Organizations today are functioning in a state of extreme competition. Being the most productive has become an obligation for survival. With limited resources, companies are recognizing the importance of having the right kind of manpower to drive success and growth. The conditions of employment have undergone drastic changes, with employees as well as employers becoming more quality-driven. Organizations are faced with the challenge of attracting as well as retaining the most talented employees. For this, the employees ideologies, desires, aspirations and other aspects that drive them have to be recognized as well as nourished.

Employee surveys are a great way to understand and analyze the implicit as well as explicit facets of employees relations with the company. Surveys bring out the employees ideas and opinions, which, when fostered, would be very beneficial to the companys long-term growth. They provide an opportunity for employees to conduct themselves in a professional way that could better their relations with management. Surveys reveal that the 4Cs of the organization--culture, commitment, compensation and communication--are very critical for employee satisfaction and relatively, productivity. Employee surveys were found to have several other benefits, such as assessing training needs, streamlining communication, reducing turnover and absenteeism, strengthening supervision and so on.

Over time, every company undertakes some kind of survey to feel the employees pulse. Sometimes, surveys are undertaken to determine the cause of certain problems like high employee turnover, workplace conflicts or any other disturbances or critical incidents. Alternatively, surveys also help to verify the success or failure of certain employee-related programs such as a training program effectiveness survey. In any case, surveys help companies to not only work smoothly but also to establish long-term goals and strategies. The most common surveys undertaken by companies are: employee satisfaction survey, attitude survey, retention survey, benefits survey, communications survey, work environment survey, and loyalty survey. Some kinds of surveys also involve former employees or employees who are leaving the organization.

The main aspects to be considered while designing an employee survey are: define the objective of the survey; keep the questions unbiased (open-ended questions are better); determine the demographic factors that may affect the results, such as older employees versus newer employees; ensure that the language is simple and impartial; make sure that all the employees are given equal importance while collecting data; give enough time for answering the survey questions; ensure that the employees get to know the results of the survey as well as the action plan of the company based on the survey results. The questionnaire should not take more than 20-30 minutes to complete. The questions should balance the needs of both the employees and the organization. They should be reasonable and clear to answer, and should ideally allow employees to express themselves in the most effective way.

Surveys are generally designed in-house by the HR department. However, companies can also take the help of third-party agencies that specialize in employee survey services. There are many companies that have online questionnaires offered for free, which can be downloaded and used. These companies design customized questionnaires and also offer all related expertise in analyzing the survey. They use professionals who have expertise in the way the survey is being conducted. They also use special software and statistical tools for better and faster analysis of data. Some of these companies also offer online services, wherein the questionnaires can be designed and even filled in online by the employees. Some of the statistical techniques used for employee surveys are: frequency analysis, trend analysis, TURF (Total Unduplicated Reach and Frequency) analysis and conjoint analysis. The Internet is a very good source for learning more about employee surveys.