How to conduct engagement surveys to reduce unwanted turnover (Part 2 of 2)

As the title suggests, this is the second post in a two-part series about engagement surveys. Engagement surveys can help you understand how your employees feel about your practice and just how committed they are to your success. In part one, I shared eight best practices to help ensure your success. Please be sure to check out that post if you haven’t done so already.

As you may have read, I highly recommend using SurveyMonkey for engagement surveys as it provides the anonymity most employees require if you want them to truly speak their minds. What follows are some important considerations should you choose to take this route.

1. Import your team members’ names and email addresses into SurveyMonkey.

   Use their automated system to email personalized survey invites (instead of creating a single survey URL that everyone uses). The primary advantage to going the email route is that you can set up the system to automatically email out reminders to anyone that hasn’t completed the survey. Be sure to explain to your team that the platform will be sending automated messages, even if they look like they’re coming directly from you. Here is the wording that I use for my survey invites:

I recommend setting up SurveyMonkey to send out automated reminder emails to team members that haven’t completed the survey. I suggest sending these out seven days and one day before the response deadline.

2. Send out reminders.

   You can set up SurveyMonkey to send out automated reminder emails to team members that haven’t completed the survey. I suggest sending these out seven days and one day before the response deadline.

3. Turn on SurveyMonkey’s anonymous responses.

   When setting up your survey’s email collector, under the “Options” submenu, make sure you to turn on “Anonymous Responses” under the “Options” submenu. (Select the option to “exclude ALL respondent information.”).

4. When sharing printed SurveyMonkey survey results, delete or obscure the timestamps associated with open-ended questions.

   This helps ensure that anonymity is maintained and makes it impossible to link open-ended questions together based on the timestamps.

You can’t run a survey on best practices alone. You’re going to need questions. No worries – I’ve got you covered.

• What is your role at [INITIALS]?
• What department do you work in? (Please select all that apply)
• How happy or unhappy are you with your current role at [INITIALS]? ([ADD OPTIONAL COMMENT FIELD)]
• At work, I clearly understand what is expected of me. ([ADD OPTIONAL COMMENT FIELD)]
• I have the materials and equipment I need to do my work right. ([ADD OPTIONAL COMMENT FIELD)]
• I have the chance to use my strengths every day at work. ([ADD OPTIONAL COMMENT FIELD)]
• In the past seven days, I have received recognition or praise for good work. ([ADD OPTIONAL COMMENT FIELD)]
• My supervisor, or someone at work, seems to care about me as a person. ([ADD OPTIONAL COMMENT FIELD)]
• At work, my opinions seem to count. ([ADD OPTIONAL COMMENT FIELD)]
• My teammates have my back. ([ADD OPTIONAL COMMENT FIELD)]
• I have a best friend at work. ([ADD OPTIONAL COMMENT FIELD)]
• In the past six months, someone at work has talked to me about my progress. ([ADD OPTIONAL COMMENT FIELD)]
• In the past year, I have had opportunities at work to learn and grow. ([ADD OPTIONAL COMMENT FIELD)]
• I am satisfied with the workplace culture at INITIALS. ([ADD OPTIONAL COMMENT FIELD)]
• I have great confidence in [INITIALS]’s future. ([ADD OPTIONAL COMMENT FIELD)]
• How likely is it that you would recommend employment at [INITIALS] to a friend or colleague? ([NET PROMOTER SCORE QUESTION)]
• What do you like most about working at [INITIALS]? ([OPEN- ENDED QUESTION)]
• What do you like least about working at [INITIALS]? ([OPEN ENDED QUESTION)]
• Is your workload too heavy, too light, or about right? ([ADD OPTIONAL COMMENT FIELD)]
• In a typical week, how often do you feel stressed at work? ([ADD OPTIONAL COMMENT FIELD)]
• Should your department be larger than it is, smaller than it is, or is the size about right?  ([ADD OPTIONAL COMMENT FIELD)]
• How often do you consider quitting your job? ([ADD OPTIONAL COMMENT FIELD)]
• If there was one thing that could be changed or added to make [INITIALS] a better place to work, what would it be? ([OPEN ENDED QUESTION)]
• If there was one thing that could be changed or added to improve our client’s experience at [INITIALS], what would it be? ([OPEN ENDED QUESTION)]
• If there was one thing that could be changed or added to improve the quality of patient care at [INITIALS], what would it be? ([OPEN ENDED QUESTION)]
• (Optional) Do you have any other feedback or comments that you would like to share? ([OPEN ENDED QUESTION)]

You can access an example of a SurveyMonkey survey using these questions here.

Engagement surveys are no crystal ball but they do offer valuable insight. Like stay interviews, [bctt tweet=”engagement surveys can help you see things through the eyes of your team members,”] identify potential triggers for staff dissatisfaction, and take action that may prevent at least some turnover. Given the associated costs I referred to in part one of this blog post, I’d say they’re worth a try, don’t you think?

A final thought … While you only have so much say in whether your employees stay or go, the happier they are, the more likely you’ll be able to keep them. This Forward-Booking Staff Meeting in a Box is a good example of how you can promote a positive work culture while pursuing your goal of delivering better patient care. Be proactive, be creative and, above all, never take your team’s happiness for granted. Here’s to your success!

Ben Spinks, CVPM, MBA, SPHR is the Hospital Administrator at Tipp City Veterinary Hospital, Co-Founder at Veteos, and a veterinary practice consultant. He can be reached at [email protected] or on LinkedIn