It depends on the company culture and whether the organization has a psychologically safe environment. If employees have the experience that anything they say will be used against them, then they may be reluctant to participate in surveys other than anonymously. Conversely, in companies where the culture is based on mutual trust, honesty, and cooperation, the need for anonymous surveys is almost non-existent. People are not afraid to share their opinions and want to be actively involved in the development of the company.
The compromise is to give employees the choice of whether or not they want to disclose their names. Anonymous surveys have their limits. While you will find out what employees are concerned about, the opportunities to make changes will be limited. Some problems have universal solutions, but individual or team problems will be much harder to solve and require detective work. :)
At Behavera, we believe that non-anonymous surveys are a better way to go. To be able to put its people first, a company needs to approach well-being solutions with openness and honesty. Feedback is a gift to be valued and goes hand in hand with a willingness to look at the problem from a different perspective. In the daily hustle and bustle, management may inadvertently overlook small issues that can build up over time.
Feedback will help shine a light on these issues before they become serious problems. When an employee speaks up and discloses their name, you know who to go to for more information and learn a lot. You can include your people in problem-solving and the whole process helps build trust, strengthens relationships, and makes people feel heard and valued. Which is one of the key ingredients to happiness at work.
Do you want to try the Behavera Well-being Index? Sign up here.
A year is a very long time and we live in a world where things change rapidly. If you do surveys once a year, you'll know what the state of well-being is right now, but it won't give you an evaluation of the whole year. Few of us remember how we felt a week, a month, or six months ago. Just try to remember what you were doing a year ago at this time.
You should survey well-being ideally on a quarterly basis, and in the meantime do pulse checks (a few short questions instead of a long survey). You can then compare the data over time and notice patterns or more challenging periods. This way you can plan better and catch problems before they flare up into a critical situation. Flexibility, adaptability, and quick reactions are the cornerstones of today's success. And this is much easier to do with data than without it.
On the other hand, surveys are not to be overdone or they will annoy people. Every company has different needs and it's perfectly fine to try doing surveys every month in the beginning. Listen to your people and monitor your completion rates. Then set the frequency of surveys as it suits your needs.
With well-being, it's like preventive check-ups at the doctor. We all know we should go regularly, but we usually skip it until we have a serious problem. Prevention would save us a lot of time, money, and heartache, but we only take it seriously when it's too late.
It works the same way in companies, where well-being is only addressed when key people leave due to burnout and a tsunami of other problems arises. Starting to address well-being at this point may not save you from existing problems, but it will help you see early on where new ones may arise and prevent future problems.
Companies often tell us that they will measure well-being when things calm down in the company. Sometimes they justify this because they don't want to add another task to their people. Other times, they're kind of afraid of what they'll learn. Either way, measuring well-being only during quiet periods won't give you true data that reflects reality.
Addressing well-being as a problem prevention helps build more stable and stronger companies that can better overcome obstacles. In the long run, this also translates into people's performance and effectiveness.
Surveys are a great start. People-first companies wanted to lend a helping hand to their people during the pandemic, and self-produced surveys were the most accessible option. This difficult task fell on the shoulders of HR professionals and leaders who tackled it as best they could.
However, times have evolved and there are HR technologies on the market, such as Behavera, that combine insights from behavioral psychology with data science to take surveys to the next level.
Why replace custom surveys with an HR platform?
Surveys are a lot of work for little data. You will spend hours compiling surveys, chasing colleagues to complete them, and then analyzing the results. Which is expensive for companies and keeps HR professionals busy on tasks they may not enjoy or find fulfilling. Behavera does this work for you and you can spend your time focusing on helping people.
The quality of the outputs is directly correlated to the quality of the questions. In Behavera, all questions are carefully crafted by a team of behavioral scientists, so you don't have to worry about how to word the questions correctly.
Work plays a significant role in an individual's well-being. In this sense, the company also contributes to the well-being of the individual. However, the role of the company is not to solve all the problems of individuals, but to create a safe environment and conditions such that the impact of work on well-being is positive.
It is very important to respect everyone's privacy. A company can be a platform where those who want to open up can do so. The least managers can do is to take a genuine interest in how their people are doing. Within their means, they can be accommodating to individuals in difficult times and provide them with support.
The opposite is true. There are individuals, teams, or branches where the state of well-being can vary dramatically and needs to be approached individually.
Our Well-being Index measures the top 12 factors behind the risk of burnout, loss of engagement, reduced productivity, or risk of quitting. This will tell you in which areas and how much people are calling for help.
In the report, you can also see how the individual teams or branches are doing. You can easily see where they need help and where things are in good health.
Would you like to get your feet wet with well-being solutions? Great news, we'd like to introduce the Behavera Well-being Index, your people-first tool for a happier company. How does it all work?
The Behavera Well-being Index will do the research for you, analyze the data, and advise you on how to manage it all.
Do you address well-being in your company? Let us know on LinkedIn and you will make us happy if you send the article to your colleagues.
