Many organizations use employee surveys that report measures as composite "percent favorable" scores. This approach masks true performance and often misinforms actions. Well-crafted surveys using mean score metrics yield more precise measures of workforce attitudes for better business outcomes.

Disappointing post-employee-survey improvement results: Is there a disconnect?

Many organizations strive to achieve percent favorable scores in their employee opinion surveys that eclipse national benchmarks, especially for key drivers of workforce engagement, retention and customer experience. Unfortunately, these organizations report that successfully boosting their key drivers hasn't always translated into improved business and operational outcomes.

A disconnect between key driver performance and engagement may stem from several factors. Many organizations point to flawed data analyses. For example, they suspect the process has identified the wrong key drivers, leading HR teams to spend time and energy on issues that would never optimize important business outcomes. While miscalculations of key drivers certainly can happen, most reputable survey firms use well-established statistical methods to identify key drivers with reasonable precision.

Gallagher's survey team's extensive global experience in reengineering listening and measurement programs enables us to answer a crucial question: Why do so many organizations see employee survey increases in workforce favorability on factors that drive outcomes, but simultaneously observe declines in these outcomes instead of improvement?

When "percent favorable" employee opinion measures hide the truth

The answer is simple, yet quite easy to miss. Many organizations evaluate the performance of employee survey items by comparing their percent favorable ratings with benchmark data drawn from other organizations. The very idea of a workforce ranking key business measures as more favorable than other workforces seems like a winning proposition.

Unfortunately, chasing percent favorable employee survey scores doesn't always drive intended results. Stated differently, "percent favorable" represents an imprecise indicator of performance and can mask crucial attitudinal nuances within an organization. Misleading information then triggers a series of such unfortunate missteps as focusing on the wrong strategies and actions.

How can leaders gain accurate measures of employee opinions so that their teams can work on the right projects to improve engagement, retention and customer experience?

Read our whitepaper to gain deeper insights into why focusing on percent favorable ratings in workforce opinion surveys systematically hides the truth.

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