Employee survey results

[SG15Z]

So last year corporate started a survey program for employees so they can get feedback from their peons about their work environment. Things like "Do you look for other jobs?", "Is there good 2way communication with management?" etc. And we got our results. See they have a target score and well, this year our store was dead last in half the categories. Some as low as 19%!!!!! And the rest were on the low end. So in other words we were dead last in people liking their jobs in the entire District!!!! And guess what? Our district was last in the division!

So this week the SM has been having meetings with us peons wanting to know what the problem is and what we need to do to fix it. And he seemed pretty sincere about it. Maybe this is a good sign? I mean the fact the company is doing this (and other things) shows they're noticing that the morale just isn't what it use to be and maybe they need to fix it. If so they have a long way to go to fix the "problem".

[Retail Associate]

Our store started doing those surveys last year. When we first took it we could answer the questions anonymously. A week or so later we had to re-take the survey but that time we had to enter our employee ID number. The reason they gave us for having to re-take it was because there was some kind of computer glitche.

Everyone knows that's bull. The first time we were all very honest in our answers and the results obviously weren't what they wanted. The second time no one was honest.

At first it was voluntary, now it's a requirement and a complete waste of time. They know we're not going to put our jobs in jeopardy by answering truthfully.

It's a joke, just like everything else at that hellhole.

[Supermarket Slave Girl]

We have surveys like that too, but we never see the results and nothing gets done with problems we may have, bit of a waste of time if they are ignored.

It's good that your manager cares and wants to improve things.

[Stormraven]

Where I used to work, they did surveys like that about every two years. Always anonymous, though we had to indicate specific departments. Being a bit of a cynic, I never expected much from them, but they weren't bad, and the company was a good one to work for.

[Drakstern]

Our company did something amusing with those surveys.

They gave them to everyone...

Except for the people on the phones.

In fact, they didn't even tell us they were doing the surveys(I found out secondhand). Apparently, they thought we'd harsh the '500 best places to work' vibe.

[KellyHabersham]

All city departments where I work get one of those surveys every year, but the only specifics I can recall are that while every year, lack of benefits for part-timers are mentioned, but nothing is ever said/done.

[Peppergirl]

I've been in the workplace over 20 years, and I can honestly say I've *never* seen anything change based upon those employee surveys.

A company or two at least addressed the problems, but never followed through.

The vast majority of companies simply ignore them.

Why even bother to put them out if you're going to ignore them anyway?

[Irving Patrick Freleigh]

So this week the SM has been having meetings with us peons wanting to know what the problem is and what we need to do to fix it. And he seemed pretty sincere about it. Maybe this is a good sign? I mean the fact the company is doing this (and other things) shows they're noticing that the morale just isn't what it use to be and maybe they need to fix it. If so they have a long way to go to fix the "problem".

Don't hold your breath. Management will conveniently forget about the store's morale problem before too long.

A couple months ago one of the corporate HR people came down for a couple of roundtable meetings where employees could express various concerns they had and give ideas on how to make the store a better place to work. As far as I can tell, absolutely nothing's changed since then.

Why even bother to put them out if you're going to ignore them anyway?

To give off the impression that you care about your peons--I mean employees.

[AirHostess]

I got a perverse sense of pleasure when the cabin crew survey results came back They were crap. Do management pay any attention? No.

[crazylegs]

At least your job pretends to care, I *never* get a morale survey at this job!

[Bosch]

We took ours had all this big internal promotion in store for us about the results and they never showed up.. It just went away like dust in the wind..

A new manager that had been floor stay so she was still willing to really give a few of us the dirt we needed to know. Told us they were so horrible they didn't know what to do with them.

But the survey they gave us was very specific about our "boss" but they did not define "boss" and through the day I could have 6 different "bosses" between store managers/assistant managers/shift managers/stock managers and so on.. I'm not kidding I have literally been told what to do by one walked across the store to do it and had that overriden by boss 2 and sent somewhere else to do something and argument starts where I walk out til they figure out where they want me to work.

So when it came to scoring my "boss" I had to score to the lowest one who is a real vindictive looser.

[LibraryLady]

As well as the rest of you, I know that Employee surveys amount to total Horse Hockey! We have an odd, little twist on the thing where I work.

At least once a month, random (well, they say 'random') staff members from Curators to the members of the 'Gang' who tote barges, lift bales, shovel snow and salt the parking lot in the middle of the night are invited for a 'Coffee Morning' in the board room with the Director.

The stated idea of this is to :

"Provide a relaxed and open atmosphere in which staff members may voice their concerns and offer suggestions for ways in which the Museum may offer better service to the public".

Yeah, right.

Do you really think that a lady who cleans the toilets will ask the Director about his high six figure salary with a free gas-guzzling car and free rent on a huge apartment thrown in while she's making $15 an hour tops and working the night shift? Her hours are being cut back because of the 'Economy'. Might the Director think about cutting back on his expenses?

That conversation ain't going to happen.

[Cue violins, please. Bitter old Lady rant coming up.]

When I got my first full-time, salaried job in 1969 there was such a thing as 'loyalty' and it worked both ways. Dress codes may have been strict. Hierarchy was strongly enforced but there was always the sense that, if you display loyalty toward the company, the company will try to take care of you.

That doesn't happen any more. It is expected that employees will give maximum effort for minimal return. You WILL be loyal to the company or you will be out of a job. On it's part, the employer owes you nothing because there's always someone willing to take a job for less money than you are making.

I remember the old skit from Beyond The Fringe that concerned the Judge and the Miner.

"I'd rather have been a Judge than a Miner. If you're a Miner, when you get too old and tired and sick and stupid to do your job properly, you have to go. Whereas the very opposite applies to the Judges."

I think that says it all.

[cinema guy]

The cinema chain does this every year. It uses an independant marketing company to do it, so results are supposedly confidential. The only problem being that if anyone makes additional comments, they get passed back to management of the cinema branch concerned, and they can sometimes tell who wrote that comment.

[PepperElf]

A week or so later we had to re-take the survey but that time we had to enter our employee ID number.

that's one thing i did like about the military. they had strict rules set up regarding that. The surveys had to be anonymous, and if you were in a command less than 50 people the surveys had to be sent off site to be read.

[protege]

To give off the impression that you care about your peons--I mean employees.

That's *exactly* why they do it. Face it, most companies don't give a rat's ass about their employees. Speaking from experience here...they want someone who will do the most work possible, for the least pay possible. They screw over their employees as much as possible. They get away with it, since if you quit or make trouble, there are more people they can easily hire to take your place. Bugs the hell out of me, because such things are usually accompanied by calls of "nobody has company loyalty anymore." Sorry, but I do my job. My "company loyalty" starts when I walk in the door, and ends when I leave. Otherwise, the company can go fuck itself.