Just about everyone has been asked to take a short survey after dealing with customer service or other employees. The idea behind these questionnaires is to make sure you were satisfied with the level of service you received. More importantly perhaps to figure out why, if you weren’t satisfied.
We know what our customers are thinking, but often, managers at the small-to-medium sized businesses you deal with have no idea what their own employees are thinking. It was certainly easier when you could have regular in-person meetings to simply ask people, but with many employees now spread out and away from the office, that has become more challenging.
For nearly a year now, managers have been struggling to understand the challenges their employees face. Were people overworking? Were there circumstances getting in the way of their productivity like a small shared apartment or children home from school?
The larger and more distributed your organization, the more difficult it is to understand how your employees are doing. As the technology expert for your clients, it’s up to the MSP to suggest ways to help.
Software to the rescue
One good way, especially when workers aren’t coming into an office, is to use software to ask them how they are doing. It might be best to just ask a question or two to get a sense of what you’re doing well, what you could be doing better, and what challenges your workforce is facing.
Just last week, Workday acquired Peakon, a company that creates these types of online surveys for employees. They are designed to deliver questions in quick hits, so you won’t overwhelm people and create survey fatigue.
Peakon isn’t alone though in this category. There is a whole class of software solutions now that measure employee engagement and provide different ways to figure out what employees are thinking. It’s something that is always important to know of course, but right now that requirement is even more pronounced.
Your clients may be asking about how to figure out how everyone is doing mentally during a time that has been challenging for everyone. They may not get honest responses, or people could be shy about speaking up in a virtual all-hands meeting. That’s when a software survey can come in handy.
Options besides Peakon include Quantum Workplace, StaffConnect and Kazoo, but there are many others. As always, when recommending a solution for measuring the employee experience, do your homework, check out the options and be ready to give your clients the advice that they need.
Photo: DimaBerlin / Shutterstock
