How to decide who to survey, when

15 March 2010 8:34am

When the budget for running staff surveys is tight, employers need to focus on where they can get reliable answers fastest, says Retention Partners director Lisa Halloran.

During the last 18 months, most organisations haven't had a large influx of new employees, she explains, but they might have had an exodus. The key question to ask is: "Where are the bulk of your people?" Halloran says.

If there are no significant trends elsewhere, "in terms of the best bang for your buck, it's really worth talking to current employees," says Halloran. "They're right there, we know how to contact them [and] we can send them communication."

Although there is a place for marketing campaigns and employment branding to attract new people, there's "no point" if you don't find solutions to keep the people you've already got, she says. Asking: "Why are you still here? When are you planning on quitting? Why haven't you quit yet?" is always a "sensible risk prevention survey strategy", she says.

Whatever the target group, the focus needs to be on having "a depth of data at one point in time, from which you can derive strategy changes or tactic changes".

Even when money is tight, cheaper methodology - such as using the internet instead of the telephone - should be avoided, Halloran says. The point is not ease of administration, but finding retention solutions, and phone interviews obtain "the richest quality data for the best value".

Costs can be cut further, however, by narrowing the sample group. One focus that often proves popular with CEOs is to focus on a specific group of high-value employees. This might be new recruits in sales, exiting employees at a senior level or in a particular state, or current employees who are at a certain point on the performance scale, she says.

Provided the sample group is rigorously drawn and statistically representative, the survey will usually identify solutions that their colleagues will benefit from as well. [It's] not really about what Mary says, it's about what women say, it's not about what you as a salesperson says, it's about what all salespeople say... It's about getting a body of data that helps you determine: what strategy do I have to change, or what tactic do I have to change, to make good people join and stay?"

New employees present a "no-brainer" opportunity

Another way to work within budgetary restrictions is to take advantage of existing opportunities. With new employees, "we know that 90 days after they start they're going to be sitting in an office having a bit of a chat", says Halloran.

Because employers deal with the end-of-probation decision on an individual basis, "it's not really looked on as an opportunity to explore whether the recruitment process needs improvement, and if so where, or whether the onboarding process needs improvement, or where".

However, using this situation to ask some extra questions (Where did you read about us? Why did you decide to join us? Who else did you apply with? Why did you say yes? Why did you hesitate? What have your first 90 days been like? How can we improve?) is a "no-brainer", she says. "In this case you've already got a contact point - this is scheduled, it's in the diary, it's the probation chat - so we're not going to reinvent some other great big process."

Exiting and ex-employees have a breadth of experience

Exit interviews that ask "the right questions" can provide "amazing feedback about low-cost, or no-cost solutions that will make the current people want to stay longer", says Halloran. Provided they are anonymous, people are "incredibly honest" as they share their "entire employment experience" of the company.

Although they are usually staggered, when a significant number builds up the data should be collated, she says, "otherwise, what's the point?" By isolating questions that relate to specific areas - such as recruitment, onboarding, learning, development, managers and remuneration - employers can combine answers and look for themes.

"You might pull out all the questionnaires [completed] by women, or all those that came from people who were employed for less than six months and decided to quit, and say 'OK, I can't afford to have people quitting in less than six months - what are their themes?' Maybe there are only six of them, but there's no point doing an exit interview to find out why Mary quit. She's gone. It's way too late. The only reason we're doing it is to figure out why women quit, why high-value people quit, whatever the case may be," she says.

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