23 June 2008
"Normal" employee attitudes shown by employee survey benchmarks
But most companies get low marks for internal communication.
Trying to define a "normal" workplace is as difficult and unpredictable as describing a "normal" family, according to Paul M. Connolly, president of Performance Programs, Inc., an HR research firm that has conducted many employee surveys worldwide since 1987.
"While there's no way of defining 'normal' workplaces, there are average or predictable answers to some employee survey questions," says Connolly.
"Most companies, for instance, have a hard time getting high ratings for internal communications."
Standards unclear
In his most recent review of Performance Programs' database of employee survey answers, Connolly found that almost 60% of respondents had neutral or negative attitudes to the statement "Information in this organization is communicated well."
"You can see that lots of organizations have difficulty with internal communications," says Connolly.
Another management challenge, he says, is revealed by responses to the statement: "Work standards are clearly understood." His most recent review of the data showed that 58% were negative or neutral on this statement.
Almost 60% of respondents had neutral or negative attitudes to the statement 'Information in this organization is communicated well.'
Career advancement, management consistency, and recognition were also found to be other challenging areas.
Benchmark your organization
"Norms help you judge whether results are high or low compared to other organizations," says Connolly, who encourages organizations to repeat their surveys several times in order to gauge internal norms.
"Even if you find certain items disappointingly low, you may find your organization outranks many other organizations. Outside norms are especially important for a first-time employee survey."
Have your say
How would you say your organization scores in comparison to your industry norms? What difficulties (if any) do you have in measuring employee opinion? Is your survey effective enough?
Discuss these issues with other comms practitioners by joining the Internal Comms Hub members' group on the Communicators' Network.
Other recommendations:
Can you give me some advice on ratings scales for employee surveys?
How do your salary, department size and budget compare on a worldwide scale?
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