Boosting Participation without Incentives

Embedded Questions - Even Cookie Preference - Can Boost Participation on Employee Engagement Surveys.

Insightlink's 4Cs survey is designed to be sufficiently engaging and motivating to achieve high participation and completion without the use of incentives. During our issues meetings with clients, we discuss the nature of the organization's work force to assess whether incentives are warranted. Incentives are something many survey providers grapple with, since there are pros and cons to using them. The issue of whether or not to use incentives to boost participation in employee surveys comes up regularly. Inevitably, somebody suggests encouraging managers to tell their employees that there will be a company-provided celebration (probably the most common is a pizza party or other type of lunch) for any department that can boast 100% participation in the survey. Other organizations set up "contests" where departments vie to see which can achieve the highest participation - again, with some sort of company-sponsored prize going to the winner(s). A few have attempted to enter individual participants into drawings, often with multiple prizes. So what does Insightlink recommend?

As a general rule, we advise clients not to make participation in the survey a competition. We generally recommend against individual winners or rewarding teams. If you do choose this route, however, be sure to communicate the incentive plan often and well. Be sure you have consistent and fair rules. Instead, consider a company-wide incentive. Make it meaningful to employees and feasible for the organization. For some, this may be donating to a charitable cause if they achieve their participation goal. Employees are less likely to view this type of incentive as a bribe, since it does not benefit employees directly. Insightlink's research team recently experimented with a new way to encourage survey completion that is employee-driven, not externally driven. Our client planned to have an "Employee Cookie Day" at the conclusion of the employee survey. So at the end of the survey, we added a question giving employees the opportunity to vote for their favorite cookie.The primary goal was to create a concrete way to show employees that HR was really listening to the survey results. A secondary benefit was that the symbolism of treating employees to a day with cookies, provided in quantities similar to the vote outcome, gave the organization time to do short, medium and long-term action planning. That such actions boosted participation was an added bonus. Adding a question about cookie preferences concluded the survey in a positive and unexpected way - and even provided a survey question that was okay to discuss around the water cooler. It created buzz about the survey and prompted more staff to want to offer their two cents - which they only could do by answering the entire survey, since the cookie question was strategically placed at the end.

And yes, chocolate chip was the winner!

7 Ways to Increase Response Rates on Employee Surveys

No doubt you want to maximize the survey response rate. Low response rates reflect poorly on a project and can inadvertently undermine the validity of the data gathered. For an accurate assessment with any employee engagement or attitude survey, honest responses and high participation are key. The following tips will help boost the number of responses you get the next time you survey your employees.

Communicate Your Commitment to Respondent Anonymity
Employing a third party to collect the data and generate the reports gives you that credibility. Employees feel more comfortable and respond more openly and candidly when they know their responses are being handled by an outside organization. Whether you are conducting your survey online or via paper, having a third party to take care of this will not only improve your response rate, but you will see it in the quality of responses. If you already know that trust is a problem in your organization, give extra thought and attention to this issue. Even if you do not think trust is a problem, don't underestimate the value of ensuring that employees feel as comfortable as possible responding to the survey. The only way to get an accurate measure of your overall employee attitude is via anonymity.

Get Sign Off and a Concrete Endorsement from Senior Management (especially the ones who employees most respect!)
In the weeks or days before the survey, share letter s or notes from the CEO, GM or some other organizational leader that highlight the importance of responding to the survey. These communications should explain why the survey is being conducted and what the organization and the employees stand to gain from it.

Manage Employee Expectations about the Survey Length, Especially if You Can't Keep the Survey Brief
Longer surveys have lower response rates. Nonetheless, collecting enough data for analysis and actionability is essential. A short survey with high participation may lack sufficient depth to provide insights that matter. Regardless of the length of your survey, tell people up front how long it will take them to complete it. Be accurate in your estimate by having people pre-test it. It is better to err in the side of an estimate with a longer time rather than a shorter time. People will feel pleasantly surprised when they finish early!

Explain the Benefits to All Employees
By clearly communicating how employees and the organization as a whole will benefit from the employee attitude survey, you give people a reason to fill out your survey. Response rates will be higher and your employees will be more honest about their opinions.

Explain the "Next Steps"
Communicate clearly what you intend to do with the information you gather from the survey. If you plan to share the results with employees, let them know that. When you share with people what you plan to do with the survey results, you show them that you are serious about what you are doing and that you have given thought to the entire process. They will realize that the time they invest in completing the employee attitude survey will not be time wasted. And, in turn, this will increase response rates the next time you survey your employees.

Follow Through on Your Promises
If you tell your employees what you plan to do with the survey results, be sure you follow through. If you don't, the next time you want to gather information or conduct an employee attitude survey, you will have lost credibility and your response rate will suffer. Be sure to not only follow through on your promises, but do so publicly. Get credit for listening and acting on survey feedback. Remind people of what you promised and show them the results.

Offer Company-Wide, Rather Than Team Incentives
Consider offering modest incentives to the organization as a whole, instead of creating competition between teams or work groups who have the highest response rates. Creating winners vs. losers can exacerbate perceptions of unfairness. Ideas might include a Friday pizza lunch or a cookies. The incentive should fit with your organization's culture and appeal to all employees equally. Insightlink offers what we call "the cookie question" so people not only have an incentive, but a reason to make it all the way though the survey to offer their "vote" on a favorite cookie!