Strategic relevance of pulse surveys
As the head of an organization, it's important to have a clear understanding of what's going on at all levels of the company. This means having a dashboard of core KPI's that you can refer to on a regular basis. You probably already have productivity levels, customer experience metrics, and conversion rates on that dashboard - but what about employee morale? It's not enough to just say that employees are the company's most important resource - you need to be able to show it.
I would argue that, in many cases, the employees who are actually interacting with customers have more of an impact on data collection and analysis than any algorithm.
Do you have a couple of minutes? Let's spend a few minutes thinking about why, at a minimum, one metric of employee satisfaction should be on your list of top 10 KPI's.
Essence of managing employee experience
I'm going to assume that, at your organization, the HR department releases the most important employee-related information in their yearly reporting to C-level. They're tracking employee turnover, conducting annual employee surveys, risks are mapped out and managed - the status quo is under control, right?
But is there a up to date measure of employee wellbeing, and are you using it? Is there a way to react to challenges as they arise, before they escalate? Annual reporting isn't enough if, at the executive level, you want to be able to see the big picture and keep the machine running smoothly in a competitive environment.
What's needed is a way to take the pulse of the organization on a regular basis - in other words, conducting pulse surveys. The optimal survey frequency will vary from organization to another, but you might want to do this light-touch measurement monthly, or at least quarterly. The key is to find one central metric that you can use to summarize the situation across different units and levels of the organization.
"..at least one HR metric should be on the company's core list of KPI's. That metric is eNPS."
Based on our 25-year experience with customers, it's clear to us that leading organizations have adopted eNPS (employee net promoter score) as that key metric. So our recommendation is simple: implement eNPS measurement at the frequency that works for you, several times per year, in a way that lets you drill down to the numbers and make comparisons at the unit level.
We also recommend that you create live reports that are updated on a regular basis, so managers can track developments and report back to upper management on corrective action that may be needed. This gives upper management visibility into all units, and the overall picture starts to come into focus. Trends can then be analyzed over time, allowing you to get ahead of any challenges before they become bigger problems.
Picture. On top of eNPS data you might want to have more detailed view on textual data as well (NLP)
How to implement this powerful analysis in your organization easily
You don't need complex structures to create a high-quality picture. Organizational units are defined once, and after that it's mostly a matter of making sure that any changes in report recipients are accounted for.
Here are the steps:
- Implement the eNPS survey. There are good ready made templates available for reference, here is one example: Employee Pulse survey (with eNPS). If you're going to be surveying monthly, we recommend a shorter format. The key question is "How likely are you to recommend us to a friend?"
- Send out survey invitations to employees, making sure that at least unit information is included as a background information. If your organizational culture is open and there is a high level of trust, you can use more detailed background information.
- Make sure that managers and executives have access to live reports for their respective areas, so they can see the results in their entirety and start corrective measures when needed. A knowledge-driven organization shares this type of information with key stakeholders and it's a good idea to go over the results with employees as well.
- Also make sure that you're getting reports on the key metrics for your own area.
In conclusion
It is easier to execute strategy when you have detailed view on what is happening in the field. This article started with the premise that at least one HR metric should be on the company's core list of KPI's. That metric could is eNPS.
However, it's important to remember that the overall eNPS score can mask a lot of variation at the unit level, so it's always a good idea to look at more than one metric. You can also easily compare units side-by-side to enable benchmarking and pinpoint best practices.
Employee-related issues don't have to wait until they become a crisis to be on the agenda of the executive team, and they don't have to be a grey area. I'm convinced that you don't want to lose sight of employee morale once you've started measuring it.
When it comes to measuring organizational pulse - it's better to start as soon as possible, unless you are already fully on top of the situation.
Do you need better visibility on organizational pulse and its trends? Try Zeffi!
