It’s no news that satisfied employees are one of the pillars of a successful company, but what makes an employee happy and motivated?
How do we know which processes are working well and which ones are criticised? What are the attractive factors of a workplace and what are the sources of conflict between team members? The answers to these questions can be easily found out by a suitable employee satisfaction survey and the responses can be evaluated within minutes with tools like automated text analyzer systems. Here is an example, showing the whole process from data collection to the application of results.
To collect employee feedback quickly is a big challenge for most companies without the suitable tools, let alone the next part – the data evaluation and identification of the matching points of hundreds of responses.
However, nowadays there is no need for HR professionals to do the work manually, spending long hours with it. There are tools that cut down the evaluation time and effort, while the accuracy of the results are also better.
In this case study by media monitoring firm Neticle, we see how employee feedback can be processed quickly and easily, and how it can be used as an input for organisational development processes.
Methodology
Neticle used their own text analyser tool to uncover the opinion of every co-worker in detail about the most important factors:
- atmosphere in the office
- organisational structure
- progress of the company (in business and in technological terms)
- internal communication
- the rights for decision-making
- working hours
- salary
- tasks
- the management
To let team members describe their opinion as accurate as possible, open-ended ones were included in the survey alongside multiple-choice questions.
To process the results, Neticle used Zurvey, an automated text analyser tool which identifies the tone of every text-based opinion as positive, negative, or neutral based on the phrases that occur in the text.
It also recognises topics, brands, locations, and persons in the text. Therefore, there was no need to analyse the survey responses manually and subjectively. The strongest and weakest points of Employee Experience within the organisation could be found out within a matter of minutes.
Results
Malfunctions in the operational processes – negative topics
The text analyser identified three critical points regarding the operation. The most frequently mentioned one was the office, indicating that that co-workers do not respect the common places in the office: they often leave dirty dishes in the kitchen, make too much noise, and speak loudly. Moreover, many complaints have been written about the office becoming “too small” for the fast-growing team.
The second pain point appeared to be the organisational structure. Many proposed the revision of the management processes and suggested that weekly status meetings could be more structured and time-saving if attended by relevant team members only.
The other request was to have middle management. Given that Neticle is a startup with a non-hierarchical organisation structure, there is no-one between the C-level executives and other members of the team. As the survey showed, many began to feel the necessity of managers, who could coordinate within and across teams more clearly.
Besides the above, Neticle employees need more accurate briefs. As many people from different teams work on the same projects, the tasks are often fragmented and it is difficult to detect who’s in charge.
The well-functioning processes – positive topics
The average score for the question how employees like working at Neticle was 9.25 out of 10. Employees highlighted the importance of an assembled but open team where lots of friendships have been made and outdoor activities have been organised together. Because of this friendly atmosphere, employees start working happily, even on Monday mornings.
Effect came as second best, indicating that employees love being involved in important decisions because of the flat and democratic structure. This not only means that members are asked and informed about important changes, but they are also free to work from home flexibly and can turn to anyone in the team for help. The team also find it inspiring to work for a successful company where they can see the fruits of daily hard work through constant growing.
Application of the results: some examples
The honest responses made valuable insights for the process of development and helped the firm discover which areas are satisfying and which ones need improvement. Results were shared with the whole team as part of transparent internal communication habits and solutions for the problems were discussed.
The survey data can be further used in external communication processes too. For example, the positive aspects can support the employer’s brand and attractive features can be highlighted in job advertisements also. Shared opinions of team members increase the authenticity and uniqueness of job posts, while it also can increase the number of applicants.
With a clear view of the weaknesses, companies can look for solutions, considering the workers’ suggestions. Identifying problematic areas will save time and make a HR team’s work more efficient and successful in creating an excellent Employee Experience within a company.