04.01.2022

Change is here to stay in 2022 – though staff may not be, says The Survey Initiative

Gary Cattermole, Director of The Survey Initiative, predicts a shifting landscape of continuing change in employee engagement as we enter 2022; with a particular challenge for organisations to understand why staff retention and recruitment are proving such difficult issues.

Where experts normally make predictions for trends in the coming twelve months, Gary Cattermole says that the wise will continue to be agile and adapt to a rapidly evolving work culture, with change the only certain constant factor, as new strains of COVID continue to emerge and work patterns remain unpredictable.

Those organisations which continue to show genuine concern for their teams will undoubtedly have an advantage, he says. “We are seeing a number of approaches to a post-COVID workplace and none are without potential problems. Some organisations have issued edicts that everyone will return to the office without exception. That is understandable for those with expensive property assets which have lain empty or underused for many months, but it does present challenges in engaging the workforce and nurturing loyalty, especially in those cases where there was little or no consultation, giving rise to increased stress and uncertainty,” says Cattermole.

“Some very agile employers, who have grasped the possibilities of online working, have taken the opportunity to reduce overheads and dispense with larger commercial properties, in favour of a hybrid work culture, in which some work is carried out at home, while some face-to-face interaction has been reintroduced by a partial return to a scaled down office. However, if this new form of hybrid working has not been clearly planned and communicated, employees may still be anxious.”

“Solely working from home may also have its drawbacks in terms of isolation and lack of support. Wise employers will be consulting and listening to their staff as they feel their way forward. The engagement survey, which was noticeably one of the early victims of the COVID crisis, is now back with increased importance, as a critical HR tool.”

Genuine communication and engagement should be a real imperative, The Survey Initiative advises, as the perception of not being listened to, and any collected opinions not being acted on, are among the major causes of rising staff attrition rates.

Among those hot topics that it is possible to predict, says the organisation, are wellbeing and hybrid working cultures; as well as equality, diversity and inclusivity, which remain pressing issues in the majority of workforces, following the rise of the Black Lives Matter movement.

What really should stay fluid, warns Cattermole, are the questions that we are asking employees. Achieving good levels of engagement during such uncertain times calls for constant innovation and adaptation. Most employers want to ask employees about their commitment and intent to stay, as it is increasingly difficult to plan with a significant level of staff turnover. However, getting to the root of any causes of discontent involves asking insightful and sometimes unexpected questions. It is essential that every employee engagement survey is genuinely inquisitive and designed to find out what people are really thinking and feeling, rather than being merely a tick box exercise. The pressing need for genuine engagement, especially in the uncertain coming months, is the reason that bespoke surveys are a must, as off-the-shelf solutions will gain poor responses and little useful insight.

While 70% is considered a good response rate for employee engagement surveys in general, with far lower rates being the norm, The Survey Initiative consistently achieves response rates of around 84% with its bespoke surveys, by designing each individual survey to discover and explore specific issues and concerns.

“The perception that nothing will change as a result of engaging and giving an opinion is the surest way of securing low response rates and half-hearted responses. That’s why we do a lot of work in advance of a survey to explain why it is happening, what the employer wants to find out, and stressing that the employer is actively listening. It’s important that people understand why engaging with the survey is beneficial and that its findings may result in positive change,” Cattermole concludes.

www.surveyinitiative.co.uk

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