1. CAUBO June, 2007
Employee Surveys as a Strategic Tool: Making Use of Employee Research Data

2. Content Current approaches to employee research
Survey analytics to guide action planning
Feedback and action planning with a purpose
Employee research in the context of a University: Challenges and Opportunities

3. Traditional Employee Surveys Mercer’s Survey Approach
Current Approaches to Employee Surveys Designed to inform organizational decisions
Traditional Employee Surveys
Mercer’s Survey Approach
Improve employee satisfaction
Focused solely on satisfaction with pay, benefits, job security, working conditions — the “Me” issues
Often used strictly to avoid negative occurrences
Strictly an HR process, with little connection to the business strategy
Priorities determined only through benchmarking — How do we compare?
Improve employee satisfaction and engagement
Focused broadened to include efficiency, leadership, teamwork, customer orientation, and career development — the “We” issues
Used to better leverage people assets to achieve business results
Integrated diagnostic with direct connection to organization strategy
Priorities determined by identifying key drivers of employee satisfaction and engagement

4. Current Approaches to Employee Surveys Engagement lies at the heart of a winning employee experience
Employee engagement is a heightened and sustained emotional and intellectual connection employees have for their job, organization, and co-workers that dramatically increases discretionary effort and significantly improves work performance*
It calls for a partnership between our employees and the organization - a partnership that drives organizational transformation and performance
Extraordinary employee engagement drives performance
*Adapted from US Conference Board definition of employee engagement

5. Current Approaches to Employee Surveys What does engagement mean to employees?
Current perspectives on engagement indicate that it includes three major elements:
Cognitive
Affective
Behavioral
The specific manifestation of those elements will vary from organization to organization, reflecting, among other things:
History of the organization
Culture of the organization
Mission of the organization
Employment brand of the organization
Empirical analysis of survey data will reveal the specific make-up of engagement, as influenced by the unique qualities of the work place and people

6. Current Approaches to Employee Surveys Measuring engagement for your employees
Because engagement means something different to different populations within different industries and different organizations, survey design should include a range of possible index elements
UOttawa’s Engagement Index
Mercer’s Engagement Index
I am proud to work for the University of Ottawa.
I am willing to go beyond the requirements of my assigned duties to help the University succeed.
I have a strong sense of commitment to the success of the University.
I have a strong sense of commitment to the success of my faculty/department/service.
I have a strong sense of commitment to the success of the University’s students.
I am proud to work for this organization.
I am willing to go “above and beyond” to help this organization succeed.
I have a strong sense of commitment to this organization.
I would recommend this organization to friends and relatives as a good place to work.
At the present time, I am not seriously considering leaving this organization.

7. Content Current approaches to employee research
Survey analytics to guide action planning
Feedback and action planning with a purpose
Employee research in the context of a University: Challenges and Opportunities

8. Survey Analytics to Guide Action Planning Creating an engagement index
Factor analysis of survey items reveals engagement index
Common components:
Pride in the organization
Commitment to the organization
Willing to go beyond the requirements of the job
Typically find strong factor loadings and high reliabilities (above .80)
Relies on effective survey construction
Method of representing the index in numerical terms depends on desire for ease of replication, ease of interpretation/understanding
More than one engagement index?
Conceptual and empirical considerations

9. Survey Analytics to Guide Action Planning Engagement driver analysis
Determining the key drivers of engagement informs the organization on how they might deploy resources most efficiently to support and enhance engagement among employees
There are many “lists” of employee engagement drivers, and certain items appear on many lists, such as:
Work that gives a feeling of personal accomplishment
Challenging work opportunities for continuous learning
Career advancement opportunities
Paid fairly given performance and contribution to the organization
Belief that the organization is well-managed
Mercer research indicates that key drivers of engagement vary among organizations and among business units within each organization

10. Survey Analytics to Guide Action Planning Engagement driver analysis
Hypothesized Drivers
Key Driver #1 ?
Key Driver #2
Leadership & Direction
Resources to Do the Job
Customer Service
Communication
Training
Professional Development
Immediate Manager
Performance Management
Compensation & Benefits
Teamwork & Collaboration
Ethics & Integrity ?
Employee
Engagement
Key Driver #3 ? ?
Key Driver #4 ?
Key Driver #5

11. Survey Analytics to Guide Action Planning Engagement driver analysis (cont’d)
54. Overall, I am confident I will be able to achieve my long-term career objectives at this organization
.34
12. I have a clear understanding of our organization’s future direction
.27
Employee
Engagement
32. My supervisor encourages open, honest two-way communication
.21
.19
10. I am given good opportunities to improve and develop my skills at my organization
.15
13. Employees at my organization are treated fairly, regardless of position or background

12. Survey Analytics to Guide Action Planning Analyzing key findings
An overview of the survey results for the organization as a whole
Analysis of key differences across segments
Analysis of important differences among demographic groups (e.g., short- vs. long-tenure employees)
Comparisons to normative data
Identification of key drivers of employee engagement
Discussion around integrating key findings into ongoing human capital strategies

13. Content Current approaches to employee research
Survey analytics to guide action planning
Feedback and action planning with a purpose
Employee research in the context of a University: Challenges and Opportunities

14. Feedback and Action Planning Typical patterns of survey use
Always conducted (73%)
Survey Development
Survey
Administration
Survey Processing
Survey Reporting
and Analysis
Survey Feedback
to Employees
Feedback and
Action Planning
Training
Action Plan
Implementation
Tracking and
Monitoring
Action
Planing Sessions
Integration of
Action Plans
Sometimes conducted (68%)
Occasionally and/or ineffectively conducted (44%)
Organizational
Improvement

15. Feedback and Action Planning Building acceptance
“There must be something wrong with the questionnaire because our scores couldn’t be that low.”
“I need to ensure we let everyone know that this action is driven by the survey”
Action
Denial
“What a bunch of complainers. They don’t realize how good they have it here.”
Decision
Anger
“I think some of our scores are low because we simply haven’t communicated all the good things we are doing.”
“There are things we can do to change some of this ”
Acceptance
Negotiation
“The scores are low, but what should we expect given the changes we have been going through? I’m surprised they’re not even lower!”
Depression
“These results are awful. I don’t know how we will survive if our employees feel this way.”

16. Progress communication Establish change teams
Feedback and Action Planning Survey follow-up process: P.A.C.E.
Priorities
Accountabilities
Ownership of issues
Progress communication
Accountability
Change
Allocate resources
Establish change teams
Root-cause analysis
Recommendations
Implementation
Trainer Notes
Communicating Actions - Alignment of Timing
If possible, recommendations should have an estimated financial value in either saving or benefit terms.
Communication during the follow-up process helps to ensure that recognition is won for action taken. This communication of actions taken can have a significant impact on long-term employee perceptions of survey effectiveness and response rate for future surveys.
The alignment of action throughout the organization will ensure optimal benefit is gained from the action implementation phase. In other words, making sure that actions happen at the same time, wherever possible.
The five types of actions outlined earlier need to be communicated at the same time if at all possible. This is shown in the slide above.
Evaluation

17. Feedback and Action Planning Assessing the context for action planning
Collaborative
People • •
Consultative
Productivity
drivers •
Directive
Rewards
Processes
Style of
leadership
Transformational
Mercer’s Change DynamicTM
Structure
Scale of
Type of
change
change
Decision making
Incremental
Information and knowledge
The Change Dynamic is the internal look. It helps us understand the capacity of the organization to change relative to what the business imperative requires.
We examine four key organizational elements:
the scale of change
the type of change
the depth of change required
the style of leadership
Notice that Mercer’s Human Capital Wheel is linked to the type of change. This is because the levers for improved productivity are so closely aligned with meeting the business imperatives.
Depth of
change
(sources of
Enhance action planning and engage leadership by mapping survey results back to the University’s strategic objectives and considering the change dynamics involved
energy) •
Whole
organization •
Business unit •
Personal

18. Feedback and Action Planning Depth of change
Organization-Wide
Local
Issue 1
Issue 2
Short-term
Issue 4
Issue 3
(local support)
Issue 5
Long-term
Issue 3

19. Feedback and Action Planning Accountabilities
Development of Action Plans
Communication of Actions
Development of Budgets and Integration with Business Planning Process
Monitoring of Actions
Employee Updates

20. Feedback and Action Planning Accountabilities
Senior Administration
Follow-up Champion
Issue 1
Champion
Issue 2
Issue 3
Data Refinement e.g. focus groups/management review
Supported by:
Specialists
(HR, IT, Comms,
etc.)
Local Leaders
Special Issue
Project Teams
Cross-functional
teams

21. Feedback and Action Planning 10 tips for communicating results
Communicate results and the process for next steps as soon as possible. Prompt communication establishes credibility, helps avoid rumors and ensures information is official and accurate
Structure expectations by explaining the time-scale and responsibilities for follow-up
Consider which communication vehicles are available and best
Share the purpose and goals of the survey process
Communicate University overall first, then faculty/service results and local results
Handle the sharing of local results with sensitivity
Present a balanced picture of strengths and concerns
Restrict the number of issues to the ‘vital few’ which have the greatest impact on performance
Demonstrate the links between the survey findings and strategic objectives
Establish clear timetables, responsibilities and deliverables for action planning

22. Feedback and Action Planning Action planning & implementation
What are we doing already?
Actions are currently in place to address the issue. The requirements are:
Review the action and modify as required
Communicate the effectiveness of the action to employees
In-Process
Activities
What can we do in the short-term?
Actions can be fully implemented within one year of conducting the survey. The requirements are:
Clarify root causes of problem, develop options
Develop action plan with budget, assigned responsibilities and schedule
Short-term
Activities
What are our longer-term goals?
Actions will require one to two years to fully implement. The requirements are:
Clarify root causes of problem, develop options
Develop action plan with budget, assigned responsibilities and schedule
Long-term
Activities

23. Feedback and Action Planning Survey feedback sessions to develop insights
Survey feedback sessions with employees help leaders become more deeply involved in the survey process by gaining a better understanding of the areas of concern:
Review, present and explain survey results, providing the case for priority areas
Brainstorm – List issues and write down all ideas / reactions
Categorize statements – Draw possible connections between ideas / reactions
Develop ‘core’ statement of problem – Generate through individual attempts, consensus, or start with item wording
Identify actions to address core statements and check for completeness – Who, what, when, where, why, how…
Finalize problem statement – Modify or add to a problem statement if necessary (often incorporating answers to questions above)
Generate recommendations for solutions
Select next issue

24. Feedback and Action Planning Monitoring and evaluating
The process of monitoring and evaluating progress is critical to lead and demonstrate change.
Maintain the momentum on the survey
Make the link between the survey results and improvement initiatives to clearly demonstrate that employee input does make a difference
Share accomplishments: Measure progresses versus the measures of success you previously identified; report progress on a regular basis and give credit for actions taken; communicate on the status of any outstanding issues with employees
Continue to listen to your employees
Invite feedback from employees to gauge progress, either formally (during interviews…) or informally
Discuss actions / progress / challenges with your managers/leaders
Share key learnings
Identify best practices and transfer them to other teams / departments

25. Content Current approaches to employee research
Survey analytics to guide action planning
Feedback and action planning with a purpose
Employee research in the context of a University: Challenges and Opportunities

26. Challenges and Opportunities Clearing post-survey hurdles
Cleared
Unresolved
Understanding why the University has conducted a survey
Able to play an active role in contributing to the University’s objectives
Process is disregarded
Understanding the data
First step in feeling involved in the feedback process
Able to consider the results for oneself
Data is disregarded
Connecting the data to one’s own goals and objectives
Motivation to communicate and take action
No personal stake
Communicating the results to one’s team
Employees feel heard & see the value in the process
Leader seen as “hiding” the data
Involving the team in action planning
Greater ownership, power, and cooperation
One-person effort against inertia
Potential for “getting it wrong”
Communicating plans and activities
Efforts and results are recognized
Greater likelihood of cooperation
Efforts and results may go unnoticed or be misunderstood

27. Challenges and Opportunities Employee research in a University setting
Critical Audience
Expert knowledge of research design, statistics
Culture of skepticism and critique
Participation
Participation rates for University surveys are typically very low (typically 20% - 55%)
Multiple Stakeholders
Administration
Faculty
Support Staff
Timing of process
Public scrutiny
Role spans and perceptions
The role of Dean may be perceived differently by incumbents versus employees
Ownership of action planning

28. Challenges and Opportunities Employee research in a University setting
Critical Audience
Expert knowledge of research design, statistics
Culture of skepticism and critique
Connecting with other measures
Trending against NESI scores over time
Linkage analysis with other measures

29. Combining both approaches provides a more robust picture
Challenges and Opportunities Measuring both what employees “say” and what they “do”
Focus groups
Senior leadership and HR interviews
Climate surveys
Exit surveys
What employees say as measured through:
Qualitative
HRIS/payroll
Employee turnover
Performance/ productivity
Student ratings
How employees actually behave as measured through:
Quantitative
Combining both approaches provides a more robust picture