With all due respect…your survey sucks. Respecting the disengaged.

There are those who complete employee engagement surveys. And those who do not. Both are making a choice. Who do you and your organization focus on? What do you and your organization focus on? How do you personally feel about the surveys your organization does? (Yes, we are surveying you about your surveys!)

We love surveys and do many: pre-engagement surveys, bridge surveys, post-engagement surveys, check-in surveys. Our purpose is clear – to understand the past and present experiences of the people we are working with and what they expect the future to look like. What is more powerful than the voices in the survey? The voices that are missing.

It’s important to be intentional about ensuring they know they’ve been heard too, and that lack of engagement is a form of engagement. How?

Speak directly to them

Call it out. “Hey, we noticed 30% of the managers here didn’t complete the survey. That’s curious and we are wondering why. In the meantime, as we share back the data from your colleagues see if it resonates with you, or if there’s something missing you need us to understand.”

This is not a shame/blame “raise your hand if you didn’t do the survey?”, it’s an acknowledgement “I know some of you didn’t complete the survey. I don’t know if you forgot, ran out of time, or thought it wasn’t worth it, but I want you to know I care to understand your experiences.”

Affirm all the ways to share

The survey was one way to gather insights; however, there should be many ways for employees to share what’s going well, or not. When they are well, or not. The survey is a snapshot in time; yet communication with supervisors (building relationships), performance reviews (supporting growth), HR support (seeking advice), complaint processes (seeking resolution), professional development programs (enhancing skills) are ongoing avenues with no deadline date. These form a bundle of options enabling employees to be seen, heard, and respected at work. When those avenues are well used, the engagement survey results are usually no surprise.

Of course, we’d prefer everyone to complete our surveys, and we’ve found these practices to have increased interest, thoroughness, and thoughtfulness.

Advertise what’s coming

Don’t spring a survey on anyone, even ones that are routine or expected. It’s a missed opportunity to ask people to start reflecting on their experiences so they are willing and ready to share on the survey launch date. Let them know it’s coming, the purpose, why it matters, how their voices will be shaping decisions, and what changed because of the previous survey data. Speak directly to those who have never completed one (new employees) or haven’t felt it was worth their time (the disengaged).

In sessions, we often let them know upfront that we are going to be asking them if it’s been worth their time, and why or who not. We also then say we’ll check in during the session/program as if it’s not meeting their expectations, we’d prefer a conversation so it can be addressed, not read about it later when there’s no going back.

Encourage them to say something, not nothing

We had an employee not wanting to answer a survey because they didn’t believe it was anonymous, and they worried it would come back to bite them. Our response, “say that!” There isn’t anything more honest than disclosing a concern on anonymity and that you wished you trusted the system so you could share some very difficult encounters.

Look for ways that your disengaged will engage, just a little bit. Here’s a few prompts to consider:

Do your engagement surveys:

1. Have enough open comment boxes allowing people to freely write, and not be limited by dropdown curated answers? (yes, you must read all of these!)
2. If many of your questions have pre-selected options only, do you give the option of “I wish I could be honest, but…(fill in the blank).” (now that’s bold!)
3. Do you ask people how they feel, right now? (that’s intel worth knowing)

Respecting the disengaged is respecting the segment of your employee base that have lots to say, they just need to be motivated differently. It’s worth a conversation amongst senior leaders and human resource experts. Surprise them next time and watch what happens.

So, was it worth your time reading this? Why or why not?