We’re thrilled to present our latest article, “Employee Assessment: Evaluating Success Beyond the Hiring Process!” Explore the vital aspects of maintaining employee satisfaction and enhancing workplace culture post-recruitment.

Authored by our esteemed partner, Interaction Metrics, this article highlights our joint dedication to crafting teams that perfectly align with individual strengths and organizational objectives. Dive into insightful strategies and practical advice for implementing impactful employee assessment surveys, fostering a workforce that feels valued and empowered for sustained success.

Employee Assessment: Assess Even AFTER You’ve Made Great Hires!

Congratulations! You’ve hired the perfect candidates. Now what? How do you keep the momentum going? Once you’ve hired the best employees, don’t make the mistake of letting their talents and potential languish. Help them continue to grow by measuring their satisfaction with employee assessment surveys.

Like many companies, you probably measure customer satisfaction.

But as a customer experience agency, we know that you will never satisfy your customers if your employees aren’t satisfied too.

So, after firms like Clarity Talent Management ensure the right candidates are hired without bias, you need a robust employee assessment program to make sure those employees thrive.

With employee survey data in hand, you can often achieve a workplace culture where employees feel fulfilled and aligned with your goals. But that data must be objective. If your employee assessment processes are based on scientific data, your efforts toward building a positive culture are likely to succeed.

6 Employee Assessment Questions to Ask

So, what should you ask in anonymous employee assessment surveys? Here are six questions that will encourage your employees to give you their honest thoughts.

1. Do you see yourself working here a year from now?
   Why this question works: This is the strongest indication of whether your employee finds your workplace genuinely fulfilling.
2. What are the pros and cons of your job?
   Why this question works: If the employee’s list of “pros” matches your company’s values, it’s a sign that the employee is aligned with your mission.
3. Do you have room to grow at work?
   Why this question works: Encouraging employees to develop professionally helps them to grow and take on new responsibilities and talents.
4. Do you feel at ease discussing sensitive issues with your boss?
   Why this question works: The relationship between bosses and their direct reports is core to a company’s overall health. Insensitive management can kill a workplace’s culture.
5. For any reason, have you ever felt like you experienced discrimination?
   Why this question works: If your employee is experiencing discrimination, they may not feel comfortable reporting it outside of an anonymous survey.
6. Would you recommend this workplace to your friends as a welcoming environment?
   Why this question works: Take a cue from the Net Promoter Question and ask your employees whether they would recommend your company to their friends.

If your employees are happy, you want to hear about it! If they have ideas for how you can improve, you want to hear about that too. And certainly, if your employees are unhappy you want to learn that as soon as possible before they start looking for new jobs.

7 Ways to Make Your Employee Assessment a Success

If you expect your workers to take your employee assessment survey, make sure it’s not a chore for them. Here are seven tips on how to design an employee assessment survey that will deliver actionable data and ensure employees feel heard.

1. Guarantee anonymity. This is non-negotiable. Employees will never feel comfortable sharing their honest thoughts about their bosses and workplace unless you guarantee that their responses cannot be connected to their identities.
2. Use a third party to conduct your survey. Whenever you address sensitive issues in the workplace, employees are more likely to trust outside firms that don’t have a vested interest in their answers.
3. Notify employees ahead of time what they should expect. Employees are unlikely to start a task if they don’t know how long it will take them. Tell them upfront how many questions will be on the survey and how many minutes it will take to complete. (And be honest! Don’t promise it will take five minutes if it will really take 15.)
4. Use language that reflects the way people actually talk. For instance, surveys that use “neither agree nor disagree” statements are off-putting. If you’re going to use rating scales, give options like “Bad”, “Poor,” “OK,” “Good,” and “Great.” These scales are more accurate because they mimic the way your employees already speak.
5. Always say thank you, both in the body of your email invitation and at the end of the survey. Your employees’ time is valuable. Be sure to acknowledge that.
6. Check your employee assessment survey to eliminate bias. Bias is the biggest problem for any survey, but it’s easy for it to appear in surveys that touch on sensitive topics. Ask a group of individuals (who aren’t in your department) to read through your survey and let you know if there are any unintended biases.
7. Lastly, be sure to ask questions that you will want to ask over time so that your current data will be comparable with future survey data. Usually, when the subject is workplace culture, you’ll want a tracking study with data over time.

Make the Right Impression with Your Employee Email Invite

All too often, the invitation to take a survey is an afterthought. But it deserves attention because it’s your employees’ first impression of the survey. It’s your chance to address your employees’ concerns and assure them that their answers will build a workplace where everyone flourishes.

Assuming you use an outside agency, make sure their emails:

• Tell employees upfront that their survey answers cannot be connected to them at all.
• Use disarming, objective language. Statements like, “Everyone’s opinions matter, and your thoughts count,” encourage employees to share what’s on their minds.
• Offer incentives like a donation to a favorite charity or a gift card because you want the survey to be enjoyable in some way, not another burden.

Employees are an Asset

“Employees are a company’s greatest asset – they’re your competitive advantage,” former CEO and Xerox Corporation Chairwoman Anne M. Mulcahy said.

You can build lasting programs that are realistic and pragmatic if your employees can share their thoughts (positive and negative) about your company.

But when companies launch initiatives without having firm facts, they wind up with conflicting objectives and failed projects. Starting with a grip on reality is the key to building positive cultural change.

At Interaction Metrics, we help companies build thriving workplaces with employee assessment surveys. Want to learn how you can build a healthy, realistic work culture? Get in touch!

~ Martha Brooke, founder Interaction Metrics