How Better Data Can Drive Employee Engagement
How much data does your company have on employee satisfaction? Chances are that the data sets are pretty thin. You may not know as much as you should about engagement levels, employee concerns and reasons for turnover.
With the right data you can better implement strategic plans that take advantage of departmental strengths and find remedies for specific weaknesses. When it comes to the right data it really is a case of “what you don’t know can really hurt you.”
Using Continuous Feedback to Collect Good Data
More and more organizations are waking up to the idea of collecting feedback from their employees. These efforts range from once-a-quarter open ended surveys to targeted weekly pulse surveys. When it comes to getting the bigger picture of employee satisfaction and performance it just so happens that more data is better.
The trick to collecting feedback on a continuous basis is to keep it simple, focused and relevant to the employee’s concerns. For instance production line employees don’t want to answer questions about customer contact. They do want to address inefficiencies or bottlenecks that keep them from doing their best work.
Knowledge is Key to Employee Retention
The more you know about your teams the easier it will be to spot talent that is a good fit for your organization. Continuous feedback is an essential part of gaining that kind of insight. Feedback can also help you keep employees engaged and reduce turnover.
When you understand the pain points and opportunities that affect your workforce you’re better equipped to find and implement a solution. Even in the worst cases, where there is no easy fix for a problem, simply knowing that their concerns are being heard by the organization can go a long way toward earning employee trust.
Big Data vs. Everyday Data
There’s a lot of buzz these days about “Big Data” - tremendous datasets that are complex and difficult to analyze. But honestly it’s not important to know what kind of car an employee drives, whether they prefer to shop at Wayfair or Amazon, or what they’ve named their pets.
Everyday data is the key to improving employee engagement and retention. The best feedback tools will help you understand how workers feel about their workload and when was the last time their supervisor recognized the contributions they’ve made. This kind of data can help you evaluate the effectiveness of communications, the best communication channels to use and how to improve the feedback loop you are using to collect data in the first place.
What Does Continuous Feedback Mean?
When we talk about “continuous feedback” it’s not always clear what “continuous” means. In the world of advertising effective frequency is often pegged somewhere around six to ten exposures. After ten exposures to an advertisement consumers start to grow numb. But a small variation in the ad presentation can make it seem fresh.
The point here is that you can’t simply send out a survey and say “well, we asked for feedback.” Busy workers might need a variety of experiences - sometimes a survey, other times a quiz or a poll may be what breaks through the noise and triggers engagement.
One of the strongest approaches is to build a “culture of feedback” in your organization. Give employees a regular opportunity to submit feedback and then remind them often that you are acting on this feedback.
When workers see that leadership is listening to their concerns and responding, they will be more likely to participate.
Enterprise Ready Social Feedback
Here at TemboSocial we have experience helping organizations collect, analyze and respond to essential employee data. Our enterprise ready tools are easy to install, easy to manage and are designed to work inside your current communication network.
Click here to learn more about TemboSocial Feedback and how it can improve employee experience.