Employee engagement surveys can help improve workplace culture, staff retention and team performance, but only when a business acts on the feedback. So, why don’t employee engagement surveys always improve engagement.
Employee engagement surveys have become a standard part of the people management toolkit. Businesses use engagement surveys, pulse surveys, culture surveys, wellbeing surveys, 360-degree feedback and team assessments to understand how employees are feeling.
There is a place for all of them. But before launching the next survey, business owners should ask a more important question – what are we actually going to do with the answers?
Asking employees for feedback and then doing very little with it can be worse than not asking at all. The survey is not the strategy. What happens afterwards is what influences workplace culture, employee retention and team performance.
The results arrive with graphs, engagement scores, comments and benchmarks. Everyone agrees there are some interesting findings, then business gets busy. Three months later, very little has changed. Six or twelve months later, another survey goes out.
From an employee’s perspective, the message can quickly become: You keep asking us what we think, but does anyone actually listen?
That is when survey fatigue begins. Response rates fall, comments become less useful and employees become increasingly cynical. The problem is not necessarily the survey. It is the absence of a meaningful response.
What employee feedback may be telling your business
Employee feedback does not always tell business owners what they hoped it would. It may show that communication from leadership is not working, workloads are becoming unreasonable, management standards are inconsistent or employees cannot see opportunities to develop.
Roles and responsibilities may have become unclear as the business has grown. One team may be struggling, or employees may experience the workplace culture very differently from the leadership team.
It can be tempting to explain uncomfortable results away. Perhaps employees do not understand a commercial decision. Perhaps one or two unhappy people have influenced the results. Perhaps the business cannot give everyone what they want.
Sometimes those things will be true. Employee feedback does not mean a business has to agree with every comment or implement every suggestion. However, when the same themes appear repeatedly, they are worth understanding.
Improving employee engagement does not mean saying yes to everything
Listening to employees does not mean handing over the running of the business. Pay increases may not be affordable. A flexible work arrangement may not work operationally. A promotion may not be available. Employees may want more resources when the business needs to control costs.
Good people management is not about saying yes to everything. It is about listening, considering the feedback and communicating honestly about what happens next.
Sometimes the answer is: We heard you, and we are changing this. Sometimes it is, we heard you, but we cannot change this, and here is why. At other times, the business may need to understand an issue better before deciding what to do.
All three responses are better than asking for feedback and then saying nothing.
How to turn employee survey results into practical action
A common mistake is trying to fix every issue at once. The business creates 14 initiatives, six working groups and an enormous action plan that nobody has time to implement. Three months later, everyone is overwhelmed and very little has changed.
Instead, identify the small number of issues that would make the greatest difference to employees and the business. Managers may need support with performance conversations. Employees may need clearer information about where the business is heading. Roles may need to be reviewed, onboarding may need improvement or good employees may need clearer development opportunities.
Choose the priorities that matter, decide who owns each action and set realistic time frames. A few visible improvements will usually do more for employee engagement than an impressive 20-page action plan that nobody implements.
Questions business owners should ask after an employee survey
Use the results to test what is happening in the day-to-day employee experience
- Are managers avoiding difficult conversations?
- Are roles and responsibilities clear?
- Do employees understand where the business is heading?
- Is poor performance being allowed to continue?
- Can good employees see opportunities to develop?
- Has workload increased without jobs being reviewed?
- Are different managers applying different standards?
- Is the onboarding process setting new employees up to succeed?
Why managers matter more than the survey platform
Businesses can spend a surprising amount of time choosing the right employee engagement survey or HR software. The questions matter, but what happens between surveys often matters considerably more.
Employees experience workplace culture through everyday interactions, how their manager communicates, whether expectations are clear, whether good work is recognised, whether poor behaviour is addressed and whether workloads are discussed before someone reaches the point of resigning.
A business can have a respectable engagement score while one team is quietly falling apart. Improving employee engagement and staff retention cannot be an annual HR exercise. It has to be part of how people are managed throughout the year.
You might not need another employee survey
For small and medium businesses, a formal survey may not be the best starting point. Sometimes business owners will gain more useful information by talking directly with employees, particularly the good people they would be genuinely disappointed to lose.
Do not wait for an exit interview to find out what was not working. Ask employees: What is working well? What is making your job harder than it needs to be? Is there anything we do that frustrates you? Are expectations clear? Is there something you would like to learn or take on? What could make this a better place to work? Is there anything that might cause you to consider leaving?
A handful of genuine stay conversations can reveal more than 50 tick box responses and give the business an opportunity to act before a valuable employee resigns.
The return on investment comes after you ask
Employee engagement is not about making everyone happy all the time. Strong people practices should help a business retain good employees, improve productivity, develop capable managers, reduce avoidable conflict and create a workplace where people can perform well.
Before launching an employee engagement survey, decide why you are asking, what you want to understand, what the business is prepared to change, who will act on the findings, how the results will be communicated and how improvement will be measured six months later.
The goal is not a better engagement score. The goal is a better performing business with good people who want to stay. A survey can show you where to look, but the survey itself does not change anything. People do.
Need help improving employee engagement and workplace culture
HR Cornerstone works with Perth and Western Australian businesses to understand what is happening within their teams and turn employee feedback into practical action.
Support may include workplace culture reviews, employee engagement planning, leadership development, manager coaching, team workshops, role clarity, communication, performance management and practical workforce planning.
If your business has gathered plenty of employee feedback but is not sure what to do next, you may not need another survey. You may need a practical conversation about what your people are telling you and what your business should do next.
Frequently asked questions
What is an employee engagement survey?
An employee engagement survey gathers feedback about how employees experience their work, managers, communication, development opportunities and workplace culture.
How often should a business run an employee engagement survey?
There is no single timetable for every business. Annual or periodic surveys can be useful, but only when the business has time to review the findings, communicate with employees and act before asking again.
What should a business do after an employee engagement survey?
Identify recurring themes, choose a small number of priorities, assign responsibility, communicate what will and will not change, set realistic time frames and check whether the actions have improved the employee experience and business performance.
How can a small business improve employee engagement without a survey?
Hold structured stay conversations, clarify roles and expectations, support managers, recognise good work, address performance issues early and follow through on employee feedback.
Can employee engagement improve staff retention?
Employee engagement alone cannot guarantee retention, but clear expectations, capable managers, meaningful development, manageable workloads and visible follow through can reduce avoidable resignations.