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Boosting Your Company’s Competitiveness with Employee Surveys and HR Surveys

Both in good economic times and when times are highly challenging, companies need to compete aggressively to grow and thrive. Business leaders sometimes rely too heavily on their own knowledge to make important decisions, without getting valuable input from employees throughout their organization. 

Your company’s managers and other employees have extensive information and insight about your company’s processes, products and services, customers and other key drivers of business performance, competitiveness and profit. Employees know the barriers to their own performance and what it will take to make your company significantly more competitive and profitable. 

The fastest and most effective way to tap the knowledge and insight of your employees is to conduct employee surveys and other types of HR surveys. A full service survey company can design and conduct your employee survey at a fraction of the cost of the payback they will provide. They provide value by knowing the right questions to ask and the right way to ask them. They also know how to optimize participation in your employee surveys, they are able to generate useful results reports quickly, and they are able to analyze your findings objectively and provide recommendations for achieving significant results. 

Employee satisfaction surveys/employee engagement surveys should include at least 40 questions and as many as 70 questions organized in logical sections/topics in order to gather information and insight about a broad range of issues. In addition to asking employees to provide ratings for each question, they should also have the ability to provide their comments and suggestions after each question. A comprehensive employee survey typically includes the following topics: 

- The Work Itself / Work Environment / Safety

- Decision Making / Empowerment

- Quality, Customer Service & Work Performance

- Innovation and Change

- Processes/Procedures

- Reward & Recognition / Compensation & Benefits

- My Manager

- Training/Development/Opportunity

- Teamwork / Collaboration

- Communications

- Employee Engagement

- Senior Management Effectiveness

- Commitment to Company Direction

Once employee satisfaction surveys/employee engagement surveys are conducted and the findings are analyzed it is important to take action based on the findings and to track progress in achieving increases in employee and business performance and competitiveness. Conducting the assessments annually will determine how well change is being managed and executed, and identify new problems and opportunities that have surfaced during the past year.

Other types of employee surveys/HR Surveys that will enable your organization to identify opportunities to save money and increase performance and competitiveness include employee benefits surveys (identifying employees’ preferences for and satisfaction with your benefits program), sales force surveys (identifying what needs to be done to increase the performance of your sales people), employee turnover surveys (identifying reasons for high turnover and how to increase retention) and HR scorecard surveys. Human Resources scorecard surveys assess HR customer satisfaction with the full range of HR services typically including benefits planning and administration, HR generalists/HR business partners, compensation planning, HRIS, recruiting/hiring and other HR services.

Conducting an employee survey is significantly less costly than performing consulting studies to identify problems and opportunities, and it is the best way to gather comprehensive feedback from your employees on a wide range of HR issues. Whether your company is highly profitable or it is losing money, surveying your employees and taking action on the findings will generate significant increases in performance, competitiveness and profit.

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How Employee Engagement Surveys Can Revitalize Productivity Within Your Organization

Having a proven and strategic system of employee engagement can ensure that managers are attuned to the thoughts and aspirations of their employees. This extended level of coordination within an organization can improve business productivity by fostering a team environment where each member’s input is validated.

Utilizing years of experience within the human resources industry, TalentKeepers understands the key dynamics behind employees’reasons for joining, staying and leaving organizations. Founded in 2000, the company provides organizations with proven employee engagement strategies that accelerate productivity and stronger revenue. TalentKeepers ensures that their clients have all the necessary tools to inspire their workforce through award-winning solutions in the areas of employee engagement activities, on-boarding solutions, leadership development training, and other key areas of proactive employee management.

A key avenue to learn about your employees’ values and needs is through employee engagement surveys. Utilizing employee engagement surveys ensures that employees know that their feedback is highly appreciated and helps to increase employee commitment to the company brand. Indeed, the effective use of employee engagement surveys can actively drive employee productivity and reduce voluntary turnover, while strengthening the core relationship between a manager and their team.

The FirstFit survey and Hand Shake Meeting start with a non-anonymous employee engagement survey, which asks employees what attributes they value most in a leader. This is a vital tool for both incoming and current employees and the results from this relationship-strengthening tool are instantly available to leaders for review.  This survey is perceived very strongly as positive because an employee is sharing what he/she values most in any leader and not rating the current leader.

Once the FirstFit survey has been completed, a Hand Shake Meeting will take place between the leader and each member of his/her staff in order to facilitate an in-depth discussion of the results derived from the survey.  During this meeting, the leader will listen and learn how each employee defines the leadership competencies most important to him/her in a leader.  During the second part of the discussion, the employee will commit to raising any concerns to the leader that may impact engagement.  This two-way conversation completes the Hand Shake Meeting and begins to boost relationships immediately.

Also included within TalentKeepers’ superb range of employee engagement surveys is an anonymous survey called TalentWatch. This precisely measures the reasoning behind employees joining an organization, staying, and why they would consider leaving.  TalentWatch examines the core motivating factors of an engaged workforce for the purposes of helping the organization achieve employee commitment, high performance, a satisfied customer base, and a productive and profitable organization.

The TalentWatch employee engagement survey is exceptionally easy to implement within any business size and offers an immediate web-based reporting feature, which will act as the hub for all benchmarking data derived from the survey. These reports provide easy-to-understand, actionable results down to the front-line leader as well as group reports for all management personnel to examine the trends within their organization and refine their workplace practices to increase engagement within their teams.

The experts at TalentKeepers are also adept at developing customized employee engagement surveys, which can be utilized to measure employees’ opinions on other subjects related to the business such as competitor products or services, performance planning, and cultural changes.

Regardless of the driving factors behind the creation of the employee engagement survey, TalentKeepers has the experience and the expertise to ensure that your company receives highly valuable, actionable results. Contact TalentKeepers today and visit their website at talentkeepers to discover how their industry leading solutions can bring a cohesive team environment to your organization.

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The Importance of Residential Surveys

Survey is an activity based on calculations. It is unavoidable in modern times to fix the boundary line of a property. In ancient times, man live in forests and hills when survey was not required. But, when property rights got evolved depending on the desires and dreams of human beings, measuring a land using modern gadgets has become the order of the day. This sort of measuring is called survey to fix the authority on a property or to streamline the authenticity of the owner of the property.
A survey is nothing but an inspection of a building to assess the damage if any and to set it right at the earliest opportunity. But, it will lead to bigger complications viz. property loss and at the worst loss of very precious human lives. So, for peace of mind and confidence, the survey is a must on periodic intervals. These surveys are, generally, of a technical nature and further guidance is required to arrive at a clearer picture of the economic viability of the building. If you propose to buy any property, you should conduct a survey before signing in the contract. A survey can actually protect your money. If you feel that there are pending issues, you can discuss about the final price of the property after allowing for repair expenditure.
Types of Residential Surveys
Mortgage Valuations
Valuation and survey – both are different in basic nature. Mortgage lender carries out a limited check on the property to find out the actual worth of the asset. You have to pay for the evaluation. They may issue a copy of the report not necessarily including all the details of the evaluation. There may be problems which may require huge sums to set right.
Home Buyer Survey and Valuation Report
HSV, otherwise known as Homebuyers report is a survey complying with a preset format proposed by RICS (royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors). Conventional assets built in the last 150 years, found to be in reasonable conditions, fall within this category of the HSV. It won’t cover all aspects of the property and only concentrates on emergency features. For properties in need of major repairs or renovation, this HSV usually applicable.
Building Surveys
A building survey, otherwise known as a structural survey is a holistic visual inspection of a property and presents a detailed report. This is carried out in case of listed buildings, older properties, and unusual constructions, buildings to be renovated or altered. It gives information on the method of construction, materials used, details of the defects noted, problematical areas, environmental aspects impact on surroundings, possible effects on society, long term concerns etc.
Structural Inspections
Also called structural survey, this is a visual inspection of the structural features of the property and specific issues pointed out by others. It offers suggestions for repairs or suggestions for expert comments.
Home Energy Rating Survey
It provides Energy Efficiency and Environmental Impact Rating on an existing property. By virtue of this, energy bills can be reduced and energy efficiency can be improved. Using relevant software, assessments are carried out by an accredited assessor.
Energy Efficiency Rating (SAP Rating)
The all round total efficiency of the building is measured by energy efficiency rating. When the rating is high, the dwelling is more energy efficient. Correspondingly, the fuel billing should be lower.
Environmental Impact Rating
When the property generates some sort for impact on the environment, it is measured by EIR. When the rating is higher, it creates the least impact on the environment.

Related Structural Survey Articles

Internet Marketing Tools – Structuring Surveys to Get Desired Results

Surveys are awesome internet marketing tools, but how do you get the answers you are looking for? What is the best structure for a survey to get good results? What is the best way to ask questions on a survey? Should you ask multiple choice questions? Or are open-ended questions better? Or should you ask a combination? How do you know what type of questions to ask when?

I would start by asking why are you bothering with a survey at all? I mean, really why are you putting the survey together and what do you hope to get out of it? If you are just throwing a survey together because I said it was a good idea, or based on some other survey you have seen on the internet, then you haven’t really thought it through! You have to know where you want to go with the survey.

Your reason for putting together a survey will help guide the type of questions that you put in the survey.

Whatever you do don’t ask questions that you can’t use the answers to! Don’t ask something that you don’t know how to do something with that data. Don’t waste your time asking questions that you think you should be asking.

You want to ask questions that you can take immediate action on – action based on what answers people give you.

One of my favorite ways of doing that is to ask what their biggest question is on a certain topic within your niche. Then, on top of that you can continue with multiple choice questions.

The more important thing is to make sure you are ready to act upon the data. Don’t spend a ton of time building a survey… and don’t spend a ton of time gathering the data until you are ready to be able to use it. Until you are ready for all that data you really don’t need it – you are just wasting your time.

A good rule of thumb is to figure 10 minutes to put together a survey, maybe a little longer the first time, but after that 10 minutes to put up the survey and send it out in an email. That way you get it out fast and get results fast.

That guideline will help you decide how to format your questions, won’t it? I mean, if you have a great tool that makes multiple choice check boxes and such easy to create, then you can use that option.

One of the disadvantages with multiple choice questions is you are kind of “leading the witness”…they only have specific responses they can give, so it might not give you the whole picture. It might just be the closest thing to what they want. It can also bring up things that they hadn’t thought of on their own, but sound good when you suggest it.

By letting them tell you what their biggest question is first you get some great feedback and then their mind is already tuned into what they want to learn as opposed to what you are proposing to teach them.

Use surveys as one of your internet marketing tools-know what you want to get out of the survey. Then ask a good open ended question and follow it up with some supportive multiple choice questions. But make it fast and get it done and be ready to act on the information you get back. If you do that you are letting your list help you build your business.

The Importance of Structural Surveys for Homebuyers

The Importance of Structural Surveys for Homebuyers

There was a time when almost all homebuyers commissioned a structural survey on the property that they were intending to purchase. This article takes a look at why more and more homebuyers are prepared to purchase a home without a full structural survey.

What is a Structural Survey?

Almost every property ever built suffers to some degree from movement and in some cases the movement is so severe as to undermine the value and integrity of the property. Older period houses were built on very little foundations, mostly a dept of about 200cm and made up of coke to help with the rising damp and a wider spread of bricks below ground level which acted as the foundations. In a way this was reasonable practice as it was a wildly held belief at this time that brick built homes would only last about 30 years.

As we have since found out however, there are millions of these homes still around today and almost all of them have to some degree suffered some form of subsidence. The most crucial aspect of any form of subsidence is to discover if this is an on-going situation or if it is something that has occurred many years ago and has now stopped.

Without a full structural survey on the property that you intend to purchase you will have no idea of the structural integrity of the property and you could be making one of the largest financial mistakes of your life.

Given the cost of the average home today and the fact that you are likely to be paying for it for a period of 25 years and will in the end pay back during the life of the mortgage around three times the amount borrowed, it is unthinkable that you would make such a financial commitment that will cover most of your working life without bothering to commission a full structural survey. It’s quite clear that as the age of our period housing stock grows so will the risks increase with regard to structural problems so why would you take such a risk?

Worst Types of Structural Problems

Probably the worst types of structural problems are subsidence which insurance companies nor appear to be excluding from their house insurance. The simply won’t take the risk because they odds are not in their favor.

Subsidence is a failure of the house foundations to support the load and can happen to any part of the house. One such location on Victorian houses is the front bay window. These bays were build on even less foundation than the main building and have in the past been prone to dropping more than any other part of the house. In cases where the drop is excessive the only real remedy is to remove and rebuild at a cost of about £25,000. Clearly, it would have been a whole lot cheaper to have a full structural survey and then you would have been aware of the problem before you purchased the property and included it your negotions.

Conclusions

You would have to be mad to buy any kind of period property, flat or house, without having a full structural survey. You can find a local surveyor and compare costs for any kind of structural survey at Surveyors Supermarket, the UK’s fastest growing price comparison site for homeowners.

Comprehensive Employee Surveys Boost Employee and Company Performance

Identifying and Diagnosing Problems that May be Killing Your Organization: 

Conducting comprehensive employee surveys is like doing a full-body scan of your organization. They can identify cancers that are eating away at and threatening your business. Comprehensive employee surveys typically include 40-70 questions. This is contrasted with limited-question employee surveys that have 10-25 or so questions. 

Five reasons for conducting comprehensive employee survey: 

Five key reasons to conduct comprehensive employee engagement surveys, employee satisfaction surveys and employee opinion surveys include: 

1 – Well designed comprehensive employee surveys tell you what you need to know to achieve significant increases in company performance and competitiveness. Comprehensive employee surveys assess the magnitude of known problems and opportunities, and identify hidden problems and opportunities that are impeding competitiveness and profit, negatively impacting customers and creating risks that can be very costly and sometimes embarrassing. 

2 – While ratings for each employee survey are important in telling you about how engaged and satisfied employees are, employees’ comments often are even more important than the ratings. Comments tell you why employees provided high or low ratings for each survey question and comments collectively tell you what needs to be done to address problems and take advantage of opportunities identified in the survey. 

3 – Whether your organization has fewer than 50 or more than 50,000 employees, it is likely complex with many problems, challenges and opportunities. A limited question employee survey such as the Q12 employee engagement survey that is offered by Gallup. The Q12 survey, which includes only 12 specific questions, can’t possibly identify all of an organization’s employee-related and other important problems and opportunities, and point to the necessary solutions. Comprehensive employee surveys assess a broad range of topics, providing detailed quantitative and qualitative information and a roadmap for achieving breakthrough increases in employee and organizational performance. 

4 – Most employees are willing to tell you the “good, the bad and the ugly” when they are confident that their responses, including ratings and comments/suggestions are anonymous and they have no fear of retribution due to their honest survey responses. 

5 – The information, perceptions and insight gathered by employee engagement surveys, employee satisfaction surveys and employee opinion surveys eliminates the need for guessing about what is right and what is wrong. Comprehensive employee survey data enables organizations to avoid costly decisions, initiatives and actions taken by managers (sometimes based on recommendations from consultants) that are based on insufficient or wrong information and guesses about causes of problems. 

Illustrative Comments: 

Following are illustrative comments received from sales people in an employee surveyconducted for a company with several thousand people selling office equipment to business across the U.S. The comments demonstrate the need to conduct comprehensive surveys and to take action based on the survey findings. Does your company have any of the following issues and problems? What other problems are hurting your organization’s performance?: 

Departments Communicate Effectively with Each Other:

“Sales and Service have NO communication with each other as sales has an “air” of UNFOUNDED superiority toward Service.” 

Feel Comfortable Going to Manager with Problems:

“My manager has absolutely no people skills and I can never go to him in order to obtain help with my work. I feel he has a problem with me personally and continues to push me into a state of hating the job I once loved. He does not assist or lead us in any manner, he only piles on more work each day to the point that my job cannot be completed.” 

Feel Good About Working for Manager:

“My manager does nothing to address really important issues. We do not have enough time to properly complete our work. Processes are too complicated and cumbersome. Answering the phone is a big factor in not being able to complete our paperwork, emails, voicemails, etc. We are constantly taking on new customers problems and not having the time to take care of the old problems. This leads to frustration.” 

Company Communicates Effectively:

“Management is very rude and disrespectful when communicating with employees on a day to day basis.” 

Feel Good About Job Overall:

“I would feel real good about my job if I had more knowledge about my job, and more training. Also having a manager that I can go to for assistance would make the job a whole lot easier. I cannot ask my manager anything related to my job. She knows nothing and refers me to others for assistance.” 

Have Information Needed to Do Job:

“Sales people do not have access to any of our customer information. The Customer Service Center took our file cabinets and now they have lost thousands of our customer files. Furthermore, we don’t access to Oracle info (even read-only rights) that would allow us to pull meter readings, etc.” 

Have Sufficient Authority for Job Responsibilities:

“I feel like every little thing I do is being watched very closely and any wrong decision is treated like I just killed a man. I do not feel like I can properly assist customers with that mind set, for the fact that I have to tell them to hold on TRY and get a hold of someone and once I finally do go back to the customer tell them what upper management said, if they have any questions or disagree I have to put them back on hold and do this game of back and forth back and forth.” 

Am Inspired to Do Best Work Every Day:

“I will do my best regardless of what I am doing. It often feels as if there is no difference in result no matter how much effort I put in. I am too reliant on multiple depts and sales rep and things don’t get resolved. Over time, that gets to you.” 

Manager Encourages Environment of Openness/Trust:

” My manager frequently threatens us with write ups and employment termination.” 

Manager Listens to Concerns/Interested in My Ideas:

“My manager is very ineffective with communication and frequently degrades employees in staff meetings in front of the entire department. If we disagree with her or question the validity of instructions she responds negatively or not all.” 

One Thing Company Could Do to Increase Engagement:

“Listen to these surveys, and engage the workers in more open honest feedback. Address our concerns.” 

Job Performance Is Evaluated Fairly on a Timely Basis:

“I only had 1 review in over 2 years & never spoke a word to anyone about it – I was evaluated on paperwork being done on time & with little mistakes – I thought I would be evaluated in other areas & not just that- It was very disappointing that no one called me to review it verbally ; it was all done on line- I even asked about 1 part & never heard back from anyone on it” 

Would Take a Lot to Get Me to Leave:

“Our department has a very high turn around. The stress, inconsistent communications and extreme workload have caused over 8 people to leave in the 10 months I have been here. Migraines, ulcers and regular headaches are common complaints from people in my department because of the pressure and inconsistent management approaches.” 

Training Classes Effective:

“I have not been given the opportunity to attend any classes, even though I asked. I was told I can take only online classes because of budget restrictions, but I feel in person classes are necessary for me and the entire department; specifically in Customer Service skills” 

Management Values Employees:

“This is something that is told to us constantly, with compliments and comments. However, none of the employees at my level feel they are valued with pay and respect which would be more honest indicators.” 

Things You Like Least About Your Job:

“My manager’s inability to communicate without offending. He is constantly telling everyone how thin my co-worker is and saying she is a size 2 and then offering me Hoodia to lose weight because I’m a 12. That is SO INAPPROPRIATE AND INCREDIBLY RUDE.” 

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How To Use Customer Feedback Surveys At Trade Shows

What You Should Know about Customer Feedback Surveys

• Conducting Customer Feedback Surveys is a great way to obtain valuable feedback

• Be sure to tailor the questions to the appropriate timeframe: pre-show, show, and post-show

• Conducting surveys and compiling the information is only half the battle

While the trade show is in full swing, you will have some idea about how people are receiving your booth and your company. You will have a rough estimate of traffic through your booth and the quality of your leads. By observing and listen to people, you can gauge their reactions with some degree of accuracy. However, all these methods provide you with only so much information and are limited in scope. A great way to learn more is by conducting Customer Feedback Surveys. These should be done before, during, and after the show.

Make It Worthwhile

Make surveys part of your pre-show press packets. Include a one page survey asking potential and former customers about their expectations for the upcoming show. Make it worth their time. Inform them that by filling out and sending in a brief survey they will be entered into a raffle or drawing. Let them know they will be eligible to win valuable prizes during the show. During the show have a stack of surveys available and ask people if they would like to fill one out and be entered to win a prize. Include them again in the information packets you send to customers after the show.

Here are some examples of potential survey questions:

• How did you hear about our company?

• How did you hear about our presence at the trade show?

• Have you used our products/services before?

• What was that experience like?

• What is your goal/purpose in attending the show?

• What trade publications do you read/subscribe too?

• What trade guilds or societies are you a member of?

• May we send you a mailer or add you to our email list?

• What trade shows have you attended in the past?

Be sure to tailor the questions to the appropriate timeframe: pre-show, show, and post-show. The pre-show questions should focus on customer expectations and the post-show ones should focus on customer satisfaction. Ask customers what you could do in the future to improve the experience. In the end, surveys are another way to listen to your customers. Donald Trump, a man who knows a thing or two about business has been quoted as saying, “Watch, listen, and learn. You can’t know it all yourself…anyone who thinks so is destined for mediocrity.”

Act in Good Faith to the Survey Results

Finally, conducting surveys and compiling the information is only half the battle. You have to study the results and share the information with the appropriate people or departments. How they handle that information may not be your responsibility, but ideally, an action plan or response should result from the survey information. Customers who take the time to complete a survey are acting in good faith that your company will read their comments and act appropriately. In some cases, they expect someone to contact them with a solution. Failing to respond creates not only an unhappy customer but also a customer who will share their unhappiness with anyone who will listen. 

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What Employees are Experiencing, Thinking and Feeling — Employee Satisfaction Surveys & Employee Engagement Surveys

Employee Satisfaction and Employee Engagement Matter to Companies – Here’s Why

Employee satisfaction is a key driver of employee engagement, and employee engagement in turn is a key driver of customer satisfaction and loyalty, employee retention, productivity, sales, overall organizational performance and profit.

Employee satisfaction surveys and employee engagement surveys are the best way to accurately learn about what your employees are experiencing, thinking and feeling. These are the experiential and psychological factors that strongly influence employee behavior, and employee behavior can result in low or high levels of customer satisfaction, employee and customer retention, productivity, product and service quality, competitiveness, profit and growth.

While employee behavior is clearly reflected in the bottom line of all organizations, company financials and other “hard data measurements” do not actually assess employee behavior or what is driving employee behavior. Further, “hard data” measurements do not gather employee perceptions, opinions, feelings and suggestions.

Employee satisfaction surveys and employee engagement surveys are the best and most cost-effective way to gather and efficiently report information, insight and suggestions from all of your employees on an anonymous basis, ensuring that employees provide honest, comprehensive feedback without fear of retribution. Can any organization afford not to conduct employee satisfaction surveys / employee engagement surveys annually and take serious action based on the survey findings?

Identifying Outliers

Outliers are statistical observations that are markedly different in value from the others of the sample. Outliers are things that are situated away from or are classified differently from a main or related body. Quantisoft’s employee satisfaction surveys / employee engagement surveys identify outliers in companies and other types of organizations, including departments, products, processes and other important things that are rated very high or very low by employees.

The very highly rated outliers are the things that are your organization’s best practices, the things that are driving employee and customer satisfaction and engagement, and profit. They are the things that your organization should recognize for their excellence and focus on duplicating throughout your organization.

The very low rated outliers are the things that are eroding profit, driving away customers, tying up employees resolving recurring problems and hurting your organization’s reputation. Outliers often include identification of risks that can significantly hurt your company. They are the things your organization needs to work on to significantly increase employee and company performance.

Your Employees Have Lot’s to Say! Are You Listening? — What Employees are saying in Employee Satisfaction Surveys and Employee Engagement Surveys conducted by Quantisoft

Could the following comment have come from an employee in your organization? It actually came from a sales person that sells sophisticated equipment, working at a large company that designs, builds, sells and services the equipment in North America, Europe and Asia.

“Everyone sits in their cubicle either protecting their piece of turf or covering their own tails totally incapable of making a decision that could serve a customer or help get an order”

During the deep recession, many companies have laid off significant numbers of employees, reduced or eliminated salary increases and bonuses and matching contributions to retirement plans, and they have cut back on employee benefits, including medical insurance. Companies have also been reducing expenditures on marketing, IT hardware and software and other things that bring in business and make the organization more efficient. Many employees are in fear of being laid off and they resent the cutbacks in compensation, benefits and business expenditures.

As a result of all of these cutbacks, Quantisoft has been seeing lower levels of employee satisfaction and employee engagement in many of our employee satisfaction and engagement surveys. More employees are commenting on their dissatisfaction and some are saying they are planning to look for a new job as soon as the job market opens up again.

Here are some of the other things we are seeing in employees’ comments in employee satisfaction surveys and employee engagement surveys:

1. Communications within and across departments and business units needs improvement

2. Communications from senior management filtered by middle managers and supervisors

3. Mission, vision and values not communicated effectively and not executed consistently across organizations….. Unclear company direction, short-term focus

4. Poor leadership

5. Corporate culture that is not supportive of innovation, asking for and listening to employees’ ideas, empowerment and decentralized decision making

6. Internal turf battles, workplace conflict, excessive politics and inward focus

7. Verbal abuse and occasional physical abuse

8. Insufficient coordination, teamwork and cooperation between business units with inadequate companywide focus on customers

9. Some managers that are “managers from hell”….. very difficult to work for, exhibiting favoritism and biases

10. Cumbersome, inefficient processes and business practices

11. Inadequate focus on quality and customer service

12. Employees not having the tools and information they need to perform their job effectively (e.g. slow PC’s and networks, lack of access to company databases from the field, mission critical enterprise software such as SAP, Oracle and Sales Force Dot Com not working effectively several years after initial implementation, now supplying smart phones and laptops to field sales force when the competition does, etc. etc. etc.)

13. Some companies barely using the technology solutions they are selling when it would enhance their own employees’ and company’s performance

14. Inconsistent adherence to the performance planning and measurement process…..some managers not preparing & conducting performance reviews, inaccurate, incomplete and unfair information included in performance reviews…..compensation changes not based on performance reviews

15. Inadequate training, development and mentoring

16. Inadequate orientation for new employees

17. Perceived discrimination based on age, race and gender

What’s on the Minds of Your Employees – Final Thoughts

Many senior executives think they know what’s on the minds of their employees. While some may have a good feel about their employees’ feelings, perceptions and opinions, many others are only guessing and have very limited information and insight. Yet as demonstrated in this article, accurately knowing what is on the minds of your employees is critical for making better business decisions, increasing employee engagement and performance, increasing customer satisfaction and loyalty, and boosting sales and profit. Employee satisfaction surveys and employee engagement surveys are the best way to identify employees’ feelings, perceptions, opinions and suggestions from across your organization at a very low cost. There is every reason to conduct employee surveys annually and to make sure the findings are acted on.

An Orientation to an Employee Engagement Survey process

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Employee Surveys That Boost Profit & Competitiveness and Reduce Costs

Employee satisfaction surveys and employee engagement surveys provide actionable insight and information managers need to compete and succeed:

Employee surveys identify opportunities for enhancing employee and customer satisfaction, loyalty and retention, and they identify many ways to reduce costs and increase revenue. Employee surveys also pinpoint problems that are constraining employee performance and that are driving customers away to your competition.

At a time when companies need to increase performance and competitiveness, employee surveys are a very easy and cost-effective way to learn directly from your employees about what your organization can do to increase organizational effectiveness and boost employee engagement in their jobs, driving productivity, quality and customer service, all of which are key drivers of profit.

Employee Surveys / Employee Opinion Surveys identify key psychological aspects of employee behavior:

Employee surveys identify what’s on the minds of your employees and the customers they sell to and support, including important psychological aspects that influence employee and customer decisions, behavior and actions. This powerful information does not appear directly in your company’s financial and other business measurements. Financial and other metrics measure results in terms or profit, sales, inventory, volumes and other hard data.

Very often business leaders think they know what is on the minds of their employees and what is going on in their company. Unfortunately most business leaders get their information and they form their opinions based on filtered information and advice that is often spun by people surrounding them based on political and other objectives. Conducting an employee survey / employee opinion survey is a great way to either validate leaders’ perceptions, or more likely, to provide accurate information and opinions that may challenge the perceptions of leaders. Because important business decisions are based on the perceptions of company leaders, employee survey results are an important source of information and insight for making better, more informed business decisions.

Employee Survey questions gather reliable actionable information:

Employee Satisfaction Surveys and Employee Engagement Surveys (employee opinion surveys) gather information, insight and suggestions from your organization’s employees about things that are important to both your business and your employees. They focus on both employee satisfaction and employee engagement, key drivers of employee performance and in turn, customer satisfaction and business performance. Some of the key issues that are typically included in employee surveys are:

Having information and tools required to do the job Clarity and effectiveness of communications within and across organizational units Leadership effectiveness and integrity Teamwork Confidence in management’s ability to lead the company Encouragement for innovation Consideration given to ideas and suggestions Empowerment to make decisions Commitment and effectiveness of diversity initiatives Manager understanding what motivates employees Fairness & consistency of treatment from managers and supervisors Employee recognition Commitment to customers and quality Performance evaluation and feedback effectiveness Training and mentoring effectiveness Career prospects at the company and opportunities for development and growth Satisfaction with compensation & benefits Work – life balance Commitment to working at the company Understanding of & commitment to the company’s mission, vision and values Willingness of employees to recommend the company as a good place to work

Benefits of employee satisfaction surveys, employee engagement surveys and employee opinion surveys include gathering information and insight for:

Increasing employee engagement and performance Increasing employee satisfaction, loyalty and productivity Strengthening leadership effectiveness Identifying hidden problems, opportunities and solutions Strengthening the focus on customers, quality and customer service  Focusing managers’ energies on areas with the highest priority and the largest payback Identifying causes of and ways to reduce employee dissatisfaction and poor performance Strengthening the culture of collaboration and change Reducing costly employee initiated turnover Facilitating smart risk-taking and innovation Enhancing your company’s “employer of choice” reputation Avoiding costly “employee abuse” law suits

Conducting an Employee Survey – Final Thoughts

Employee surveys / employee opinion surveys generate significant bottom-line benefits and a very strong payback when companies take action based on the survey findings. Survey companies have the experience, expertise and objectivity to conduct employee opinion surveys well and to quickly provide reports that are full of actionable information.

 

Structural Surveys – Are They Worth The Money?

Structural Surveys – Are They Worth The Money?

As more and more homebuyers try to save money on their house purchase by cutting back onr structural surveys I decided to take a look at some of the risks involved.

Valuation Survey

First off, almost all property that is purchased with the aid of a mortgage is subject to a valuation survey. The valuation survey is done on behalf of the lender to establish the value of the property that you are purchasing. The survey is quite basic and does not include any kind of guarantee as to the structural integrity of the property.

Some property purchasers think that because they have already paid out for a survey then that is all they have to do but this can be a huge mistake.

So What Is A Structural Survey & Do I have To Have One?

Usually it is not a requirement by the lender or anybody else to have a structural survey and sometimes this can lead to problems as most people have no idea if the property they are purchasing has got structural problems or not.

The other point is that structural surveys do not come cheap and there is a growing tendency to risk it so to speak.

Structural surveys on any property are aimed at finding structural weaknesses in the property that could drastically affect the value. Here are a few examples of structural problems on a property that home buyers are unlikely to notice and can cost a small fortune to put right:

Dropped supporting walls commonly known as subsidence;
Hairline cracking to brickwork;
Dropped and cracked arches above windows;
Bulging outer walls;
Bulging roofs;
Uneven floors;
Cracked ceilings;
Dropped and cracked cornice.

Those are just a few of the major structural problems that property purchasers can inherit when they purchase a property. It may be that the problems occurred years ago and have now stabilized but they may still give you a major headache when you go to sell.

In the event that you purchase a property with subsidence that is ongoing then action will be required on your part to remedy which is likely to result in huge expenses. If you think your building insurance will cover you – think again as it is very unlikely that you are covered for subsidence.

Structural Surveys Can Save You Money

Twenty years ago almost everybody that purchased a property had a structural survey done so that they could feel safe. The main aim of a structural survey is for you to be aware of the major faults concerning your purchase before you make the commitment to purchase.

As is common, in cases where there are structural problems that need attention you will be able to use the survey to renegotiate the price of the property should you still wish to proceed. In cases like that then not only is your structural surveyors’ fees money well spent but in fact you may make a few thousand on it.

Conclusion

Purchasing any property involves a large amount of money and a huge commitment. When you consider the costs of the structural surveyor’s fees it might be wise to look at it as additional insurance and peace of mind for your investment and money well spent in the long term.

You can find local surveyors and compare costs for a structural survey or homebuyers survey at Surveyors Supermarket The UK No: 1 price Comparison Site For Property Surveyors.