An organization is only as good as its people. If employees are not excited about the organization and its mission, and if their personalities and attitudes don’t align with the organization’s, then it is very difficult to achieve lasting success. Thus, it is important to assess how employees feel about the company and why, and to make sure methods for recruiting and hiring ensure that employees’ outlooks and goals align with the organization’s. Following is a method to help organizations assess their employees to ensure they’re happy and motivated:

Attitudes / Company Culture

Purpose and Benefits

The lifeblood of any organization is its employees, perhaps more so now than ever when what many organizations sell is actually the employees themselves, i.e., their ideas, innovations and discoveries (think biotechnology, software and other intellectual-based industries).  Thus, it is imperative that management keep a finger on the pulse of its employees about how they feel about the organization and their role in it.  Without a workforce that feels fulfilled and has a clear sense that it and management are rowing in the same direction, the organization will ultimately not be successful.  This is where periodic employee research comes in.  It is important that a third party conduct the research, so that employees feel that there is an objective viewpoint involved in the process, instead of it being a perfunctory exercise from which no real change will result.  By involving a third party in the role of conducting the research, employees are more likely to think that management is serious about listening to them and that needed changes will follow from the results.

Research Techniques

  • Focus groups
  • One-on-one interviews
  • Self-administered paper or web survey