is the goal?

Enable discussion across health centers to share ideas and challenges, and accelerate

learning and best practice adoption.

Possible topics of interest

Operating practices

Technology innovations

Leadership

network

GE Foundation

grants

Skill-based

volunteering

Supply chain management

Staffing challenges

Patient compliance

Chronic disease treatment

GE’s Developing Health™ Program

Agenda:

• Introduction• Webinar Details• Speakers

• Topic Presentation• Discussion - Q&A• Closing

GE’s Developing Health Network

• The webinar will last for 90 minutes and will consist of a presentation and Q&A

• The WebEx session is in presentation mode only

• Please dial into the teleconference to listen to the presentation

• You can submit your questions at any time during the presentation using the Q&A window

• If your chat panel does not work, please email your questions to [email protected]

• Questions asked will be anonymous

• Any questions not addressed during the session will be answered after the webinar

• The event is being recorded and published on the GE Foundation website for future reference

• WebEx Technical Support – 1-866-569-3239 Option 1 or 1-916-861-3152 Option 4

• Please complete feedback survey at the end of this session…your feedback is important to us!

Webinar Details

Allen Kamin

Our SpeakerAllen Kamin joined GE in 2005 is the Manager of Organizational and HR Analysis within GE Corporate’s Global Shared Services team based in Fairfield, CT.

As GE’s Industrial Psychologist, Allen applies the science of psychology to organizations and workplaces issues to improve employee productivity and organizational success. Allen is responsible for GE’s global opinion survey and consults on issues related to assessment, performance management, competency modeling, training and development issues, HR research, and statistics.

He frequently works with individuals across GE’s business helping them with issues such as: • Who should be selected?• How should we measure employee effectiveness?• How do we know who are the best employee?• What do employees think and why is it important?• How do we help employees grow and develop?• Is the training we provide doing what we want?• Do our HR systems operate fairly?

Previously, Allen worked at APT, Inc. (now APTMetrics) in Darien, CT. He progressed from Consultant to Project Director. During his tenure he provided HR consulting in the areas of competency modeling, pre-employment and promotion assessments, performance management, 360-degree feedback, and employee surveying. He worked with a number of large companies such as: IBM, JP MorganChase, Qwest Communications, Pan Am Sat, Publix Supermarkets, Texas Instruments, The Boeing Company, The Coke-Cola Company, and Unilever. He also managed large-scale litigation projects, on behalf of both plaintiffs and defendants, dealing with allegations of employment discrimination.

Allen has a Bachelor’s degree from McGill University in Montreal, Canada and received his doctoral training in Industrial and Organizational Psychology from The University of Akron. Allen is a frequent presenter at the annual conference of the Society of Industrial and Organizational Psychology.

FORUM TOPIC

Employee Opinion Survey - The vital signs of

your organization’s health


3/7/2012

Agenda

Introduction

Ask – Survey Design

Listen - Administration � Analysis � Sharing

Respond – Action Planning

Conclusion

Q&A


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Barriers to effective survey follow-upYou’re not alone

� Responses from 31 of the most sophisticated survey practitioners in some of the biggest companies

Execution

We identify areas to improve, but don’t always

follow through on actions

Importance

Lack of visible/vocal support from

senior leadership

Resources

Limited resources; other business

critical issues take priority

Source: Kenexa High Performance Institute: White Paper - Barriers to effective survey follow up: Execution, importance, sources:

Senior Leadership


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Foundation of success

Are employees in your organization feeling:

1. overwhelmedwith work/operating in a reactive manner?

2. safe (e.g., to share their honest opinions, contributions are valued, to fail and learn new skills/behaviors, suggest better ways of doing things, to disagree and not become branded a “problem”)?

3. that their views are valued by management?

4. that they are told what to think (i.e., tell and sell) vs. given information and asked to help define solutions to critical business issues(i.e., involve me)?

5. a sense of “adventure with purpose” (i.e., understand big picture and responsible for driving change aligned with the business strategy)?

6. like what they personally do matters to the organization’s success?

7. confidence and trust in senior leadership?


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It is often worse to ask employees for their input and then ignore it, than it is to never ask them at all.

William Macey et al. - Employee Engagement

Don’t survey unless you’re committed to taking action


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Elements of organizational success

Positive economic/market forces

Skilled workforce

Well formulated strategy

?

Org. Success


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Positive economic/market forces

Skilled workforce

Well formulated strategy

Culture

Org. Success

Elements of organizational success

When company strategies fail, the fault does not usually lie with the disengaged managers and individuals charged with implementing the strategy, but with the Leaders’ design for engaging these people in the critical imperatives of the organizations future.

Jim Haudan – The Art of Engagement

Culture > Strategy


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Survey Purpose(s)

Source: Jack Wiley (2006). The Strategic Employee Survey in The human resources evolution: Why putting people first matters. Editors Burke and Cooper

“It’s better to know than not know e.g., union vulnerability”

“Retain employees who are loyal, committed, motivated, & proud ”

“Evaluate effectiveness of specific programs, policies, initiatives” e.g., pay, diversity, work/life balance

“Predict and drive outcomes e.g., cust. satisfaction & biz

performance”


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Survey process, not event

ASKWhat do you

want to know?

LISTENCollect data,

Insight, Share results

RESPONDCreate cultural change

Build high performing, growth-oriented, profitable organization

The entire survey process must be handled effectively for anything good to come from the survey.

William Macey et al. -

Employee Engagement


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Agenda

Introduction




Conclusion

Q&A


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Defining survey contentMeasure what’s important to your organization’s success?

Begin with the end in mind … match your business strategy to the survey content

• If survey measures what‘s important to your organization, the results will readily guide Leaders and Managers to the right priorities for follow-up

Focus on the business … What does your CEO/ Executive team want to know:

� If we could snap our fingers and have everyone focused on improving one thing, what would it be?


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Common survey topic areas

Confidence in Org.’s future

Confidence & trust in senior

leaders

Promising future/career

Receive recognition

Challenging and rewarding

workInnovation

Opportunity to improve skills

Teamwork

EngagementCustomerfocus

Quality service and products

Strategy


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Types of open-ended questions

List 1 change that management could make that would most improve your ability to do your job effectively?

What 1-2 things could management do to make this a better place to work?

List 1 change that management could make that would most improve your ability to do your job effectively?

What 1-2 things could management do to make this a better place to work?

If you have additional comments, please enter them in the space below.

Are there any other issues you wish to bring to the attention of management?

If you have additional comments, please enter them in the space below.

Are there any other issues you wish to bring to the attention of management?

What is the most important barrier to our continued success and what would you do to remove this barrier?

What are the 3 most important issues facing the CEO in the next 100 days and how can they best be addressed?

What is the most important barrier to our continued success and what would you do to remove this barrier?

What are the 3 most important issues facing the CEO in the next 100 days and how can they best be addressed?

If you answered no to the last question, please give your reason(s).

Describe a difficult situation you handled well and what you did to resolve it?

If you answered no to the last question, please give your reason(s).

Describe a difficult situation you handled well and what you did to resolve it?

Purpose

Descriptive Prescriptive

General

Specific

Scope


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Usefulness of open-ended questions

• Difficult and time consuming to analyze

• Read & categorize comments; identify trends

• Tend to skew negative

• Not representative

• Given too much value

• Concerns RE: confidentiality

• Direct expression … enables employees to feel “fully heard”

• May answer questions not asked and surface issues not addressed by survey

• Info beyond numbers adds depth to understanding

• Details and examples can help narrow focus and move from issue identification to action

Pros Cons


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Maximizing org. performance and engagement

Performance

Excellence Index

Engagement

Index

Keyindicators

Discuss how work

environment/

culture scores

need to change to

drive business

performance and

increase

engagement

Listen and support

Surveypurpose

Examine

elements of

work

environment/

culture as

perceived by

employees

Complementary goals

Improve Business

Performance

Retain & Engage

Employees

Source: Jack Wiley (2010). Strategic Employee Surveys


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And the survey says …Where to focus to maximize outcomes

Focus on behaviors that reinforce:

� Confidence & trust in Sr. Leaders

� Supervisors providing employees with recognition & respect

� Employees doing challenging work that provides sense of accomplishment

� Employees developing professionally & have promising future

� Support employees efforts to balance work and family/ personal responsibilities

Retain & EngageEmployees

Strengthen practices that:

� Focus on customer

� Emphasize quality

� Ensure employees receive necessary training

� Get employees involved

� Ensure effective teamwork among employees

Improve Business Performance



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Agenda

Introduction




Conclusion

Q&A


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Frequency of surveying

9%

6%

50%

34%

No schedule

More than 1/year

Annually

Every 2 years

Source: Jack Wily and Scott Brooks: You've Got Survey Results…Now What? Using Organizational Survey Results to Drive Change. SIOP Conference Workshop 2010.

Responses from 31 of the most sophisticated survey practitioners in some of the biggest companies


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Possible online survey providers

• Surveymonkey

• Zoomerang

• Survey Said

• SurveySage

• Keysurvey

• Other


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Response rates (for employee surveys)

58 surveys over 5 years by two consulting companies1

67%

46% 47% 42%

Broadbased -Census

Broadbased -Sample

Specialtopic -Census

Specialtopic -Sample

1 Youssenia and Berwald (2003); 2 Stephen RogelBerg (2006); 3 Church and Wasclawski (1998)

12 members of IT Survey Group2

Broad

based -

Census

78%

High: 97%Low: 50%

Questionable: less than 50%

Adequate: 50% to 64%

Good: 65% to 70%

Rules of Thumb3:


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Reality…No minimally acceptable response rate. Reference trend

Although external benchmarks on typical response rates are useful, internal benchmarks (for example, how an obtained response rate compares to the rate achieved in the previous administration of the same survey) often prevail when interpreting response rate. A 75 percent response rate celebrated in one organization will be lamented and scrutinized in another organization that traditionally achieves 85 percent response rates. There is no agreed-on standard for minimum acceptable response rate.

Stephen Rogelberg – Understanding nonresponse and facilitating response to organizational surveys


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Got data … now what?Avoid analysis-paralysis

54

63

64

64

69

70

73

73

73

75

75

82

25

22

20

21

17

18

15

17

16

15

16

12

22

15

16

15

15

13

12

10

12

10

9

6

0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%

Career development

Communications

Rewards/recognition

Training

Work life balance

Performance appraisal

Physical working conditions

Customer focus

Diversity

Job itself

Teamwork

Safety

Source: Data from Sirota Survey Intelligence: Overcoming Intangible Obstacles to Business Success (Oct. 2011)


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Getting started Address important issues

Key questions to guideanalysis of data

• What keeps your Leaders up at night?

• What drives performance within the organization?

• What has your organization been trying to improve?

• What are you going to try to make happen in the next 3-6 months?

• How do you create the most value for the organization?

• Where is the organization most at risk?

Sound familiar?Remember … Survey content should match your org.’s strategy

Analyses divorced from business strategy are less useful

EmployeeConcerns

ManagerConcerns

Identified priorities


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What’s a good score?

54

63

64

64

69

70

73

73

73

75

75

82

25

22

20

21

17

18

15

17

16

15

16

12

22

15

16

15

15

13

12

10

12

10

9

6

0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%

Career development

Communications

Rewards/recognition

Training

Work life balance

Performance appraisal

Physical working conditions

Customer focus

Diversity

Job itself

Teamwork

Safety

Source: Date from Sirota Survey Intelligence: Overcoming Intangible Obstacles to Business Success (Oct. 2011)


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What’s a good score?It’s relative ….

Compare results to:

• normative comparison (internal, external)

• history (tending up, flat or down)

• what’s critical to driving performance excellence and employee engagement?


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Use quadrant analysis

Norm x History Norm x Driver


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Segment and distribute resultsDrives insight and accountability

NFL

Dim1 Dim2 Dim3

78 85 53AFC

Dim1 Dim2 Dim3

80 68 50

NFC

Dim1 Dim2 Dim3

67 77 76

East North

West

Dim1 Dim2 Dim3

62 74 59

Dim1 Dim2 Dim3

81 75 80

Dim1 Dim2 Dim3

58 77 81

South

Dim1 Dim2 Dim3

53 69 58

East North

West

Dim1 Dim2 Dim3

62 74 59

Dim1 Dim2 Dim3

81 75 80

Dim1 Dim2 Dim3

58 77 81

South

Dim1 Dim2 Dim3

53 69 58

Texans - ColtsJaguars - Titans

Cardinals - 49ersSeahawks - Rams


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Segment and distribute resultsDrives insight and accountability

Also consider cutting data by:

Function DepartmentSite/

Location

Tenure Job Type Level

Other?


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Sharing & discussing results with employees is not action planning

What

Survey results

indicate what

employees

perceive/think

Why

Feedback

meetings clarify

why employees

feel the way they

do

How

Both are

necessary to

determine how

an organization

should respond

Survey feedback

Action Planning


+ =


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Agenda

Introduction




Conclusion

Q&A


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The only value in employee engagement efforts lies in the actions taken once the data has been collected and analyzed.

Bersin & Associates Research ReportEmployee Engagement: A changing marketplace (September 2010)

It comes down to action


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80-20 rule

SurveyFollow-up

PlanningDevelopingAdministrationData TabulationDisseminating Results

If you manage this … call me ASAP! ☺☺☺☺


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Importance of action planning

What type of activity did you see take place since the last survey:

a. Received no feedback and saw no action

b. Only received feedback about the results of the survey

c. Only saw actionsimplemented as a result of the survey

d. Both received feedback and saw action

Overall, I am satisfied with my employment at this organization.

1. Strongly disagree

2. Disagree

3. Neutral

4. Agree

5. Strongly agree


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Action planning is critical

51% 51%

71%78%

No Feedback;No Action

ReceivedFeedback

Only

ActionOnly

Feedback + Action

Satisfaction Favorability

Source: Church and Oliver (2006). The importance of taking action, not just sharing survey feedback

Receiving feedback on results + perceived as taking action yields highest scores

Only receiving feedback is as ineffective as doing nothing at all


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Identify and focus on the critical few

A list of priorities that outmatches the resources or resolve of the organization almost always leads to employee cynicism toward and distrust of the process. A short list of priorities worked well will advance the cause of the organization much better and faster than a long list worked poorly.

Jack Wiley – Strategic Employee Surveys


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Define survey content

Collect data

Understand results

Establishpriorities

Communicate results & priorities

Clarifypriorities

Generate recommendations

Develop & implement actions

Monitorprogress


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What does list below describe?

� Instill strong initial commitment to make a change

� Focus on realistic goals with measurable results

� Write a specific action plan

� Make the goals public—declare your resolution

� Have coping strategies to deal with problems

� Use social support; the buddy-system really works

� Get started immediately

� Reward success

Answer: Advice from the science of keepingNew Year’s Resolutions

Source: Scott Brooks. Make Your Employee Survey Matter: Part I (webinar Janyary 2011).


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Survey Leader/HRM‘s role?Be a “personal fitness trainer”… Don’t do the exercise!

MOTIVATOR

INSPIRE DESIRE

TO CHANGE

Connect results to manager G&Os and business value

Make action plans & progress public

ADVISOR

FOCUS ACTIONS

ON PRIORITIES

Coach on process

Provide interpretation support

FACILITATOR

ENHANCE

ABILITY TO

CHANGE

Share success stories

Incorporate actions into existing work plans

GOAL SETTER

DEFINE METRICS

AND

ACCOUNTABILITY

Identify milestones

Work updates into staff meetings

Regular reviews with manager

Help Leaders/Managers live up to their good intentions

Source: Scott Brooks. Make Your Employee Survey Matter: Part I (webinar January 2011).


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Agenda

Introduction




Conclusion

Q&A


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Effective Survey Process

Don’t survey if you are not committed to taking action

Measure what’s important

Make analysis relevant to solving real challenges

Keep follow up simple

Share best practices

across teams

Communication

Administration

Results

Actions

Accountability

Enhance accountability

for implementing

changes

Measure action planning in survey and performance management

Leadership

Empower employees

Role model desired survey

action behaviors

Hold lower levels

accountable

Patience & Persistence

Summary/recommendations

Improving Culture

Align & engage workforce in business objectives

Focus on the issues that matter most

• Process too• Continually

remind employees … we did this because of your input


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People work because they have to … but, people engage only when they want to.

Jim Haudan – The Art of Engagement


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Agenda

Introduction




Conclusion

Q&A

Appendix

52 /GE Title or job number /

3/7/2012

Reference/Reading List

Church and Waclawski (1998). Designing and using organizational surveys: A seven

step process.

Kraut (2006). Getting action from organizational surveys.

Macey, Schneider, Barbera, and Young (2009). Employee engagement: Tools for

analysis, practice, and competitive edge.

Wiley (2010). Strategic Employee Surveys.


3/7/2012

Sample surveys

E3

Q12

High Performance-Engagement Model

DDI

Gallup

Kenexa

Instrument Vendor

Microsoft Word 97 -

2003 Document

Microsoft Word

Document

Microsoft Word

Document

Questions/Items


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Summary video

http://www.explania.com/en/channels/work/detail/how-to-use-employee-engagement-to-boost-your-business


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Poll: why survey?

Why does the organization where you work survey its employees? (Choose best answer)

A. To know whether employees are satisfied (or not)

B. It’s what good companies do

C. Show interest in employee morale and welfare

D. To evaluate key workplace issues

E. To create sustainable change aligned with business strategy


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Poll: key drivers of engagement

The leaders in the organization where I work understand how to create an environment that promotes employee engagement.

A. Strongly agree

B. Agree

C. Neither agree nor disagree

D. Disagree

E. Strongly disagree


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Poll: understanding the feedback

In the organization where I work, it does an effective job training the leaders and managers how to interpret their results and conduct feedback meetings.

A. Strongly agree

B. Agree


D. Disagree



3/7/2012

Poll – expectations for action

In the organization where I work there are clear expectations for action - leaders, managers, and employees understand their post-survey roles and responsibilities.

A. Strongly agree

B. Agree


D. Disagree


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