If you think you are getting the whole truth from your online employee engagement surveys, think again.
HR teams have historically relied on employee engagement surveys to gauge worker sentiment and identify opportunities to improve organizational productivity, agility, and profitability, but a report from the people analytics firm Visier finds this data sometimes can be misleading.
Visier’s research found that 47% of employees say they feel pressure to withhold honest feedback from their employers when completing HR employee engagement surveys.
Moreover, 20% say that pressure causes them to “occasionally” hold back the truth and another 6% say they “never” provide honest feedback. This means 1 in 4 workers may be providing inaccurate data that their company will use in its decision-making processes.
The top reason employees gave for providing less than honest feedback was their belief that HR surveys are not truly anonymous (37%), followed by the belief that their responses would have no meaningful impact (27%).
Tying for third among responses was the belief that surveys were a drain on their time (11%) or concern that negative responses would harm their employer’s reputation (11%). The remainder said honest responses might hurt their career (8%) or that the employee engagement survey questions did not allow them to fully express their opinions (5%).
The topic that employees found most difficult to be honest about in HR surveys was their overall job satisfaction (36%), which is a key metric of employee engagement, retention, and productivity, according to a blog post by Sarah Gonzales, senior content director at Vizier. Additionally, 33% of employees said they had the most difficulty being honest about the company leadership or their managers’ performance.
“Without candid feedback, leaders are flying blind when it comes to assessing and improving managerial performance,” Gonzales wrote. “Without that transparency, managers lose out on critical insights into how their leadership style affects the team — making it harder to adapt, support employees effectively, and ultimately boost productivity.”
To foster a more productive, engaged workforce, leaders should not overlook opportunities to translate employee feedback into direct action, Gonzales wrote.
Vizier’s research found that when employees are asked what actions they want to see their employers take over the next 12 months to boost productivity, the top response (37%) was to receive “regular updates on actions taken from employee engagement survey feedback.”
Improved communication/transparency on company changes tied for second at 26% with increased compensation and benefits (also 26%). The third most requested employer action from workers (24%) was for increased resources for employee well-being and mental health.
