In this episode, we talk about talking. More specifically, communication and how it supports better employee engagement, retention and satisfaction.
We've talked a lot about employee experience, it's the heart of an organisation's performance. Based on the 2023 report sponsored by Grammarly on The State of Business Communication, ineffective communication has the potential to elevate stress levels and contribute to employee turnover, commonly known as burnout.
This survey found that 30% have said that miscommunication has lowered their professional confidence, and 22% of them have considered looking for a new job due to poor communication.
At MHR, we have released a brand new employee experience guide that delves into just these topics. Our research suggests that communication is key when it comes to improve your employee experience.
We have summarised the key points of our guide below:
It's about communication
- 14% of organisations run an annual satisfaction survey.
- Only a quarter of organisations run monthly satisfaction surveys
- 45% run satisfaction surveys quarterly
- 75% of organisations aren’t interested in using pulse tools
The problems with surveys
So why aren’t employers talking to their employees?
A lot of it comes down putting up walls between employees and employer. Even if you are sending out surveys, that doesn’t mean they’re being used effectively.
- 50% of respondents are using survey tools
- 98% are using multiple tools to gather insights
BUT
- Average response rate to surveys is only 60%
- 30% fear feedback is not truthful
- 40% don’t anonymise their surveys
Those last two are a big concern. Even if you send out surveys and even if you get response from all your employees, how do you know their responses are truthful? If there’s any fear of reprisal, then you won’t get authentic answers, which means your surveys aren’t just unhelpful, they’re actively wrong.
This report from Gartner® talks a little bit more about the risks that come from surveying your employees, and how to make sure you get value out your employee experience measurements.
Slow to process
- Seven days: Length of time to analyse results of a survey
- 93%: number of organisations without instant access to survey results
- Only 46% of organisations always communicate the results from surveys
- 84% of HR professionals say they regularly feel stressed
A third of organisations don’t gather insights and feedback, due to it being a manual process that takes too long to analyse. Plus, without proper anonymisation and a fear of reprisal, that analysis will feel completely pointless, so why would you invest the time to get it done? Then, how are you supposed to communicate those results in a way that means real change can be actioned if it’s needed?
With HR departments already loaded down with work, encouraging them to effectively use surveys is a tall order.
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