Getting Buy-In From Your Most Loyal Employees

Most companies realize that their employees are their most important asset. Employee attitude, employee engagement, and employee satisfaction are directly related to customer satisfaction. Employers use town hall meetings, round table discussions, and of course, employee surveys to better understand what employees want and how they feel about the company.

Key Initiatives

When you are about to undertake a key initiative, it’s important that your employees understand the objectives and the role that each individual will play in achieving the goal. One way to ensure that employees understand the initiative and its objectives is to conduct an employee survey. The survey shouldn’t be a quiz about the details of the objective; it should focus on the roll-out process. You might consider asking such questions as:

Did your manager have a departmental meeting to explain the initiative?
Are the objectives clear to you?
Was your role in the plan clear after your meeting with your manager?
Do you have any suggestions that will improve the effectiveness of the initiative?

Focus on Effective Communication

Employee surveys that focus on the effectiveness of your internal communication processes, as the questions above do, shows employees that the company values their opinions. Even if the company doesn’t adopt specific suggestions, employees will feel that they have been able to provide input and that the company values their ideas. This helps to ensure employees buy in to the initiative or project.

Benefits and Company Policies

Another important use of employee surveys is when the company is considering changing the benefits plan. Asking your employees to identify which benefits are most important to them and their family can help the company offer a comprehensive and valuable benefits plan that will in turn contribute to employee retention. It can also prevent wasting money on unnecessary benefits that employees don’t value. When employees realize that they have helped shape the benefits plan, they are more likely to buy in to any changes.

Any time you have a change that may affect employee retention, it’s a good idea to conduct an employee survey to ensure that employees understand the reasons for the upcoming changes. The data from the employee survey can then be used to improve the internal communication plan related to the upcoming changes. It’s incredible what happens when you give your employees the information to feel comfortable buying into important decisions; higher employee morale, improved employee attitude, and greater levels of employee satisfaction are just a few of the benefits.

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