Is an Employee Satisfaction Survey Enough to Gauge Well-Being, or Is There More?

Hi all,

I have a query... Is conducting an Employee Satisfaction Survey the ultimate measure of employee well-being? If no, then what else can be done?

Hi Ishita,

Thanks for the information. In fact, if you could provide me with more details on the processes you have completed so far for employees, I believe I can assist you in this matter.

Thanks & Regards, Murali Ph: 9448337619

Hi all,

I have a query. Is conducting an Employee Satisfaction Survey the ultimate measure of employee well-being? If not, then what else can be done?

Hi Ishita,

The answer is no. An employee satisfaction survey is just one of the indicators of measures of employees' well-being. If it is conducted in a frank and anonymous basis, then it shows the areas of concern; otherwise, it just remains as statistics on paper with no value. Most of us have the tendency to get caught up with paper tigers and sit behind PCs.

True indicators? Well, do they smile when they come to the office? In fact, this is what I observe with the people outside the Churchgate station. How many of them are eager to go to the office? It shows up on their facial expressions. Are they eager to take on more work/assignments?

There is a need to engage in OD exercises and look holistically at their work performances and processes.

Cheerio,
Rajat

Hi Ishita,

Employee satisfaction surveys never give a holistic picture of employee well-being. You need to supplement that with a few OD exercises.

Ekta

Hi Ishita,

Don't be under the impression that satisfaction surveys are good indicators of employee well-being. In paper, they may put any number of tick marks, but not what is in their mind. For that, you have to go to them personally, if possible to where they are sitting, and have a genuine talk. Please note that such dialogues should not be a one-time affair, after which you forget about the whole episode. Let that be a continuous dialogue where you keep a tab on the improvements and developments in their work life.

To give each employee such personal attention, we may need to increase the workforce in HR. Unfortunately, many companies think vice versa.

Nisha.

Hi all,

Globally, research has shown a relationship between employee engagement and business results ranging from 1% to 10%. Currently, I am conducting a correlation study between variables in my organization.

Regards,
Saurabh

Hi all, thank you very much for your reply to my query. For Mr. Mural, well, I am a student and I haven't really worked on any measures. It's just that I wanted to know more information about the ESS and its significance as the ultimate measure of employee well-being. Any input or practical examples are truly welcome.

Also, Mr. Rajat and Ms. Ekta, what are the various OD exercises that can be done and have been implemented in various companies? Please let me know.

Thanks

True employee satisfaction is only a component of a bigger picture. As an HR consultant, we use employee satisfaction feedback tools to get an impression of certain trends from which you can further home in on tangible areas of concern. Ultimately, I always suggest a combination of the two: something used for measurement, i.e., http://<a href="http://www.visionmet...etrics.net</a>, combined with discussion-based (either 1-1 or group level) sessions on the measured results. That way, you get an earnest picture you can base certain strategies on. Hope this helps.

Rgds,
HR Consultant

It's not the ultimate measure, just one measure amongst many. Some others are:
-employee retention
-employee absenteeism
-level of union action; strikes, lockouts, go-slows
-number of employee grievances/complaints
-number of OH&S incidents/accidents
-productivity rates
-error rates
-number of customer complaints
Perhaps the most telling indicator is face-to-face conversation – asking employees about the quality of their working life. This will give invaluable qualitative information that cannot be gleaned from numerical indicators.
Just on closing, I'm much more partial to evaluating levels of engagement, as opposed to levels of satisfaction. An employee can be quite satisfied working for an employer, but highly disengaged with the work.
Vicki Heath
Human Resources Software and Resources
http://www.businessperform.com