Surveys – Learning Why Morale Is Low
Conventional surveys start with a premise that the organization knows the issues that concern employees; these form the basis of the questions that are asked. Employees are then presented, at best, with an option to add comments at the end. These frequently become so unmanageable that, even if there is a diamond in the rough, it is overlooked. Employees often use a question to express a view that they feel strongly about (e.g. - there is a feeling that managers are holding on to good staff and not enabling them to develop and move into new roles; but there is no question that addresses this directly). Therefore, employees rate the question “Managers provide timely and constructive feedback” low to express their frustration. The company then runs feedback training so good staff get told even more that they are good; but still don’t get the chance to move on!

Pilat can now deliver surveys of many types, including those where the input is primarily or even exclusively narrative. Contemporary technology now enables automated thematic analysis of responses; no longer does the client have to read through hundreds or thousands of comments, or pay a consultant to do it for them. The technology can detect themes in responses and code them accordingly. The results can then be presented in a structured and organized way, enabling the user to easily spot and recode exceptions, etc., drill down to the specific comments made and pull back to view a quantified overall summary.

A major insurance company used a combination of rated questions and narrative response questions to explore the issues of perceived low employee morale. The rated questions provided a comparison to previous surveys and a benchmark for the future. They also identified some relative priorities in terms of known areas for action.

The comments revealed two new areas for management to consider. A number of internal processes were viewed with suspicion. It was clear that internal communications that had been intended to clarify policy had, in fact, heightened concerns. The comments also, despite the questions not asking for these, included many useful suggestions for action.

The client is planning to reduce the use of rated questions and shift the balance towards more use of focused narrative response questions, using automated thematic analysis to achieve rapid response.