EMPLOYEE SATISFACTION SURVEY > Administering Your Survey

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Administering Satisfaction Surveys

Make sure you read the following instructions carefully, prior to administering the first group of surveys.  There are a number of administration issues that can skew survey results.  For example, where management retaliation is an issue, less candid results are obtained if a management employee administers or gathers the completed surveys.  Another important factor is to administer the survey to groups of employees in as similar circumstances as possible.  For example, large time gaps between survey administration periods can alter results markedly.  We recommend that companies conduct surveys in small blocks of time, no longer than a week.

It is very important for these instructions to be followed exactly. Survey conditions should be as similar for each group taking the survey as is possible.  Following these instructions will help to ensure that the results accurately reflect the attitudes of your workforce.

Announce the Survey
About a week before actually administering the survey, announce that your company is going to conduct the survey.  Use a memo along the lines of the following:

October 12, 2006

To:    All Employees
From:    Your Name
Subject:    Employee Satisfaction Survey

I am pleased to announce that during the week of _______ we will be conducting an Employee Satisfaction Survey at all ____ locations.  The purpose of the survey is to get your honest opinion about a wide variety of issues relative to your job here at ____.

The survey will be conducted by LRI Management Services, Inc., a company who conducts surveys like this for organizations throughout the United States.

The survey is completely confidential.  The survey form does not ask for your name or any other type of personal identification.  After all forms have been completed, they are sent to LRI Management Services for processing and evaluation.

LRI Management Services will prepare a comprehensive report that summarizes your collective responses.  Shortly after they give us this report we will share the results with you.  Then, working with you, we will develop a plan to improve our weaknesses and build on our strengths to make ____ an even better place to work.

Organization Identification and Sub-group Selection
If you use a customized form for your survey the organization and sub-group identification information will be printed at the top of page 2.  Otherwise, there are blank lines at the top of page 2 of the Opinion Survey form asking for this information. The first line asks for the Name of Organization.  This is the name of your company or facility.  This may be provided by the survey participants or may be pre-printed in advance on the survey form.  If the participants are to provide this information, everyone should be instructed to fill in this space exactly the same way.  Using abbreviations or initials could cause confusion when the data is processed.

Immediately following Name of Organization, you may find blank spaces numbered 1,2 and 3, or pre-printed designations (like department, shift or plant location).  Before administering the survey, you must decide how you want the survey group sub-divided.  Your survey report will contain one set of graphs for the entire survey group, plus additional sets of graphs for up to three of the sub-groups you select.  This allows you to examine the responses of the sub-groups and compare those responses with the total survey group.

Most organizations select sub-groups according to Shift, Job Classifications, Department, Length of Service, etc.  Select any three sub-groups that are most appropriate for your organization; you are encouraged to determine these in conjunction with your LRI Advisor.  After selecting your three sub-groups, you must decide how to incorporate that information into the survey form.  There are several ways to do this:

You may have this information pre-printed on your survey form and instruct participants to circle the sub-groups which apply.  Make sure each group is told which sub-groups apply to which positions so every participant knows what group they should circle.  Also, make sure participants know to designate only one sub-group per category (only one department, only one shift).

You may advise survey participants of the three sub-groups at the time the survey is conducted and instruct them to circle the number representing their individual sub-group.  For example, you may tell participants that sub-groups will be determined according to shifts and then instruct them to circle number 1, 2 or 3 according to whether they work the first, second or third shift.  It is not mandatory for LRI to know what numbers 1, 2 and 3 represent; but be certain that only one number is circled on each form.

You may ask each survey participant to write in each of the sub-group definitions and then circle the one that represents their sub-group.

Administration
Some organizations believe that participant responses will be more honest if an outside third party administers the survey and mails the completed forms back to LRI without any member of management seeing or even touching the forms.  If you feel that your survey would benefit from administration by an outside source, you may contact a local minister, attorney, judge or any other person who the survey group would believe insures total anonymity of the responses.  Some clients have a member of the survey group handle the administration and mailing, thereby assuring employees that management will never see their responses.

Please note that the only duty of the administrator is to read the instructions to the participants and collect and mail the completed forms to LRI.  The only reason to have an outside administrator is to provide the assurance of total confidentiality.

Administrator’s Instructions to Participants
If your survey will be conducted in two or more sessions, it is helpful if the instructions to participants are exactly the same or as close to exactly the same as possible.  We suggest that you write out the instructions and have the survey administrator read the instructions to each group of participants.  The survey should be administered to each employee group with as little time between as possible to avoid the sharing of responses or changes in conditions which would impact the survey results.  Here is an example of survey instructions:

Today, we are asking you to take a few minutes to participate in an opinion survey.  The results of this survey will allow us to learn exactly what you as a group think and feel about a number of issues concerning your work environment.  This will allow management to consider your collective opinions when making decisions.  Your responses to this survey are completely confidential.  Please do not sign the survey form.  After I give you a few instructions, please complete the survey and place your completed form in the envelope located ____.  After everyone has completed the survey, I will seal the envelope and mail it to a company in Oklahoma for statistical analysis.  This company will compile your responses and make a report detailing the collective responses of everyone who participates.  After we receive this report, we will share the results with you.  To begin, please read the first page of the form.  Do not turn the page until I tell you.

[Allow enough time for everyone to read page 1, or, if you prefer, read page 1 aloud.]

Now, turn to page 2 of the survey form.  At the top of the page you will see the name of our organization.  Immediately following this line you will find two columns.  On the left is a list of departments.  Everyone find the department in which you work and circle it.  If you have a question about your department, or feel you could fit into more than one designation, pick the one which most closely matches your job or in which you spend the most time.  The second column lists three shifts.  Circle the shift on which you work.  Again, if you work on more than one shift, circle the one on which you’ve worked the most in the last few months.

Now, read the sample survey statement.  Do not turn the page until everyone has finished reading.

[Allow enough time for everyone to read the sample survey statement.]

Does anyone have any questions about how to complete the survey form?

[Answer any questions.]

There are a couple of terms you need to be familiar with.  When the survey refers to a supervisor, this means your immediate boss.  When the survey refers to upper management, this means (all other managers that a supervisor reports to or another definition suited to your company’s circumstances).  When you finish the survey, please check to be sure you have identified your employee group and answered all 70 questions.  Please do not fold the survey, as this delays processing of the results.  Place your completed survey in the envelope located _____ and return to work.  All right, begin.