Advantages and Disadvantages of Conducting an Online Employee Survey

Performing an online employee survey is one of the best methods to understand the viewpoints and opinions of your company's employees. It isn’t all good news, however, as there are also some potential drawbacks when conducting an online employee survey. If you’re not sure right now, don’t worry!

This article delves into a comprehensive discussion of the benefits and potential drawbacks of conducting an online employee survey. After reading, you can then decide whether or not to proceed with running an online employee survey within your company. Let’s begin by understanding what the benefits of online employee surveys are.

The Benefits of Online Employee Surveys

There are some key benefits to conducting employee surveys. From convenience to getting honest feedback, it can help you improve your business practices. Here are some common benefits of online employee surveys:

• Convenience

Online employee surveys are extremely convenient, as they are simple to distribute for employers and easy to access for employees. There are no location constraints with online employee surveys, either. Due to the flexibility of this, it means that you can expect higher response rates in comparison to traditional employee surveys.

• They Offer Anonymity

As online employee surveys are anonymous, it encourages honest feedback. With no consequences for individuals who offer criticism, you can address any issues that arise. This is especially true for input on sensitive topics.

• You Can Have Automated Analysis

You can use online survey tools to aggregate and analyze survey responses automatically. Doing this helps you simplify the process of identifying trends, revealing key insights, and comprehending areas that require improvement. These tools also enable you to compile data that is easily understandable and readable. In turn, it saves you more time and effort.

• They Are Eco-Friendly and Cost-Effective

Instead of wasting paper and spending money on printing costs, you can send surveys out digitally. Knowing that distributing surveys is all done online, you can also save more time and effort. There are numerous low-cost survey tools out there, all of which are readily accessible for employers.

As you can see, using online employee surveys has a lot of benefits. Not claiming perfection, but these tools can help you gain valuable employee feedback at a minimal cost. For these reasons, more and more organizations are committing to sending out online employee surveys.

Potential Drawbacks of Online Employee Surveys

When we talk about online employee surveys, it is important to realize what the downsides look like too. Here are some of the potential drawbacks of online employee surveys:

• Lack of Personal Interaction

When you conduct online surveys, it loses the personal touch of traditional face-to-face surveys. This means that employees can’t ask follow-up questions or ask for clarity if they experience any confusion. As a result, misunderstandings can arise, which can lead to incorrect or less thoughtful responses.

• Potential for Lower Response Rates

Online employee surveys can often yield lower response rates in comparison to in-person interviews or paper surveys. Employees can receive tens to hundreds of emails every week that request their time and input. As a result, an email about online employee surveys can easily get lost in their inbox. You need to convince employees that the surveys are worth their time and important.

• Technology Issues

There can be technical difficulties when it comes to online employee surveys, which get in the way of people completing them. Survey software can glitch or crash, which prevents employees from completing them. Employees can also experience issues if they find that they have incompatible devices or software when attempting to complete online employee surveys.

• Data Can Be Questionable

One concern with online employee surveys is that it may be difficult to determine who is responding to them. It is also unclear how people finish answering the survey. For example, some employees may rush through the survey or give incomplete answers. This can potentially cause issues when assessing the online employee survey data.

Decide Whether Online Employee Surveys Are Right for You

Now that you have seen the potential advantages and disadvantages of online employee surveys, you need to weigh whether they are right for your organization. Both anonymity and cost-savings benefits may be appealing. The drawbacks of a lack of personal interaction and questionable data, however, make it unworthy.

Despite this, the choice still depends on you. Think carefully and consult your employees to see what they prefer. If conducted effectively, you will take the first step in starting an open dialog with your employees.