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Top 10 Scoring in Employee Surveys - Use it or Lose it?When a client comes to do a survey with us after doing it themselves, they often want to see their top 10 and bottom 10 scores. This sounds good in theory - what's not to like about anything that sounds so concrete and easy to digest? In practice, however, top/bottom scores are generally shortsighted and, from our standpoint, risk dangerously misleading clients into taking actions and spending resources in ways that are not in their best interests.A typical example is when you see your employee ratings of compensation and they are substantially lower than their ratings of communications. Your top versus bottom scores clearly may make it seem like your organization has a compensation problem. In response, management may throw up their hands, feeling like there's nothing they can or will do to fix it and no further action comes of it - other than behind-the-scenes griping about unappreciative employees and waste-of-time surveys. |
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Let's take a step back and question whether the data is leading you to a flawed conclusion. For starters, it may be that, compared to other organizations in your industry, your compensation ratings are on the upper end of the scale - and your seemingly satisfactory communications ratings are actually lower than those of other comparable organizations. Looking only at your top 10 and bottom 10 scores misses this completely, which is why survey results without context and meaningful comparisons can be dangerous. A consequence is potentially false cost-savings, when you look at the misguided action steps, if any, that can come from them. Context is what norms are designed to provide. Having normative data will show where you stand in comparison with similar organizations on the same attributes. Top 10/bottom 10 scores on their own are not dependable measures, no matter how common and appealing they may be for decision-makers, or how easy they are to create. Use dependable norms to tell you where you stand so your organization doesn't waste valuable resources fixing "problems" that simply reflect prevailing views of employees in general. Make sure you see what matters - and don't miss a crucial opportunity to address the real areas in which your organization lags behind others.  Misuse of organizational resources is more than a pet peeve for the Insightlink team -- it runs completely counter to our commitment to delivering expertise, data integrity and actionable recommendations. Whether or not you choose Insightlink for your next employee survey, do yourself a favor - find a survey vendor who will look out for your long-term best interests, even if the vendor appears to go against the convention. Doing so may actually be in your best interest…and that's why outsourcing to an expert is an investment worth considering. Changing survey vendors is a big step and among the reasons clients choose Insightlink is for our benchmark norms. Today you can take advantage of a complimentary telephone consultation with a senior researcher. You will get an open ear to discuss issues facing your organization and help assess how best to approach meeting your goals - with or without Insightlink. During the consultation, you can talk about norms, explore your organization's management, operational and leadership challenges, consider issues facing individual teams or departments and discuss any recent or upcoming developments or policy changes at the organization that might impact employee morale. When you get off the call, you will come away with concrete advice on next steps, including tips for how to adjust the timing and content of the survey with your unique needs in mind. Whether or not you ultimately choose Insightlink for your survey, you can get a no-obligation quote 24/7 for an online survey or pricing for surveys that have paper or other language needs and gain value and insight from this one-on-one session. To book a time today, email information@insightlink.com or call 866-802-8095 x705.
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