First, it depends on how much effort has to go into developing the employee survey itself. Censeo’s established employee surveys are ready to go. Some clients draw from Censeo’s large pool of employee survey items, and develop a custom survey in just a few days. Other clients take longer because they want to get input from senior execs, pilot the survey, and so forth. It’s important to allow enough time for good communications before the employee survey is administered. Here’s an approximate time line:

• 3 Weeks: Developing the employee survey and other pre-administration work
• 2 Weeks: Employ survey administration
• 1-3 Days: Report generation
• 3 Weeks: Feedback and action planning

Censeo’s emplyee survey report generation engine is very powerful and robust. It provides a great deal of flexibility and many options in producing the reports, without requiring any additional programming. Consequently, the employee survey reports can be delivered to clients within a couple of days after the survey administration is completed.

We recommend every 18-24 months. Conducting employee surveys periodically is extremely valuable, for two reasons: (1) companies can stay in touch with the issues/concerns in the workforce, and (2) trend comparisons are the most powerful way to determining strengths and opportunities for improvement.

Based on more than 30 years of doing employee research in organizations, Censeo has a large pool of survey items covering all aspects of employee perceptions about factors relevant to satisfaction and organizational effectiveness. Drawing from this pool, we developed two established employee surveys – a focused version (9 dimensions and 60 items), and a comprehensive version (12 dimensions and 100 items). Both use a 5-point agree-disagree scale. These employee surveys can be used as is, although most clients use them as a good starting point in developing their own custom employee survey.

Yes. Scan forms are developed for employees who do not have Internet access. There is an additional charge of $1.00 per completed survey ($3.00 if there are written comments). The surveys completed online and via paper are combined into an integrated database.

That depends on the objectives for the survey. Sometimes employee surveys will be focused only on very specific areas, and may contain only 10-20 items. Most employee surveys, though, are broader in scope and will have 50-100 items. However, there is an upper limit for a single survey, about 120 items or so. More than that, respondents will grow tired and loose interest, and people receiving employee survey reports will be overwhelmed with too much information.

Generally, yes, for two reasons. First, most employees appreciate the opportunity to express their views on topics, in addition to rating individual survey items. Second, the written comments provide valuable information about employees’ views and perceptions, and a qualitative “depth” to the statistical results. There is no additional charge for written comments for surveys completed online.

Yes. Only summary statistical results are given in the employee survey reports, and individual employees are in no way identified. Clients can set the minimum number of respondents required for reporting results.