Many HR leaders rely on employee surveys to gauge the health of the workplace culture, but not all surveys are created equal. Whether you’re using an engagement survey, a Great Place to Work® survey, or another tool, the question is: Are you gathering the right data?
In our 16 years of experience helping almost 300 organizations build better workplace cultures, we’re here to tell you that many employers believe they’re getting a full picture with their current survey – when they actually are not. Plenty of our clients are doing engagement surveys, for example, yet somehow find themselves needing our assistance to resolve a toxic problem that’s been bubbling up for years.
So let’s break down today’s most common workplace surveys, what they measure, and their strengths and limitations.
Engagement Surveys
Employee engagement has been a hot topic for several years now, so naturally it’s considered a best practice to measure it. The idea is that employees who are engaged, or feeling excited about their work, are more likely to go above and beyond (known as discretionary effort).
What they measure
Engagement surveys typically measure how emotionally invested employees are in their work and the organization. An engagement survey answers the question: How enthusiastic is our workforce?
Strengths
Engagement survey vendors are abundant and therefore it’s fairly easy to locate one in your price range. Many of them also provide benchmark data against industry standards, something many CEOs want to see.
Limitations
Because engagement surveys don’t necessarily help you understand your culture or the organizational root causes of disengagement or dissatisfaction, the results are fairly narrow. Communication breakdowns, psychological safety issues, and toxic behaviors often go undetected in engagement surveys. An employee can absolutely be engaged or enthusiastic about their role while experiencing a toxic manager, feeling excluded and undervalued, or burned out due to workload. We’ve seen it many times.
Lessons learned
Don’t make the mistake of assuming that high engagement scores mean you have a great culture. High engagement scores mean you have high engagement, but that’s all they mean.
Great Place to Work® Survey
Employers use the Great Place to Work® survey to gain certification status for purposes of employer branding. No doubt, gaining acknowledgement as a great place to work can help with recruiting efforts.
What they measure
The Great Place to Work survey measures employee perceptions of the workplace across five core areas: Credibility, respect, fairness, pride, and camaraderie. This survey answers the question: Are we better than other organizations in a set of criteria defined by the people at Great Place to Work?
Strengths
Beating out other organizations for the title of Great Place to Work can be a great recruiting tool as it builds external credibility. Your results may also provide some general ideas on where improvements may be needed.
Limitations
This survey is designed to see how employers measure up against each other – it’s not designed to provide clear or specific insight on what needs to be better in your organization specifically. Employer branding is also an ongoing initiative that should have an action plan behind it, so don’t make the mistake of putting the logo on your careers website page without follow through.
Lessons learned
This survey just isn’t designed to uncover the deeper, systemic issues that might be holding your culture back. It’s also not customizable to your organization’s unique challenges. If you’re looking for information about your organization’s culture and what you can do to improve it, you need a different approach.
Climate Surveys
Despite all the talk about retention and employee experience these days, climate (or culture) surveys are totally underutilized. This is the most comprehensive type of survey when it comes to culture, as it will help an employer understand the employee experience and what they need to improve to make it a great one.
What they measure
Our climate survey assesses the overall work environment and company culture, including employee engagement and enthusiasm, effectiveness of internal communication, trust within teams and in leadership, feelings of inclusion and psychological safety, and satisfaction with job tasks and responsibilities. A climate survey answers the question: What are the strengths and weaknesses of our organization’s culture?
Strengths
This fully comprehensive survey provides a wealth of information about all sorts of things related to employee experience. While engagement surveys measure employee enthusiasm, this survey measures organizational factors like whether the organization itself is living its own core values, and whether the culture is in alignment with business goals.
The data from this survey is rich and multifaceted, and will set you up to make long lasting real change. Ours is fully customizable, which is a fantastic pro if you’re looking for real information so you can make informed decisions about your next steps.
Limitations
There are far fewer vendors out there offering this type of survey, so it may be harder to locate one in your price point. Thankfully, you’re reading this so you’ve already overcome that hurdle.
Lessons learned
If your goal is to build and sustain a civil, respectful workplace, a climate survey is the comprehensive, trust-building tool you need. Unlike engagement or branding surveys, climate surveys offer a nuanced view of what’s really going on in your workplace so you can address and prevent toxic behaviors, improve inclusion, and cultivate a thriving culture.
Ready to Find Out if Your Workforce Survey Is Giving You the Information You Think It’s Giving You?
Our free guide, “Is Your Workforce Survey Working?”, walks you through the 7 must-have features your survey should include. It also includes a simple checklist to compare your current survey approach with best practices when it comes to measuring company culture.
Download it now and see how your current survey stacks up.
Your workplace culture isn’t a guessing game and your surveys shouldn’t be either. Whether you’re aiming to reduce turnover, address workplace bullying, or boost engagement, a climate survey for workplace culture provides the depth, accuracy, and trust-building foundation you need to succeed.
