Survey Fatigue: Are You Oversurveying Your Staff?

We believe that surveys are the best way to monitor employee engagement and performance – but what happens when survey fatigue kicks in?

What drives our work at People Insight is the idea of creating healthier workplaces. We believe that employee surveys are the way to do just that. Employee surveys can help businesses measure and track levels of employee engagement, productivity, performance, inclusion and psychological safety. The benefits of employee surveys are numerous and remarkable – but only when done effectively. At some point, survey fatigue kicks in – but what causes it and how can businesses avoid it?

What is Survey Fatigue?

Survey fatigue is the loss of engagement, or interest, in completing surveys. This can result in a general reluctance to even participate in a survey, or a tendency to not take it seriously and simply regard it as a ‘box ticking’ exercise to be completed. 

Often, survey fatigue is blamed on long, boring, repetitive, all-too-frequent surveys with poor design. While this can, of course, be an issue for organisations striving to achieve meaningful organisational change, it’s certainly not the only cause. In fact, we would argue that the biggest reason for survey fatigue is actually apathy as a result of management inactivity. Put simply, when nothing changes as a result of a survey, they become meaningless and laborious for employees.

The Aim of Employee Surveys is to Inspire Change, Advancement and Progress

The reality is, survey fatigue often kicks in due to disillusionment. After all, if they are taking survey after survey but seeing no discernable change or improvement to their organisation, is there any point in actually taking part? Why would you take them seriously if you feel your voice isn’t really being heard, but merely recorded and discarded?

The whole point of a survey is not collecting data, but actually changing things as a result.

Employee engagement surveys are about active change, not passive listening. If you ask staff for their opinions, they will expect change and if you can’t deliver, you have failed. And they will tell you as much.

We produced this table some months ago looking at the pros and cons of survey intervals. A key principle to consider in response to this is to “only survey at a rate you can make change happen”.

Business Leaders Need to Give Themselves Enough Time to Act on Survey Results

As McKinsey points out, businesses should only survey employees at a pace that allows them to act on results, and communicate the changes taken. As with most activities and tasks undertaken in business, all surveys should have an end-goal. We shouldn’t be collecting data for the sake of it. Once the surveys are completed, the analysis stage begins, and business leaders and HR managers must consider: what about our current workplace processes, patterns and culture needs to be adapted? From this point, a thorough strategy needs to be put in place, including measures on how to help employees navigate cultural change. Change is never simple, easy or straightforward, but it’s necessary for every single organisation, and surveys should be used as tools to guide us in the right direction. 

If your business simply doesn’t have the time or inclination to instigate change, we would question whether a survey is necessary.

Communicate Results of Surveys to Keep Employees Interested

When employees answer surveys and never hear the results, they may as well never have happened. This, in turn, will impact their interest in future surveys. Survey fatigue sets in quickly when pulse surveys feel futile. As such, we’d recommend communicating the results of the surveys with your staff, highlighting areas for improvement and plans of action. Be as honest and open as you can be, keep your employees in the loop and encourage further feedback and comments during manager-employee one-on-ones.

Open-Ended Questions: One Way to Fight Survey Fatigue

At People Insight, we are big fans of open-ended questions – they often give you a deeper insight into the quantitative scores. In particular, if they have both a theme and proper reporting set up by your survey provider. If you ask open-ended questions, you have to be prepared to read and evaluate as many comments as you have members of staff – which can be tough going unless you have them organised and themed appropriately.

Our Tried-And-Tested Two-Step System to Avoid Survey Fatigue

In the past, we’ve had a few clients discuss oversurveying with us and as professionals in the world of employee surveys, we’re well-practised when it comes to delivering the right survey in the right way. We have a two-step process we recommend to ensure surveys are meaningful and impactful.

1. Measure in depth, less frequently for strategic review and to plan change. For example:

• Use approximately 35 questions
• Involve the whole organisation
• Provide in-depth reporting and analysis

and

2. Monitor frequently, a few questions to see if changes from your in-depth survey have made a difference. For example:

• Use approximately 5-15 questions
• Involve a sample group within the organisation
• Provide a comparative analysis of the “then and now”

The best way to survey will depend on your organisation

The bottom line is of course that organisations are all different with cultures, demographics and engagement strategies. How you conduct employee surveys will depend on all of these factors and providing you set and meet your peoples’ expectations as well as do something in response to their comments, you’re on the right track.

To discuss your company’s approach to employee surveys and how we can help, get in touch today.