Do you sometimes wonder why your star performing employee might suddenly leave your organization, in spite of regular raises and even a bonus when that’s available? My colleague Alex came to me in frustration just last week over his second surprise employee exit in just three months. We can’t just keep giving more raises, he insisted.

It’s not about the money. Or only about the money. Often the reasons employees leave have to do with everything other than money—the stuff that falls into the category of “what it’s like to work at the company.” They’re thinking about the culture, the coworkers, the reward for doing exceptional work, and of course management.

All of those things add up to engagement. So even though an employee might rate his or her satisfaction level pretty high on an employee satisfaction survey, that person may not be fully engaged.

Here’s how to tell if it’s time to conduct an engagement survey, including four tips from one of my 2018 blogs. It’s worth repeating.

It’s time to conduct an employee engagement survey if…

• You’ve never surveyed your employees’ engagement. Now you can ask things you really wanted to know but couldn’t tactfully ask face-to-face.
• Employees and managers are painting a very rosy picture. This is only normal, given human beings’ evolutionary need for self-protection.
• It’s been two or more years since your last survey. Things change. Thankfully,  it’s incredibly quick and cheap to repeat an online survey once it’s been created.
• You’ve heard rumblings but aren’t privy to exactly what’s going on.  Either you’re distant from the action because of your own role, or as a CEO I know puts it: “Once you put on a suit, nobody tells you the truth anymore.”

If you’ve never surveyed your employees, you might be surprised at how much you can learn—and how fast.

A ten-minute online survey (from survey monkey, survey gizmo, and a score of others) can net candid views of everything from management to benefits and company culture. Are employees likely to recommend your company as an employer to their friends and family? Do they have a good working relationship with their manager? What’s the most important thing the company could do to enhance their engagement? Etc.

You can also make sure your survey is completely anonymous, quelling the fears many employees have about potential retribution. In addition, it’s possible to get benchmarks for your results, comparing your data to organizations of similar size and focus.

What are your options?

If you decide to survey employees, you have lots of options: Choose a ready-made survey and administer it in-house or hire a consultant to customize one for your organization, assuring employees that no one “inside” sees their data directly. Just make sure the survey fits your organization, its work and its culture.

A good response rate hovers around 70% according to officevibe.com, although an average we’re told to expect is closer to 30%. I think that’s overly pessimistic: I’ve seen 90% several times and even 100%. Success lies in how you design, introduce, administer, and follow up the survey.

How should I follow up?

Naturally, you’ll read the survey response summary and then prioritize actions you’ll take. But since 25% of employees think that managers use surveys as a “tick box exercise,” (according to officevibe.com), be sure to actually communicate with people in a timely way. Tell them (1) what you find out, and (2) what part of it you’ll start working on this year.

I guarantee they’ll be paying attention.

What tactics have you used for assessing employee input? Join the conversation by adding a comment below.

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