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Document Profile
Title:
Guide VI: Employee Surveys*
Series:
Quality Services
Author/Information:
Innovative and Quality Services Group
Financial and Information Management Branch
Treasury Board Secretariat
Telephone: (613) 952-8781
Last Revision:
Original publication - October 1995
For Print Copy:
Treasury Board Distribution Centre
Telephone: (613) 995-2855
Facsimile: (613) 996-0518
Catalogue No: BT22-42/6-1995
ISBN: 0-662-62055-0
Cost: No cost
For information on other electronic versions, please contact:
Electronic Dissemination Unit
Planning and Communications Directorate
Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat
Telephone: (613) 957-2421
Fax: (613) 952-9998
Alternative Formats:
This publication is available in alternative formats.
* This document is protected by Crown copyright. Permission is granted to copy and distribute it freely within the Canadian federal
government and other levels of government in Canada.
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QUALITY Services
Employee Surveys
encourage their participation in its quality
journey. Other alternatives for obtaining opinions
and feedback from employees include using
suggestion awards or other award and recognition
programs, and encouraging the sharing of best
practices.
INTRODUCTION
Listening to employees and encouraging their
involvement can have a positive impact on an
organization's quality services initiative. Their
opinions and ideas are an invaluable resource that
you can uncover in a variety of ways, including
employee surveys.
RATIONALE
DEFINITION
Within the context of this guide, the term “employee
survey” is defined in the broadest of terms. It
includes methods such as the traditional survey, focus
groups, work out sessions, and face-to-face meetings
with one or more managers and employees.
CONTEXT
The current government environment of fiscal
restraint and program review, coupled with the
swiftness of changes in technology, public-sector
organizational structures and the global economy, has
a significant impact on the Public Service. Yet it is
the Public Service that upholds the government
agenda. In these times of rapid change, employees
can contribute, significantly and positively, to the way
in which an organization copes with this change.
Consequently, employee surveys are valuable tools
that can help organizations tap into the ideas and
perceptions of their work force.
Organizations may conduct employee surveys as part
of their quality services initiative for a number of
reasons. Employee involvement, commitment and
participation are key elements of any qualityconscious organization. Management needs the
opinions of the work force to identify areas for
improvement and should, therefore, provide
opportunities for employees to participate in the
decision-making process.
When handled well, employee surveys can catalyze or
enhance expanded communication, partnerships with
employees and motivation. Morale, productivity,
commitment and organizational vitality can be
substantially improved by listening to and acting on
employee suggestions.
Employee surveys:

allow an organization to tap employees as a
resource to focus on areas within the organization
that can be improved. Data provided by a survey
can be used to identify the highest-priority
elements of the organization's quality services
initiative;

may be used to establish baseline data for an
organization in terms of the degree to which it
meets the criteria of a quality services
organization. From this baseline data, the
organization can measure progress made in
implementing or improving its quality services
initiative. The baseline data could also help
organizations identify, understand and adapt
current outstanding practices that will provide the
basis for further improving performance;

may be used to obtain input from employees,
thereby encouraging participation in the change
process and fostering buy-in; and

may be used to identify training requirements or
learning activities that could push forward the
organization's quality services initiative. Surveys
may also be used to gather perceptions on other
When considering the survey, consider the following
ideas:

Sensitive timing is always important, particularly
in the current environment of fiscal restraint and
within the “most-affected” departments.

Organizations will likely be at different stages in
their quality journeys. At appropriate junctures,
organizations will need to assess individually the
appropriateness of employee surveys.

Organizations must consider employee
sensitivities and cynicism in the current Public
Service environment.


Quality service requires a cultural shift that
promotes a partnership between an organization
and its employees. Employee surveys could be
used as a tool to encourage and develop this kind
of partnership.
Surveying employees is one way an organization
can involve employees, solicit their input and
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QUALITY Services
key elements of a quality services initiative, such
as leadership and awards programs.
GUIDING PRINCIPLES
In this guide, the scope of employee surveys is limited
to issues of quality and quality services. Although
employee satisfaction contributes to the quality of an
organization’s service, measuring employee
satisfaction is outside the scope of this framework.
When contemplating the use of an employee survey,
the organization should consider:

the extent to which employee surveys, if used, will
drive their quality services initiative;

the requirements related to access to information,
privacy, information collection and security, which
are set out in the Policy on the Management of
Government Information Holdings in the
“Information Management” volume of the
Treasury Board Manual, chapter 3-1;

the extent of senior management commitment;

what will be done with the results of the survey
and how it intends to convert results into action;

how participation will benefit the organization
and all of its employees;

the conduct of effective, rigorous marketing before
the survey begins, and throughout the process, to
increase the chances for success. Employees
should be informed of the purpose of the survey,
assure them that it is confidential and outline how
the results will be used;

opportunities for employees to participate in the
process as early as the design stage. Employees
could be represented on advisory committees, or
their opinion could be solicited in other ways;

the involvement of bargaining agents, where
possible;

the inclusion of a feedback loop into the system to
inform employees of the results of the survey and
to tell them about actions being planned in
response to these results;

follow up, as appropriate, to improve response
rates; and

the consistency of content from one survey to the
next to make it easier to measure progress
accurately.
Employee Surveys
Elements to be surveyed
Each organization will determine what constitutes
“quality” and “service quality.” For instance, "quality"
may be approached from an organizational
perspective. "Service quality" can be defined as a
combination of two movements: service, which means
knowing what the client wants and satisfying that
need; and quality, which means doing it right the first
time and continually improving the product or service.
The organization should define the essential elements
that make up quality, based on its goals.
The organization may wish to survey employees to
obtain their perspective on the quality of services
being provided. For example, survey elements could
ask employees about the extent to which they feel:

clients are being provided with extraordinary
service;

employees contribute towards the development of
service standards; and

employees are empowered.
Alternatively, or in addition, the survey may be based
on criteria used for awards such as the Malcolm
Baldridge Award in the U.S. and the former Canada
Awards for Business Excellence. The National
Quality Institute (NQI) recently combined the criteria
used for these two awards to form the new criteria for
the Canada Awards for Excellence (CAE). These
criteria apply to both the public and private sector.
The six major criteria categories of the CAE's Quality
Award describe elements or attributes that are
essential in a quality organization. These elements,
individually or in combination, may form the focus of
an employee survey.
Leadership
How senior management demonstrates a
commitment to quality principles and practices,
and how it supports strategic planning and an
environment for continuous improvement.
Customer focus
How the organization focuses on customer needs,
complaints, loyalty and satisfaction through
information gathering, and how it translates that
information into improved goods and services.
Planning for improvement
How improvement plans are developed, linked to
strategic direction and effectively deployed.
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People focus
How the organization manages, develops, involves
and rewards its employees, while fostering
participation and continuous learning.
Employee Surveys
required. External consultants or internal experts in
fields such as program evaluation can help managers
choose appropriate methodologies, design
questionnaires, compile data, and analyse and
interpret results.
Process optimization
How processes are analysed to ensure that they
add value to customers and the organization, how
they reflect priorities derived from goals in
improvement plans, and how they support the
organization's strategic direction.
Supplier focus
How the organization works cooperatively with
suppliers and other stakeholders to innovate and
improve continuously.
Questions that address these quality elements may be
found in the NQI's "Quality Fitness Test.”
Organizations could adapt them for use in employee
surveys.
Tools
Many tools can be used to survey employees or gather
their feedback. Surveys may be formal (a prepared set
of questions to a specific sample of employees),
informal (a structured or unstructured discussion),
predominantly qualitative (a focus group) or
quantitative (a questionnaire that provides volumetric
data). Rigid methodologies may be used but are not
always necessary to achieve the survey objectives. A
lesser degree of scientific rigour can still yield
valuable information.
SUCCESS CRITERIA
As part of the survey process, the organization should
attempt to determine whether or not the survey
satisfied its stated objectives. Based on the reasons
for surveying employees previously mentioned, the
organization might assess the survey’s success against
the following criteria:

the employee participation rate;

the extent to which the data from the survey
assisted in the design or improvement of its
quality services initiative;

the extent to which the data helped measure
progress in defined areas;

the extent to which the data were integrated with
other data to design or improve it's quality
services initiative;

the extent to which follow-up surveys are used to
measure its progress in its quality services
initiative; and

the extent to which feedback loops were built into
the survey to give employees information on
survey results and on actions deemed necessary
by those results.
The most traditional survey tool is the written
questionnaire. Electronic surveys are gaining
popularity. Individual input may also be obtained
through telephone surveys, face-to-face interviews or
exit interviews of departing employees. These formats
normally involve highly structured questionnaires.
Information may also be gathered from groups. The
most structured is the focus group, where
predetermined issues are explored. Less structured,
informal methods include "town hall" meetings or
retreats. Smaller groups such as quality councils,
advisory groups or committees may also be used.
A combination of several of these methods can often
be used effectively.
The choice of tools will depend on such factors as cost,
ease of completion, perception of anonymity, timing,
available technology, and depth of information
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Treasury Board of Canada
Secretariat
Conseil du Trésor du Canada
Secrétariat
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