The employee survey has proven to be a reliable way of gathering accurate information from the very people who make your organisation tick. You can see how you’re doing with staff’s professional development and wellbeing, or how engaged they are feeling.

This feedback is essential if you want to increase productivity levels and prevent your staff job-hunting!

If you’re planning a survey you should also be thinking about how you announce it and, of course, how you encourage people to get involved once it’s live. So let us give you some helpful hints on ramping up those participation levels.

1.    Know your audience before creating a survey

As with all communications it’s vital that you know your audience before you start putting together the materials. You can’t risk putting your staff off with an overly lengthy, dry survey if you know they’re usually busy with deadlines for example. Give them something more eye-catching and engaging to pique their interest instantly.

2.    Launch with a big splash

Announcing the opening of the survey can be done in an effective and stylish way! Why not film a short video with the CEO inviting staff to participate? Or how about an HTML email with striking visuals and a clear call to action? The survey launch can be bold, entertaining, clever and meaningful, but whatever you do, make sure you reach out to all of your staff!

3.    Be clear about the reasons

Employees need to know why you’re running the survey and how their contribution is going to make a difference. Make it crystal-clear that their opinion is essential to the future of the organisation’s success; key decisions will be made based on their feedback. Also, tell them that their answers are completely confidential to encourage them to open up and be 100% honest.

4.    Prompt for responses

It’s likely that whatever you do to nudge staff to take part in a survey, not everyone will do so. But for those who can participate but just never seem to find the right moment, a few timely prompts won’t hurt. Desk drops, posters, emails and reminders from managers in team meetings can push things along quite nicely.

5.    Offer incentives

We all love a freebie! And the good news is that studies show that offering incentives to employees increases the level of responses. Not surprising, you may think! But what’s more interesting is that the size of incentive doesn’t seem to matter. So, whether it’s a novelty prize or something more valuable, people feel obliged to take part in exchange. In fact participants tend to put more time into their answers if they’re rewarded.

6.    Promise to help a charity

Every year Nationwide Building Society makes a donation to Macmillan for every member that votes in the AGM. If you want to show your support for a local charity, while incentivising and engaging staff, this is the ideal solution. You get precious staff feedback, while your charity partner gets a much-needed financial boost!

So there you have it: tip-top advice that’ll help you gather insight into current challenges and barriers, as well as positive comments on how you’re doing. Soon there’ll be a fantastic opportunity to source staff opinion through the Best Employer, Eastern Region (BEER) survey. Don’t miss the chance to win a ‘Best Employer’ award - get in touch with Pure to find out more: anna.hill@prs.uk.com!