About two thirds of companies are regularly conducting surveys among their employees which represents an unprecedented figure. This was the finding of a joint study “Staff surveys – trends of 2007” by the Kienbaum and Hewitt Associates consultancy firms. However, the character of these surveys is increasingly changing: these surveys are always less a mood barometer, but always more important with regard to the strategic decisions concerning staff issues.
In the course of such surveys 94% of companies assess the satisfaction of their employees with their work and the company in general. 83% also want to inquire about the commitment of their staff to the company. But only 55% of those companies questioned make use of such surveys in order to find out the actual motivation of their staff for reaching business objectives.
According to experts the big challenge of such surveys consists not in their be conducted as such, but in the following process of change: a systematic measure catalogue which also sets priorities has to ensure specific improvements. In more than one quarter of companies questioned there is, however, no binding or structured procedure for consequent action and in 30% of companies there is insufficient monitoring of the implementation of measures to be taken, even though participants in the study considered implementation to be a particularly important aspect. Only in 37% of companies employees are able to perceive what kind of change results from the survey.
In the course of the study 90 major companies and SMEs were questioned, of which 37 were German, 24 Austrian and 29 Swiss. More detailed findings of the study can be received via email. 