Frequency and Timing in Strategic Survey Planning, Part 3
By: Jerry Halamaj, Senior Manager and Consultant, jhalamaj@valtera.com
After your survey frequency cycle has been decided, timing is the next consideration. When is the best time for your organization to administer the survey? The seasonality of survey administration varies by firm, industry and global location. It is typically best to avoid industry-specific busy seasons, such as holiday season for retail organizations, or year-end and tax season for accounting firms. Being sensitive to your global footprint, such as international holiday and vacation seasons, also helps when planning for survey schedules.
Some research has shown that time of the year and relationship to other key organizational events can impact favorability of responses. By administering the survey using similar timing each year, the impact of seasonality and other factors on the responses will be mitigated.
When employees take the survey is not the only consideration. Organizations should also consider the availability of managers and employees to move into the action-planning stage. If Human Resources staff is tied up with year-end performance reviews, they are unlikely to have attention to spare for action planning. The timing of key customer events should also be considered when determining the best time to survey. Survey administration needs to be done when people can respond, when managers have the time for action planning, and when HR staff has time to support the process.
As surveys become more strategic, they should align and correspond to other business and people processes and cycles in the organization. For most organizations, this is annual (financial planning and reporting, budgeting, business reviews, performance reviews, talent reviews). In parts 1 and 2 of this blog series, we discussed the use of other frequencies. Regardless of the cycle used, a certain rhythm develops around seasonality: surveying, reporting, communication, visibility, and accountability.
Another key consideration for survey timing is to ensure that survey results are available in time for alignment with business reporting, planning, and communication cycles. Plan to have results in time to influence next year’s budget and resource plans. Consider also the availability and timing of key related data sources for linkage—customer satisfaction data, financial performance data by locations, annual report deadlines, annual and board meetings.
Planning your survey strategically – considering factors of frequency and timing – leads to the most effective survey process.
For more information and research on the importance of frequency and timing in strategic survey planning, download this whitepaper:
