Employee surveys can be very helpful for the company, staff and individual employees – but only if they are properly set up, executed, evaluated and implemented. There are many pitfalls, so to help you we have here the 5 major don’ts in terms of employee surveys.

1. Promise and then not deliver.

Communication with employees is critical. Promises such as “afterwards we will improve everything employees note as negative”, only lead to frustration. It should be clarified in advance what the specific aim of the survey is. Is it to analyze the current situation or evaluate a previous change?

2. Select topics that cannot be changed in a timely manner.

If you ask your employees how satisfied they are with their pay, then it implies that it could be changed. If you ask the staff about how they feel about the ventilation in their offices, then this also implies that it can be improved. Keep in mind that the survey content signals the areas that you (the HR department) identify as needing changes.

3. Conduct surveys too frequently.

If you administer a short survey every week, especially if there’s an empty text box for suggestions, employees will get frustrated very quickly. Most likely all these improvements cannot be quickly implemented. Under certain circumstances, continuous monitoring of the sentiments towards the improvement can but useful, but it must be communicated as such.

4. Ask for/able to glean which individual answered the survey.

Especially in small businesses, it can be tricky if statements and results can be attributed to specific employees. In this case, your survey results will be distorted because people will respond with what they think are the “right” answers. Also this will arouse suspicions amongst your employees about ulterior motives.

5. Conduct an employee survey, without the resources to make the changes.

The hectic pace of everyday life, lack of resources and management support can cause even the most well designed surveys to fail. Employee surveys should be part of a continuous loop of: survey – implement – evaluate – survey.

Be aware of these pitfalls when you create an employee survey. Also read our 5 tips to make your employee surveys successful.