Can Employee Surveys Create Loyalty

We’ve had a few articles in the past that discussed whether or not the simple act of creating customer surveys can create loyalty in customers. While there were some theories that supported the idea, most fell very short, and overall it seems very unlikely that taking a survey for a company makes any difference with regards to loyalty – at least the act of taking the survey itself! But employee surveys may be different.

Unlike customers, employees will only be asked to take a survey about one company, and the information they fill out will play a role in their jobs, perks, etc. Is it possible that employee surveys can increase employee loyalty or satisfaction ?

The reason that experts believe customer surveys create loyalty is because it creates a connection between the customer and the business. While employees already have this connection, they’re also far more likely to be directly affected by what the company puts into place. If it’s clear that action is being taken based on the information that the employees provide, it is possible that employees will trust more that the company has their interests and heart, and ultimately be more loyal.

Also, employees are expected to take these surveys seriously, and will likely be impressed/happy that the company values their opinion. It’s possible to create a survey that doesn’t achieve this goal, but a great survey will create employee involvement that could increase loyalty.

Finally, if there are aspects of the survey that give the employee hope that something will improve about the way the company is run in the future, that hope is, itself, a form of loyalty.

Surveys are still surveys, and employees can have just as much survey burnout as customers. Also, most employee surveys are about issues that are not necessarily actionable or interesting to the employee (such as how satisfied they are with the company as a whole), and thus are less likely to make the employee feel involved. If the employee also doesn’t feel that they’re free or comfortable enough being honest, it’s unlikely that answering the survey will provide any benefits to them either.

Do surveys actually increase loyalty? Probably not.

But there’s reason to believe they’d be more likely to affect loyalty of employees than of customers, and if you’re truly researching ideas relevant to your employees and follow through with those ideas, the chances it will have an effect almost certainly go up.