Connecting staff research with company success: A practical guide to developing an effective measurement program
| Date | 01 November 2006 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/14754390680000938 |
| Published date | 01 November 2006 |
| Pages | 24-27 |
| Author | Andy Brown,Steve Kelly |
| Subject Matter | HR & organizational behaviour |
24 Volume 6 Issue 1 November/December 2006
F YOU CAN MEASURE IT, you can manage it,
says the familiar maxim. But evidence suggests that
employee research programs often fail to meet the
organization’s requirements. Our research among
FTSE 5001HR and internal communication directors
revealed that over half had concerns regarding their
employee survey initiatives. The most commonly cited
limitations were: survey questions not meeting the
needs of the business; low response rates; information
overload; and a lack of clear guidance on follow-up and
action-planning activities.
It appears that the ability to manage effectively is
restricted by the quality of measurement. Here, we
provide a practical guide to designing and delivering an
effective measurement program to drive business
outcomes. This will focus on three main stages of the
research process.
Stage 1: Developing an effective questionnaire
An effective questionnaire contains three broad
sections, each fulfilling a distinct purpose:
1. Key measures: revealed through individual, high-
level questions that encapsulate the survey
objectives to provide overall headlines. For
example, “Overall, 53 percent of our employees are
engaged.” The data from these survey measures are
often included in business and manager scorecards.
2. Detailed questions: forming the majority of the
survey content, with individual questions presented
within distinct themes such as line management,
internal communications, working environment,
learning and development and pay and reward.
3. Classification questions: used to categorize
respondents into sub-groups, facilitating local-level
reporting and internal benchmarking/
identification of best-practice areas.
1. Key measures
Many organizations focus on employee satisfaction as
the key measure of how effective HR interventions
have been. Satisfaction, however, is a passive measure –
the base level of employee contentment. Satisfied
employees have no real desire to go the extra mile to
contribute to the company.
For research to return more business-focused
insights, key measures – which have been shown to
link with harder business outcomes – need to be
incorporated. Below we summarize the key measures
used within our definition of employee engagement:
• Motivation: probes whether employees feel
stimulated in their role and are driven to perform
and deliver business objectives. This is strongly
linked with productivity measures.
• Commitment: measures employee alignment with
the strategy, objectives, values and culture of the
organization. This is strongly linked to employee
loyalty and customer service excellence.
Connecting
staff research
with company
success
A practical guide to developing an
effective measurement program
To help management make better decisions, employee
research must explore the relationship between levels
of engagement and actual performance, and provide
insight into what drives engagement. This article
explains how to move your research program beyond
descriptive, silo data to show the links between key
measures and profit drivers.
by Dr Andy Brown and Steve Kelly,
Mercer Delta Consulting I
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