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An employee retention survey is a management practice used to determine what employees like and dislike about their jobs. The goal of employee retention surveys, either online or paper-based, is to identify patterns among worker attitudes in order to improve the quality of the workforce.
Employee retention surveys should be given out on a regular basis (e.g., every six months) in order to monitor employee satisfaction levels over time. Employers use employee retention surveys as benchmarks for future employee engagement efforts; this allows businesses to keep track of how well they are doing in terms of making their employees happy and fulfilled within their work environment.
There are both advantages and disadvantages to employee retention surveys. The main advantage of these surveys is that they are a proactive way to keep employee morale high and employee turnover rates low. Asking employees about their thoughts on the job, company culture, management style, etc., allows employers to adjust policies or take other actions in order to reduce issues; failing to ask can lead them to remain unaware of what needs changing until it's too late (e.g., an employee has already jumped ship).
As far as disadvantages go, employee retention surveys can be time-consuming to conduct and analyze, especially if they are given on a regular basis like monthly or quarterly. It takes time to read through employee comments, sift out what's important from what's not, and decide how best to address the issues. In addition, employee retention surveys also have a lower response rate than other employee engagement initiatives (e.g., employee satisfaction meetings); employees may view them as invasive.
In order to keep employee morale high and employee turnover rates low, businesses should consider using employee retention surveys in their employee retention strategy. A retention survey is essentially an employee engagement survey or pulse survey with questions focused on the employee experience, job satisfaction and the employee perception of their role. There are several strategies that companies can use when creating an employee survey:
Employee retention surveys can be used in a number of different ways: to address employee concerns and make changes where necessary; to identify trends in employee morale, and to track employee feedback over time. Employers should consider which employee retention survey idea will work best for their company when beginning employee engagement initiatives like these:
Employee retention surveys are great employee engagement tools because they're quick and easy for employees to fill out, anonymous so employees feel comfortable expressing honest feedback, and can be used alongside regular employee evaluations or performance reviews to give managers concrete data on which to act. That means an employee retention survey is always better than no employee engagement initiative at all.
Alternatives to using employee retention surveys might include having regular meetings with individual teams to discuss how they feel about the direction the company is going or using employee appreciation software like Matter to make employee feedback part of everyday life.
Sometimes the best employee retention survey ideas don't come from your own brain! If you want additional employee engagement ideas that have been tried and tested by other employers already, consider using employee retention software like BambooHR's Employee Retention Survey. This will help ensure you cover important questions in employee retention surveys, and means you don't have to worry about which employee retention survey idea will best allow you to track employee sentiment over time.
Employee retention survey software is also useful because it makes both giving and getting the survey quick and almost automatic. Answering five questions on paper might take five minutes; answering five questions on the computer or a phone shouldn't take more than one. Once employee retention surveys are completed, employee retention software can summarize the results into a clear report for managers who need to take action based on employee feedback.
Use employee retention surveys as a springboard for brainstorming how you can improve your workplace: Once managers have employee retention surveys from their employees to look at, they should take some time alone or with other managers to interpret them and try to figure out what potential solutions could be proposed. For example, an employee satisfaction survey might reveal that many employees feel like they don't get enough opportunities to advance with the company; brainstorming ways in which this could be addressed would make up part of your employee engagement strategy moving forward.
Employee retention surveys are a great way to gather anonymous feedback from employees when considering what changes should be made in order to ensure a better workplace for all involved. Employee retention surveys give a voice to employees who might not feel comfortable speaking up in front of their managers, and provide valuable insight into employee sentiment about their job overall.