Uncertainty, burnout, ineffective telecommunications, remote working challenges, and meeting overload are all symptoms of Covid-19 and how it has disrupted work and our lives. Times are strange. And many organizations’ knee-jerk reaction to an engagement survey is, “This is not representative of how things really are. Let’s wait.”
Wait for what?
An employee engagement survey isn’t a tool to confirm an organization’s greatness. (Leave confirmation bias for social media.) An effective survey is a listening tool, a way to understand how employees perceive the way their organization is attending to their experiences. (Employees are experiencing some pretty “out-there” things right now.) And, executed well, an engagement survey can be a road map to better practices, leadership opportunities, and productivity.
By administering an employee engagement survey now, you can respond to collaborators’ needs, adjust your sails, and open up your organization to some pretty fantastic, creative, out-of-the-box opportunities that, otherwise, might’ve been on stand-by while you wait for this to pass. Realistically, the workplace has changed, and we’re all in for a long haul.
This is not going to pass anytime soon.
An effective survey process:
1. Shows employees that their experiences are important to the organization.
2. Reinforces the idea that the organization is committed to employees’ well-being.
3. Acknowledges the changes in the workplace (and world) and demonstrates the organization is listening.
4. Gives you honest insight which will lead to information for managers and the organization on how best to support collaborators.
5. Helps the organization push through tough times.
Right now organizations are reinventing themselves. But scrambling around with the newness of Covid-19 has waned, and it’s time to be responsive, dig deep, and breathe.
Taking the time to listen to your employees and attend to their needs isn’t just the decent thing to do. It’s great business.