The Sunday Times 100 Best Companies 2009 was published last Sunday. And almost 800 companies will have at least some employees who feel demotivated and thoroughly cheesed-off at having had to complete long and complex survey questionnaires, only to find the company hasn’t made the grade.
In our conversations with companies that want to measure their levels of engagement, we find an increasing number are asking for simplicity and ease of completion in the questionnaires. They also want a solution that delivers fast answers. Neither of these features are common in many of the systems that benchmark against other organisations, or ‘industry standards’. But, although those are both key issues, especially in challenging times, my objections aren’t about lack of simplicity and speed.
My questions revolve around the reason companies want to benchmark externally. Management may say that this is so they can be seen as 
employers of choice, but I would suggest that the reality is a little different. The reality is that an industry comparison is not an equitable comparison. You’re not comparing apples with apples. You’re really comparing apples with fruit. Every company has specific characteristics which affect its culture and the people dynamics. Size, maturity, recent history and many other aspects are different from company to company. Cutting the data by industry and company size is just not specific enough to provide relevant information.
So, while it may satisfy the corporate ego to come in the top 100 in whichever population they choose to measure themselves, there are some seriously negative results for many organisations.
The first, and possibly most traumatic for the organisation, is the disappointment and demotivation that results in failing to meet the expectations of staff who also want to be in the elite top group. Its even worse for companies that have initially made the grade and then in future years drop below the magic threshold. They know that this is, in the main, because there are more companies in the pool and therefore a far smaller percentage can be in with the top dogs. Nevertheless, the demotivating factor still bites. In many cases, once the damage has been done, sadly, many of these companies become completely negative about employee surveys – even those which are conducted with care and consideration for the people and the organisation. In some cases, companies conduct the surveys but then hide the results from staff for fear of the damage that will be done by the poor comparison. This can’t ever be positive as far as staff are concerned.
The second, and potentially even more damaging factor, is what gets attention lies after the results have been received. If the purpose is entirely, or even partially, to compete externally with others in the industry, then when the outcomes are examined, management will be looking at which factors scored lower than other organisations. The purpose of an employee engagement survey should be to create an internal picture of what needs to be improved – in the opinion of employees. The key to increasing the commitment of employees is improving job satisfaction, fitting in with employees lives, and giving them the tools and the training to enable them to take control of their jobs. This isn’t part of an external comparison. Its an internal assessment of what counts in the eyes of staff. After all, if the purpose is simply to beat the industry average – how can an organisation possibly focus on creating the best environment possible for staff?
And all this doesn’t even begin to take into account the skewing of results if staff know that their responses in the quesitonnaire could make the difference between being in the group with the feted few – or not.
Benchmarking against your own past performance is the only completely relevant measure. That way you see the real improvements that will make a difference to staff – and after all, that’s all that really counts if you want to win the hearts and minds of your people.
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Article by Vandy Massey
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