A well-run employee engagement survey can have a huge impact on your company. People feel more enthusiastic about work when leadership listens to them, leading to improvements in productivity and retention. According to one study, managers listening to employee feedback can cut staff turnover by as much as 20%.
Despite this, many organizations aren’t seeing any real benefits from their surveys. One poll of HR teams found that:
- Only 22% of companies saw positive change resulting from regular surveys
- 31% found no measurable change in employee experience
- Worryingly, 13% found that the employee experience got worse
In most cases, the problem with employee engagement surveys is not the survey itself. The real challenge is turning those survey results into meaningful action.
Why engagement surveys fail to drive change
People often talk about “survey fatigue”, which happens when employees receive too many surveys. From an organizational perspective, survey fatigue presents as a low response rate and a high level of incompletes. The suggested solution is, usually, to send fewer surveys.
Harvard Business Review offers this alternative perspective:
People won’t speak up if they don’t believe their input will be genuinely considered. Many HR executives we interviewed said that “survey fatigue” is a misnomer. Rather, employees experience “inaction fatigue,” and harnessing their voices requires a long-term investment in building and sustaining trust that their feedback will make a difference.
In other words, employees stop responding because they think these surveys don’t matter. They can’t see any response to their previous feedback, so why bother answering the same questions again?
This issue can arise for a number of reasons:
- Lack of planning: Many organizations launch surveys without a clear action plan or predetermined process for handling results. There’s no process for highlighting the main areas of concern and developing an appropriate plan.
- Analysis paralysis: Too much data can be a problem in itself. Teams can get stuck at the analysis stage and fail to identify the high-priority, high-impact tasks that will make a difference to employees.
- Lack of leadership buy-in: Engagement surveys can highlight issues that might impact the organization as a whole. For example, employees might report a problem with a certain piece of software. The relevant action plan might require the IT team’s help, which means that the CIO or CTO must be committed to supporting the action plan. Without that leadership buy-in, it’s hard to implement meaningful change.
- Failure to communicate changes: Sometimes, an organization will act on employee feedback—but forget to tell the employees. Communication is essential so that the team knows that you’ve heard them and you’re taking action.
The good news is that all of these problems can be avoided with the right approach. Here’s how to make your next survey a success.
5 steps for turning employee feedback into meaningful change
Employee engagement surveys are one small part of a much larger process. The goal of this process is to improve the employee experience, resulting in better engagement, fewer absences, and improved staff retention. There are five main steps in this process:
1. Define the intent behind the survey
Before beginning the survey process, it’s important to ask yourself some basic questions. Why are you doing this survey? What do you want this survey to achieve? Who is responsible for overseeing those achievements?
It’s a good idea to bring the main stakeholders together to discuss the survey’s scope. Another helpful step is to identify what you can act on. For example, you might not be able to offer everyone a 20% salary increase, but it might be possible to review your benefits provider and look for options more suited to your team’s needs.
Action points
- Convene an action committee: Invite key stakeholders from teams that might be required to work on the resulting action plan.
- Identify key development areas: Highlight specific areas where you intend to take action. For example, benefits, learning and development, organizational culture, or career pathing.
- Write questions that will provide relevant data: Writing survey questions isn’t easy. Spend some time crafting questions that will provide the data you need but that won’t bias the outcome.
2. Segment the data
Survey data should be anonymous, but it’s still helpful to have some details about the survey respondents. At the very least, you should be able to measure the response rate from individual teams, business units, or regional locations.
Organizing the data into segments can offer deeper insight into the results. For example, you might find that 60% of employees say they are engaged, but this figure could be 80% on the sales team and 40% in customer service. Segmented data allows for targeted, specific action.
Action points
- Break data into meaningful segments: Focusing on specific teams or groups will allow for a more focused action plan.
- Benchmark against previous data: Look for any significant changes that might show the effect of changes since the last survey.
- Combine with other data sources: Engagement surveys are just one data point. You can also look at exit interviews, pulse surveys, and industry benchmarks.
3. Match findings to actions
Engagement surveys can tell you a lot about your organization. You can see where the biggest problems are, learn more about your greatest strengths, and get a clear picture of the best opportunities for moving forward.
Each of these insights should have a corresponding action plan. For example, if employees report feeling stressed, the corresponding action could be to review wellness benefits. If employees want to learn new skills, such as AI, then an action plan could be a new training program.
Action points
- Chart out the major findings: Make a list of all major insights from the survey. Verify these insights against other data sources if required.
- Assign actions to each insight: Agree on at least one action point for each finding. There may be some overlap between actions, but it’s essential to have a clear next step for everything revealed by the survey.
- Assign actions to owners: Action owners might not be the people who implement the change. For example, someone on the HR team could take responsibility for ensuring that IT-related projects happen within the agreed timeframe.
4. Go after quick wins
Acting on employee feedback can be a major undertaking—but not always. Sometimes, survey feedback will highlight something that’s relatively simple to fix. It could be as simple as changing the snacks in the break room or adding a new channel to the team Slack.
These small changes are no substitute for meaningful long-term action, of course, but they can help build momentum behind bigger change projects. It’s also a way of showing employees that you have listened and you are responding.
Action points
- Identify quick wins: These can include low-cost ideas or things that the action committee can do without requesting external sign-off.
- Explain the connection: Be sure to communicate how each action relates to an insight from survey data.
- Stay focused on the big picture: Use these quick wins as a starting point for larger action plans.
5. Share about your progress
Employee engagement surveys should be just one touchpoint in a broader dialogue. To keep this conversation going, it’s important to share details about what you’ve learned from the survey, what you intend to do next, and what progress has been made.
Communication solves the biggest problem behind survey fatigue, which is that employees simply don’t know if anyone has listened to their feedback. By keeping the conversation going, you’ll show that you are listening and you are doing your best to deliver an exceptional employee experience.
Action points
- Create a visible resource: In physical offices, you can use a wall chart to display the action plan and current progress. Alternatively, you could create an internal website with progress information.
- Send regular updates: Emails, newsletters, and meetings can be a great way to talk about what is happening next.
- Be open to feedback: Employees may have additional thoughts and suggestions as the action plan progresses. Ensure that they have a way of sharing these ideas with the action committee.
Turn survey insights into lasting change
Employee engagement surveys are powerful tools, but only when they're part of a comprehensive strategy to improve your workplace. The difference between organizations that see real results and those that don't lies in their commitment to action. By defining clear intent, segmenting your data thoughtfully, matching findings to specific actions, implementing quick wins, and maintaining ongoing communication, you transform surveys from annual exercises into catalysts for meaningful change.
Remember, employees don't just want to be heard—they want to see that their feedback matters. When you consistently follow through on survey insights, you build the trust and engagement that drives long-term organizational success.
Need help turning your employee feedback into results? Helios HR can support you with:
- Employee engagement surveys and action planning to measure and improve your workplace culture
- HR effectiveness assessments to identify gaps in your current processes
- Organizational culture design to create environments where teams thrive
- Leadership coaching to build managers who can drive engagement
- HR strategy development to align people initiatives with business goals
Book a call with a Helios HR consultant to discover how you can transform employee feedback into meaningful workplace improvements.
