Maximizing your survey participation and response rates is critical in gathering as many insights as possible about your workforce and employee engagement levels. However, increasing those rates is often easier said than done for HR departments that already have quite a bit on their plates. We’ve identified a set of factors that will help HR maximize participation in their engagement surveys, including:
The flow of work
Worker mobility
A manager’s role
Action from feedback
Other factors
Blend Into the Flow of Work
Organizations and industries naturally gravitate towards platforms and channels that blend into their specific operations. That notion, in a nutshell, describes the flow of work concept, where work and information flow through the channels that are most efficient and convenient within an employee’s everyday routine.Survey response rates directly correlate with HR’s ability to distribute surveys within the flow of work. For instance, if a particular department spends most of their time sitting at a computer, then delivering surveys to their desktop makes it much easier for those workers to participate in a survey.Response rates directly correlate with HR’s ability to distribute surveys within the flow of work.Alternatively, a manufacturer with a largely deskless workforce will likely see greater participation using mobile apps for surveys, where notifications on a mobile device are a far more effective alert than an email when a worker is in the field or on a manufacturing line. Distributing surveys according to an organization’s particular flow of work will increase response rates and help maximize actionable insights. Simply put, participation increases when HR meets employees where they spend their time.
Match Worker Mobility to the Best-Fitting Channel
Taking a closer look at the flow of work concept, technology has provided HR with many new channels that make survey distribution easier and more effective. Some of the most common survey channels in today’s organizations include:Collaboration hubs like Slack, Microsoft Teams, Facebook Workplace, and Google Hangouts
Email
SMS/text messaging, or get a phone number online for surveys (record calls, etc.)
Mobile apps like Slack, Beekeeper, Facebook Workplace, etc.
Website
A Manager’s Role
Management plays an important role in survey response rates. First and foremost, managers should always take the surveys themselves, not just for participative management purposes, but also to familiarize themselves with the process itself as well as each survey. When a manager sees that a survey contains question topics highly relevant to their team’s everyday work, they can emphasize the importance of participating in a way that is meaningful to employees.A personal connection with survey results, perhaps through possible career growth opportunities or expanded benefits, provides plenty of incentive for workers to participate. However, a manager must be cautious with how they remind their team about the survey. A group email is often more effective than speaking directly to each individual, as many employees might find that tactic somewhat overbearing or confrontational.Take Action on Feedback
One of the easiest ways to increase survey responses is to show that a workforce’s responses actually mean something. If employees see that nothing changes as a result of their feedback, they feel as if their voice doesn’t matter and will lack the incentive to participate. Conversely, workers are 4.6x more likely to feel empowered when their voice is heard, acknowledged, and acted upon. When management communicates with the workforce about survey results, it fosters transparency and a sense of trust, showing that leadership embraces the feedback and the areas for improvement it reveals. A workforce that feels like it has actual stakes in a survey and its results will be much more likely to participate.Workers are 4.6x more likely to feel empowered when their voice is heard, acknowledged, and acted upon.
