Surveys and Employee Research

Engagement Survey Projects

I have been responsible for designing, conducting, analyzing, and debriefing employee engagement surveys of over 10,000 people eight times, and more targeted sample surveys of fewer employees even more frequently. These efforts have required the use of up to 27 different languages, and 3 different survey approaches to accommodate office workers, factory workers, and delivery personnel.

For each of these projects I have ensured each of the following happens either personally or by delegating to and supporting others on the project team:
  • Partnering with the survey vendor to ensure everything happens smoothly and as expected
  • Managing the project internally tracking that all deliverables (such as technical requirements, and translations) occurred on time
  • Designing a survey that serves the needs of intended all intended stakeholders (such as a global corporate headquarters and local business and HR leaders on the ground), while translating effectively across required cultures and languages
  • Developing and leading a communications cascade through survey “Champions” to HR and Business leaders about survey activities, and how to support the survey most effectively
  • Leading HR and manager training effort around working with and interpreting response data
  • Adapting project design to meet restrictions and advantages across required approaches (ranging from Online via Single Sign On or unique IDs, online anonymously, and even paper)

Lifecycle Survey Redesign Projects

Every four or five years, a company should review and revise its listening strategy to ensure that it is not only collecting the kinds of information that are most useful, but also that the methods keep up with the times. I have lead such projects multiple times. After a thorough analysis of the state of the art practice and technology available at the time, an item-level analysis to understand the statistical value of each question asked, and listening sessions with both employees and leaders around the company around what topics are most important to them, I proposed and began implementations of large-scale redesign.

Key elements I look to accomplish:
  • Removing items that provide limited statistical or practical value to make room for newer more valuable and timely items
  • Simplifying the item structure using factor analysis, and translating technical dimension names into categories more approachable to managers
    • Example: items from “Comp & Benefits”, and “Performance Management” that strongly relate to each other combined into a new category called “How We Reward People”
  • Intentionally creating overlap between Engagement census, and Lifecycle surveys (Exit/Onboarding plus others) to make comparing and connecting these different points in time more valuable
  • Embedding elements of an Employee Value Proposition analysis, to ensure the company can track when and how perceptions of the company are shifting
Return home