Problematic Assumptions For Employee Surveys

Shawnee Love   •   March 11, 2020

Last week we spoke about the issues with engagement surveys from an employee’s perspective. This week, we are looking at the problem with engagement surveys from my perspective- an external HR consultant.

What concerns me most about engagement surveys is the questions presume:

  • Employees care about engagement. The truth is most employees don’t care about their jobs the way you (a passionately committed leader) might want them to. Furthermore, many won’t become any more engaged than they already are no matter what you do.
  • People answer honestly and completely. Actually, all people have biases of one kind or another and most people are quite unaware of them. However, even if you factor in basic biases like focusing on that which recently happened, or allowing opinions to be coloured by whether we like or dislike someone, there is another issue with this assumption. That is, some people answer with agenda. They have a desired outcome and they are accordingly strategic with their answers.
  • Everyone’s feedback has equal value. I challenge this assumption because it doesn’t make sense why the opinion of someone who hasn’t gotten over a perceived altercation which occurred many years ago (and has been working to make everyone’s life miserable ever since) should be given the same weight as someone who is sincere about making the organization better. However, this is often what occurs when you survey everyone.

This all being said, I am not suggesting don’t do surveys. They have their place if done well. I just encourage employers to be smart about how they structure the survey to fit what they are trying to achieve. Since it is so difficult to find good people, you want to keep them when you get them and engagement surveys can be a great tool in these efforts if done well.