How to communicate employee engagement survey results

When you carry out a survey to gauge how your team is feeling, how do you share the results with them?

For some, measuring employee engagement can be challenging — especially for managers overseeing large or distributed teams — but an employee engagement survey can help you craft effective communication strategies to elevate your organization's entire employee experience.

The employee survey results you collect can give you a detailed breakdown of how employees feel via honest feedback, and this transparency opens the door for more genuine conversations.

However, asking the right questions through your employee engagement survey is only the first step in your surveying journey. The most crucial part of conducting employee engagement surveys is communicating results so that together you can dive deeper into where your company needs improvement and develop a collaborative action plan.

If you're not sure how to move forward with your survey results, here's how we recommend you communicate your analysis to your team or the rest of your organization.

Steps to communicating survey results

Engagement surveys are an excellent way to get your finger on the pulse of the employee experience at your organization. With these employee surveys, you can keep track of key engagement metrics like:

• Feedback
• Relationship with Manager
• Recognition
• Company Alignment
• Happiness
• Ambassadorship

Maximizing the potential benefits of an employee engagement survey requires you to communicate survey results effectively to teams throughout the company. To ensure your team sees a positive impact following your employee engagement survey, share the results with key players from every part of your company, including the executive team, department leads, and of course, the employees. By allowing people in every position to feel heard, you can set the stage for continuous improvement.

Wondering how to communicate employee engagement survey results effectively? Here's what we suggest:

1. Thank employees for participating

Employee feedback is at the core of engagement surveys, and showing your appreciation can go a long way. Actively acknowledging feedback can encourage employees to talk openly about their thoughts, enabling the entire company to make positive changes. Saying "thank you" can be as simple as sending a company-wide email or scheduling an all-hands meeting to share the survey results' key takeaways.

Showing you care allows employees to feel more comfortable sharing feedback in future surveys. If an employee has expressed concern (anonymously or not), it's crucial to respond to this feedback and address any issues before they burgeon.

2. Share an initial overview of the survey results

Providing constructive feedback to managers can be intimidating, but employees want to know that you're committed to improving their workplace experience. After reviewing employee survey results, share the key metrics in a company-wide meeting. You'll want to do so relatively soon after your employees complete the survey to showcase your focus and dedication to addressing their concerns in a timely manner.

In this initial overview, you can highlight company scores, key findings, and common employee perceptions. Remember: while, it's important to share positive survey results and what your company does well, be sure to highlight opportunities to strengthen your organization. The goal is to start an open dialogue between employees and company leaders, and the key is transparency.

Likewise, a great way to showcase your ongoing commitment to improving the employee experience is by providing details about how you plan to tackle current concerns. Whether that includes engagement initiatives or a separate revision process, your dedication can strengthen morale to show employees that you're taking their feedback to heart.

3. Analyze results with the leadership team

The next step is to meet with the leadership team to examine the details of the results more thoroughly. This is a good time to go over the company engagement score and overall trends as you evaluate the health of your organization. Focus on using employee feedback to develop solutions for concerns illuminated by the engagement survey results.

Here, the executive team can plan future engagement initiatives. This meeting is also an excellent opportunity for the leadership team to express any concerns so you can talk through them.

Put your money where your mouth is: learn how to analyze and take action with your employee survey results.

4. Analyze results with other managers

The next step in communicating your employee engagement survey results is breaking them down with other department managers or team leads. The whole of a business is only as strong as its parts. Successful communication requires honest conversations with people at every level of your organization, so, an honest conversation will involve reviewing team results – including employee feedback about manager satisfaction.

The importance of measuring employee engagement cannot be overstated. According to Officevibe data, 47% of employees regularly feel overwhelmed at work. Without collecting employee feedback through engagement surveys, it becomes much more challenging to uncover insight on crucial topics surrounding employee well-being. When used effectively, an employee survey can increase engagement and create a happier and healthier workplace.

Providing managers and department heads with actionable solutions to challenges can help foster a more collaborative environment during team meetings and improve manager-employee relationships. This process may take time, but the increase in productivity and workplace happiness will be well worth it.

Employee well-being should always be your top priority as a manager. Check in on your people using an employee wellness survey.

5. Communicate updates and follow up with your team

Completing the survey is the easier part. The real trick to improving engagement is continuously communicating with your team after the survey concludes. Bridge the gap between employees and managers by frequently giving, receiving, and using feedback to make adjustments in the workplace.

Doing so can help build trust with your employees and promote collaboration across departments. Whether you prefer bi-annual employee surveys or collect survey results more frequently, your dedication to progress will help your employees feel more comfortable participating in engagement surveys in the future.

Discover tried and true continuous feedback loop strategies to increase engagement in your workplace.

Communication tips and best practices

We know that every manager is unique and will have their own communication style. But it's important to connect with your employees and learn how to best share survey results with them. Let's explore ways in which you can best communicate with your people.

Be transparent

As with any company-wide initiative, leadership can set the example for addressing feedback. To encourage employee participation in open discussions, be honest about the survey results. Doing so can strengthen that budding trust between you and your employees.

Remember that trust in the workplace must be earned, so if you stumble, own up to it, be transparent about it, and be ready to learn from your mistakes. Your team members will likely feel more comfortable coming to you with their questions or their concerns if they feel like they can be open with you.

Additionally, avoid excessive jargon or lengthy explanations. Aim to make the results as clear and accessible as possible so your employees can easily understand company objectives moving forward.

Respect your employees' responses

Honesty and open communication is the bedrock of a healthy organization. Employees should never feel guilty about expressing their concerns. They need to feel comfortable giving and receiving feedback so the company can make changes, which means you need to be open to positive and negative survey responses.

Create a safe space for your employees to share their opinions and ideas through anonymous feedback channels.

Encourage employee participation

When your employee engagement survey concludes, you'll likely have multiple methods of delivering the results. Charts, graphs, and statistics can help paint a clearer image of the overall trends in feedback. Still, employees should also be able to connect the results to their personal experience in the workplace.

A simple way to get everyone on the same page is to implement several rounds of communication. These varying approaches can include:

• A town hall meeting: This method allows everyone in various departments to receive the same information simultaneously. Plus, you can record these meetings for later review.
• Focus groups: Gather employees from the same or different departments and encourage them to discuss the survey results. Doing so may highlight deeper issues and provide further clarity.
• One-on-one sessions: A fantastic way to break down hierarchal barriers is by holding one-on-one meetings. Employees have the opportunity to address managers and leadership directly about their concerns, and managers have the chance to communicate on a personal level with their people. As a result, you may see an increase in engagement.

💡Need help initiating a one-on-one conversation? We've got your back. Check out these tips from managers on how to make the most of your one-on-one meetings.

Collect feedback regularly

When the first survey goes well, it's easy to forget that improving engagement is a long-term commitment and process. What works for your team today might not work a month from now; goals, needs, and expectations can shift over time. To maintain the momentum following a successful survey, remember to be flexible and remain attentive.

The communication loop should always be active, with feedback coming and going between managers and employees regularly. Don't be afraid to repeat the survey process! Creating a highly engaging workplace is an ongoing, collaborative endeavor, and you'll need all hands on deck to discover what works best for your company.

🗝️ Feedback is key to fostering a healthy office culture. Try these tips for creating a positive feedback culture in the workplace.

Keep on surveying and boosting employee engagement

Developing effective employee engagement strategies can be challenging, but the work is worth the numerous benefits. From cultivating a better company culture to increasing employee happiness, engagement surveys give you fast, comprehensive insights about your organization's health.

Officevibe's Pulse Survey tool lets employees provide anonymous responses to your survey questions, eliminating that initial hesitation and making it easier than ever to begin the survey process. What kind of surveys you conduct will depend on your company's needs. With our vast array of employee engagement templates, you can find and use employee surveys for:

• Annual check-ins
• Employee well-being reviews
• Job satisfaction check-ins
• Remote employee check-ins

The most important thing to remember while conducting an employee engagement survey is to practice active listening. Be attentive, ask follow-up questions, and reflect on what your employee is telling you.

By flexing intuitive communication strategies, conducting employee engagement surveys, and analyzing feedback, you'll be one step closer to fostering a thriving culture.