What to Do About Employee Survey Fatigue

Yet Another Survey?
Employers understandably want to gather feedback from their workers, so they learn where best to focus efforts to improve leadership behaviors, business operations, and corporate culture. But employers have been warned about the phenomenon of employee survey fatigue. They hesitate to deploy yet another survey fearing low participation rates, incomplete questionnaires, and inaccurate results.

Our corporate culture assessment data tells us that survey fatigue is not as much about the frequency of such diagnostics as the lack of confidence in leadership acting upon the survey results. Survey participants weary of answering questions when they are not privy to the summary report and see no concerted action to effect change.

How to Effectively Gather Feedback
Here are the keys to conducting effective surveys that give you relevant information and ensure that employees are motivated to participate thoughtfully in any follow-up data gathering.

1. Choose the Right Survey
   Not all surveys are created equally. Select one that is easy to deploy, easy to act upon, and tailored to specific issues at your unique organization. You want to capture the feedback of your employees only in those areas that you are willing to address with visible and meaningful action.
2. Consider the Pace
   Surveys need time and space – not too much but enough to design, distribute, collect, analyze, report out, and plan action steps. Adjust the pacing of your surveys to the length and breadth of the data you want to collect. Major survey initiatives may require many months to reap results; shorter, more targeted pulse surveys can be deployed much more frequently.
3. Share the Results
   Unfortunately, almost 50% of managers report never getting their team-specific engagement survey results. What a way to undermine employee confidence in their voices having any impact! Results should be shared broadly and in a timely fashion. Every survey participant should be included in the survey findings. It is then up to managers to ferret out the feedback that applies to them and their teams.
4. Plan Appropriate Actions
   The most powerful deterrent to survey fatigue is action. Managers and teams need to convene to develop action steps that address the problems highlighted in the survey and then begin to implement them. We recommend you focus on a “quick win” or two to ignite the improvement process and support motivation to continue.
5. Monitor and Share Progress
   To sustain progress, keep employees informed of the improvements as they occur. And be sure to follow through. The best way to combat declining feedback is to communicate the change that is happening.

The Bottom Line
Are you finding less participation in your feedback mechanisms because of employee survey fatigue? Take a closer look at how well you communicate what you plan to do with the results and your implementation success. You need to get serious about acting on employee voices.  

To learn more about employee engagement, download The Top 10 Most Powerful Ways to Boost Employee Engagement

by Tristam Brown: CEO

Tristam Brown is an executive business consultant and organizational development expert with more than three decades of experience helping organizations accelerate performance, build high-impact teams, and turn strategy into execution. As CEO of LSA Global, he works with leaders to get and stay aligned™ through research-backed strategy, culture, and talent solutions that produce measurable, business-critical results. See full bio.