Surveying Builds Belief — Even When You’re Not Able to Act (But)

Worker Listening, Worker Surveys, Pre-survey

Don’t hit pause on listening: Why skipping worker surveys can get in the best way of progress.

Think about you’ve launched a brand new product. It’s widespread at first — flying off the cabinets or racking up downloads. However just a few months in, gross sales sluggish. Engagement drops. Nobody’s complaining. No dangerous evaluations. Simply — much less.

In case you’re not checking in with prospects, it’s onerous to know why. Perhaps expectations shifted. Perhaps a competitor added a characteristic that higher meets their wants. Or possibly one thing small — like onboarding friction or unclear packaging — is quietly undermining the expertise.

The identical is true at work. Worker wants, priorities, and perceptions shift — typically silently. Common listening helps catch these shifts earlier than they turn out to be pricey blind spots.

What holds organizations again

It’s widespread to hesitate earlier than launching one other survey — particularly if the final one didn’t result in seen motion. There’s a fear that staff will suppose, “Why trouble?” Or worse, “They’re probably not listening.”

However avoiding the subsequent survey doesn’t clear up that. It doubles down on silence. The higher transfer is to acknowledge the place issues stalled, share what was realized, and clarify what’s altering. That transparency builds extra belief than ready for perfection.

“Once we cease asking about and appearing on suggestions from our folks, we unintentionally convey a message … that our folks’s experiences not matter to the enterprise,” warns Stacy Simmons, EVP of individuals & function at Nice Place To Work®.

What constant listening creates

Surveys usually are not simply information assortment workouts. When carried out persistently, they ship a message: worker expertise issues right here. Even when progress takes time, asking reveals you’re paying consideration.

Right here’s why constant surveying is essential:

• Spot rising patterns early
  Common suggestions helps determine developments — whether or not rising stress, shifting engagement, or new priorities. As an alternative of reacting too late, you may modify in actual time.
• Create area for trustworthy enter
  Surveys give staff a structured, secure approach to share what’s on their minds — particularly the onerous stuff they could not really feel comfy elevating elsewhere.
• Reveal a dedication to enchancment
  Repeatedly asking for suggestions reveals that the group is critical about studying and getting higher — not simply working a one-time train.
• Maintain staff engaged and related
  When folks really feel heard, they’re extra more likely to keep invested. Common surveys assist preserve that connection and sign that voices right here affect choices.

“Transparency builds extra belief than ready for perfection.”

How typically do you have to survey?

There’s no one-size-fits-all reply to how typically it is best to examine in. Some organizations profit from quarterly pulses, whereas others thrive with a slower rhythm. The best cadence is dependent upon what you’re prepared and capable of do with what you hear.

On the coronary heart of it, survey frequency is much less a couple of quantity and extra about affect. The aim isn’t to overwhelm folks with questions — it’s to remain shut sufficient to behave when it counts.

Wegmans: Listening, management, and the braveness to behave

It’s simple to hit pause on listening — particularly when issues are busy, surveys really feel repetitive, or change is going on quick. However the moments when listening feels non-compulsory are sometimes when it issues most.

At Wegmans, suggestions isn’t a one-off occasion. It’s a core a part of how they lead, and embedded in one in all their 5 core values: “We respect and hearken to our folks.” A Nice Place To Work buyer and one of many Fortune 100 Greatest Firms to Work For® yearly since 1998, Wegmans has constructed a tradition the place listening is steady — and trusted.

Along with onsite worker advocates and the trusted one-to-one relationship between the worker and their supervisor, the corporate depends on each day huddles, recurring focus teams, open-door days, and the Nice Place To Work Belief Index™ Survey to know the worker expertise and preserve communication open year-round.

“We don’t need to take an opportunity that somebody doesn’t know the way, doesn’t know the place, or doesn’t really feel comfy sharing their voice at Wegmans,” mentioned Peggy Riley, VP of worker communications & engagement at Wegmans, presenting on the 2025 For All Summit™. “So, we give them plenty of choices to select from, together with on-line or face-to-face, one-to-one or in teams, and named or nameless.”

One instance is “Ask Bob,” an inner program that permits staff to submit feedback, questions, or solutions on to government management, particularly, Bob Farr, Wegmans’ senior VP of retailer operations. Feedback are available by means of the corporate’s intranet or worker app, 24x7x365, from any of their 54,000+ staff in 120+ shops, distribution, manufacturing, or most important workplace areas, to the tune of about 1,400 submissions per yr.  

As one worker shared of their Belief Index Survey:
“There are numerous methods to speak with management and ask questions. Whether or not it’s Ask Bob, or immediately speaking to your supervisor or having the ability to submit an nameless query … they all the time reply.”

That’s what “all the time listening” appears to be like like.

Just lately, suggestions from one worker by means of Ask Bob led to the elimination of a nationwide model product that didn’t align with Wegmans’ values. Leaders acted shortly, making a call that prioritized tradition over short-term achieve.

A Wegmans chief put it merely: “We’re grateful to have the checks and balances in our office the place any worker feels comfy alerting us to one thing needing course correction.”

Nice leaders hear

“Belief is never impartial,” mentioned Peggy. “Each little interplay that you just’re having is both fostering belief or it is perhaps chipping away at it. We take a look at each alternative to say, ‘we’re going to deepen it.’”

Wegmans is aware of that belief is on the coronary heart of each nice office, and that listening is without doubt one of the most essential management behaviors for constructing that belief.

Within the wake of the Nice Resignation of 2021, Wegmans used the Belief Index Survey to determine three focus statements they wished to enhance over a four-year interval and strategically reached out for worker enter.

“Our staff have to be a part of the development course of,” mentioned Peggy. “We hear globally and domestically, so we will all enhance collectively. Each Wegmans location performed focus teams on the three questions, after which they have been invited so as to add yet one more if, regionally, that they had one thing else they wished to deal with.”

Wegmans then used that suggestions to be taught, take a look at, and enhance.

The end result? Half-time retention jumped from an all-time low 55% to 69.8%, and unfilled job openings dropped by two thirds, and as we speak, 91% of staff say Wegmans is a good place to work.

“Listening and responding — having actual dialogue — is core to establishing and sustaining a high-trust relationship,” says Stacy, EVP of individuals & function of Nice Place To Work. “This sentiment is true for the relationships in our enterprise. Leaders form the experiences of their folks.”

Whether or not by means of common surveys or on a regular basis conversations, sustained listening builds belief. And as Wegmans reveals, it additionally builds workplaces the place folks really feel heard, revered, and empowered to make a distinction.

The place we land

It’s simple to delay the subsequent survey — particularly if previous suggestions hasn’t been absolutely addressed. However constant listening is what builds belief over time. It reveals staff that their voices don’t simply disappear right into a report — they form what occurs subsequent.

The best organizations don’t look forward to good timing or good solutions. They decide to the apply. They ask. They hear. They act the place they’ll — and clarify the place they’ll’t, but.

Surveys aren’t the answer to each problem, however they’re an important instrument for understanding your folks. Used persistently, they assist create a office the place staff really feel valued, heard, and a part of one thing price staying for.

Able to deepen your listening?

Your subsequent survey is an opportunity to construct belief and switch suggestions into motion. Join along with your Buyer Success Supervisor to plan your strategy — framing, follow-up, and linking outcomes to enterprise objectives.

Attain out to your CSM to get began.

Prepared for a change? Uncover how partnering with Nice Place To Work® can elevate your worker expertise and remodel your office tradition with our worker surveys. Begin your journey as we speak.

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