How to Get a 100% Response Rate for Employee Surveys

Many professionals argue that anonymity in employee surveys is helpful because it removes mental hurdles such as fear of retaliation, judgment, and damaged relationships. But the major pitfall of anonymity is the lack of accountability, both for providing valuable feedback or even responding to the survey at all, as well as Human Resource's inability to follow up and bring context to responses.

 By nature, many people actively avoid giving constructive feedback. The results of a survey by Zenger Folkman of about 900 professionals cited that people have an overall disdain for giving negative feedback, contrasted with a significant desire to receive that feedback. Everyone seems to understand the value of feedback, but hates to be the messenger.

This lack of enthusiasm for providing feedback is seen in the low response rates of company surveys. According to Insync, a company that specializes in designing employee surveys, a well-designed survey typically yields only about a 60% response rate. While this number can be more or less detrimental to the data depending on how big the company is, it still leaves a large margin for improvement in any company.

This is where removing anonymity could really decrease the non-response rate – I have seen it work in practice. By knowing who is and is not responding, one can reach out to individual employees and remind them directly to reply. It may be uncomfortable for employees to know that their name is affiliated with their responses, which is why it is so important that the HR professionals maintain the utmost confidentiality. Again, if anonymity is removed then there must be high confidentiality. Here are the steps to be taken if you choose to remove anonymity from employee surveys:

Clearly Explain

Announce verbally and by email that the survey will be distributed, and detail what the survey is about, why it is being administered, who will have access to the data, and how the information will be used. Explain that confidentiality is paramount, and that none of the reported data will be linked to individuals.

Track Responses

If you are going to ask people to identify themselves, never have them type their name – the inconsistency of the answers will make it difficult to run a report later. Instead, have the survey automatically capture their work email when they respond (which can be done on Google forms), or have a drop down menu where they can select their name. Then compare the complete list of employee names with the survey data of responses to record who has and has not taken the survey.

Reach Out Using Templates

 Employees are much more likely to respond to a survey if their reminder email is specifically addressed to them. Companies have seen improved open rates with personalized emails to their customers, and these same principles can be applied within an organization. For example, Experian Marketing Services reports from their 2013 Email Market Study that personally addressing emails leads to 41 percent higher unique click through rates than generic emails.

You can insert employee names into emails quickly by using mail merge on Gmail. This technology inputs information into an email using a spreadsheet and then sends out the email (if you haven’t used mail merge before, check it out, it’s a game changer). Make sure you include the survey link in the reminder email so that employees don’t have to go digging in their inboxes.

Sharing the Data

Sanitize the data so that no names or direct identifiers are linked with responses when the data is shared. Ideally, only present the results in summary form.

Eventually, this process could be automated using survey software, but until then, departments on a budget can take these simple steps. Eliminating anonymity allows HR professionals to personally reach out to individuals instead of blasting all employees with reminders. This targeted approach will increase the response rate (I've seen it at 100%!), though this may not be the best choice for all surveys or companies.

 Would you feel comfortable identifying yourself in an employee survey?