"Our employee survey process has improved significantly since we moved our business to HPS. They are more flexible and responsive than our previous providers, and the quality of their work is exceptional. The best part is that we accomplished all of this while dramatically lowering our costs."
John Cecil
Chief Human Resources Officer
Lee Memorial Health System
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"Top 10” questions about the value and methodology of a “mid-year” interval survey.
- What is the purpose of the survey?
- The mid-year or quarterly pulse survey is designed to provide an interval measure to the overall satisfaction and engagement of the workforce.
- Everyone recognizes that the degree of employee engagement is vital to providing for a healthy culture and good customer/patient service. AND
- Since the employee survey is the least frequent “vital sign measure (usually only provided to department leaders/managers once per year), it is important to get a trend reading if the engagement is moving up or down.
- How is the information used to complement our other performance measures?
- The “outcome measure” readings can be correlated to other key performance measures (both “hard” metrics – financial, or “soft” metrics – patient satisfaction)
- The measures can also be incorporated into campus/business unit scorecards for all leaders to observe how employee metrics can be impacting other human capital indicators (turnover, vacancy rates etc.)
- When some leaders use the interval survey to measure the feedback from all employees in a department (usually done when the department is performing very poorly), it can serve as a vital sign to see if improvement interventions are getting traction.
- Who participates?
- The participants usually consist of a “representative sample size” to create a statistically valid sample size to achieve a relatively high confidence level (usually 95%).
- The number of people chosen to participate is slightly different for each population but the idea is to get measured feedback from the minimum number of people that exceeds the statistical threshold.
- Examples are: with a total population of 1,000 the goal would be to include approximately 278 (to achieve a confidence level of 95%). With 10,000 the number would be approximately 370 people.
- How are people selected?
- People are usually chosen at random from a list of employees generated for the HR function (there are numerous ways to accomplish this in a simple way)
- The important thing is to get the best cross sectional slice/representation of the workforce (a larger number within the confidence level zone always helps)
- If the target number is 278, then invite 500 and shoot for approximately a 60% response rate.
- Sample size goals can be established for each business unit to determine the total number of participants desired.
- How do they actually take the survey?
- The survey can be administered via e-mail invite, paper based forms (mailed or distributed) and on the web (on central terminals)
- The surveys should be administered within a 2 week window (defined time frame)
- Surveys in multiple languages can be provided to accommodate all employees (usually paper based)
- What are we measuring?
- The primary criterion consists of the fewest number of items (actual questions) to measure the most important outcome measures and driver items.
- It is also valuable to get feedback about senior leadership (example: I have confidence in our senior leadership - specific campus leadership usually administrator or VP’s)
- An outcome measure would be: Job satisfaction, organizational loyalty or degree of professional engagement
- A driver item is a business practice that contributes most to the desired outcomes for example: When significant changes occur at our organization, care is taken to ensure that all staff understand the reasons for the change.
- What are the survey items?
- The total number of items is usually lower than the annual survey (10 to 16 items)
- This increases the odds of getting a good response rate, takes only a few minutes to complete and is a very accurate trend indicator of performance.
- The survey is usually limited to scaled items but can include one open feedback item for qualitative information
- The survey consists mostly of items from the annual (more comprehensive assessment) but can include customized items if desired
- A menu list of recommended items will be provided based upon the scope and objectives of each business unit
- What kind of reports do we receive?
- Standard reports for overall grand-mean scores for each campus, business unit or service line (depending upon where/how the sample size was derived)
- Percentile rank scores for longitudinal tracking
- Specific data sorts/slices for customized analysis
- When do we receive the reports?
- An overall grand mean summary can be provided immediately after the survey closes
- Individual reports are usually delivered within 10 days by business unit
- Customized reports are created within two weeks of the survey closing
- The results should be shared with the employees through normal distribution of information or “vital sign” metrics (newsletter or scorecards).
- Are there any additional costs?
- Not usually if items are limited to scaled metrics
- There is usually a small charge for open feedback items for content analysis
- There may be additional fees for more advanced statistical analysis
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