"Freedom to Do My Job" Joins Lowest Employee Survey Norms

Sign of the times? We recently updated our employee survey norms and we’ve seen the sense of freedom to do the job, trust and open communications join the list of "least favorable" items this year. In dead-last position? "My manager gives me the freedom to do my job." Seventy-two percent were negative or neutral on this statement. See the newcomers and holdovers on the list of most unfavorable ratings below:

Ten Least Favorable Employee Survey Benchmarks
New: Norm 84. My manager gives me the freedom to do my job.(lowest ranking item)
New: Norm 10. Information is communicated openly and honestly in this organization.
New: Norm 11. Information is communicated in a timely manner.

Holdovers from prior lists of this dubious honor include:

Norm 73. I feel recognized for the contribution I make to this organization.
Norm 70. I am satisfied with the benefits package this organization offers.
Norm 54. I feel I have control over my career at this organization.
Norm 76. Management is supportive of its employees.
Norm 69. This organization pays well compared to other companies.
Norm 9. Overall, information in this organization is communicated well.
Norm 86. I feel secure about my continued employment in this organization.

Source: PPI Employee Feedback Database, November 2008

Communication is a perennial difficulty and our most recent review of survey answers found that 60 percent of employees had neutral or negative attitudes to the statement "Information in this organization is communicated well." Career advancement, management consistency, and recognition are other challenging areas.

PPI recently updated and expanded its industry norms database, from which organizations can purchase norms regardless if they use PPI to conduct the survey. We have conducted hundreds of employee surveys worldwide since 1987, resulting in a norms database with as many as 100,000 responses for each of 86 questionnaire items.

Norms help employers judge whether results are high or low compared to other organizations. Even if you find certain items disappointingly low, you may find your organization outranks many other organizations. Outside norms are especially important for a first-time employee survey.

Employers can obtain norms for general business or for one of 16 industries and categories, including nonprofits. Multinational organizations are well represented in the database. Norms are available with no minimum purchase, and employers who share their with Performance Programs' Employee Feedback Database receive a 50 percent discount. Identities of organizations in the database are kept confidential. Inquire about employee survey norms.

Importance of Understanding Work Values during Career Transition

Values Assessment Different from Interest Inventories, Personality Tests

Recognition, power, tradition, security, fun, pleasing surroundings, money--these are the values that often make the difference between a job that someone can do and a job they really, really want to do. In the human resources assessment world, we often look at interest inventories and personality tests. But I feel there's a source of information that is mostly overlooked in placement settings--values. This is especially important in more experienced adults, such as the ones so many of our clients and consultants are encountering in a "career transition" setting during these turbulent days.

Values Assessment vs. Interest Inventories vs. Personality Tests

Measures of motives, values, and interests are somewhat different from personality measures.

Values and motives inventories tell us what a person wants to do, shining a light on their inner conversation about their wishes. To quote the technical manual for the Motives, Values, Preferences Inventory, published by Hogan Assessments, “Personality measures ask about a person’s typical response in various situations, but interest measures ask about a person’s preferred activities, roles, and associates." Values measures allow people to describe themselves as they would like to be.

Personality tests tell us what a person may do in certain situations and how their behavior is likely to appear to others. Personality reports describe such characteristics as sociability, inquisitiveness, confidence, ambition, interpersonal sensitivity, cautiousness, and curiosity.

Motives and values are more fundamental than interests. Your interests are likely to move over time, but they are always an expression of what you value. For example, you might have once enjoyed an extreme sport such as mountain biking (an interest). Over time you may have become bored with this activity, and turned your attention to rock climbing (another interest). The core values that tie both of these interests together, and which have not shifted, are love of physical activity, the freedom of the outdoors, and more than a hint of physical risk. Your interests have shifted; your motives and values have not.

This is why we're now emphasizing the Career Compass report from Hogan Assessments. It helps shine a light on the elusive and hard-to-articulate nature of work motivations. It is a comprehensive survey of the 10 key values found in every culture throughout history. The only commercially available measure of values that has been developed, validated, and normed for business contexts.

We now offer Career Compass along with an exclusive 20-page interpretive guide that helps you and your client take action on the report. Career Compass OnLine is only $49. It is based on the Motives, Values, Preferences Inventory (MVPI), a scientifically validated values inventory, developed and published by Hogan Assessments. MVPI is validated for individuals over 21.

Learn more...

Low Employee Survey Ratings Are Sometimes "Normal"

Trying to define a "normal" workplace is as difficult and unpredictable as describing a "normal" family, but we've learned there are average or predictable responses to certain questions or groups of questions on employee surveys.

Some employers are shocked by low ratings on employee survey questions, but they should always consider the nature of the question topic. Some topics, such as career advancement opportunities, always seem to get low ratings--a fact that was verified recently when we repeated our study of the answers provided on more than 100 employee surveys we've conducted since 1987. (These norms are available to employers whether they do their employee survey through PPI or not.)


Most companies, for instance, have a hard time getting high ratings for internal communications or for career development. We define high ratings as more than 67% favorable or highly favorable ratings of a statement such as: There are adequate advancement opportunities for employees at my level.

Even the best managed firms have a hard time reaching 67% favorable ratings on career advancement.

Some other questions cause most human resource departments grief, such as:

Overall, information in this organization is communicated well.
This organization listens to the ideas/opinions that employees contribute.
I am kept up-to-date on organizational changes in policy or practice.

So, even if the ratings are lower than expected, they may be higher than those received by other organizations. And the most important thing is improvement--which you'll hopefully find when the survey is repeated a year later.

We offer norms for general business or for one of 16 industries and categories(http://www.performanceprograms.com/Surveys/employee-opinion-norms.shtm). Reports include the mean, standard deviation, frequency distribution, and number of respondents on which the norm is based. There is no minimum purchase. A 50% discount is offered to employers who share their survey data with Performance Programs for inclusion in their Employee Feedback Database. Identities of organizations in the database are kept confidential to PPI.

Fun at Work … a Big Predictor of Job Satisfaction

Over the past five years, we’ve had almost 100,000 people complete the short version of the Full Engagement Profile, a work/life balance and stress management measurement. Lately, we’ve been looking for trends in the data gathered from this popular assessment, which is based on the widely read 2003 book, The Power of Full Engagement, coauthored by our associate, Dr. Jim Loehr. He is also the author of the 2007 book, The Power of Story.

One of the single biggest predictors of a high score on job satisfaction for both men and women, we’ve learned, is a high score on the statement, “I have fun at work.” Two items were of even greater importance: “I feel a sense of purpose and meaning in my work.” and “I feel more challenge and opportunity than frustration and aggravation at work.”

Employers take note: A few opportunities for a good chuckle may go a long way towards increasing employee job satisfaction.

In a separate inquiry, we looked at the scores that predict a high score on the question: “I feel fully engaged at work.” We found that high scores on the following predict a sense of full engagement:

“I have a high level of positive emotional energy at work.”


“I feel my work is personally fulfilling.”


“I am mentally alert and sharp at work.”

The question of personal fulfillment showed up on both lists, an item that many employers feel challenged to address. But it may be of use to look at the elements of personal fulfillment and find ways to address them. The word “personal” means what it says: specific to the person. Praise, recognition, and a consistent attention to the work of individuals may go a long way towards increasing an employee’s sense of being valued at work. The word “fulfillment” speaks of completion, something that can be gained when people have a sense of the whole work product. These are both old principles in workplace psychology, but apparently still the ones that make a difference.

As we learn more about the results of this fascinating survey, we’ll keep you posted.

Our company, Performance Programs, is a coauthor of the Full Engagement Profile, along with Dr. Jim Loehr’s company, Human Performance Institute of Orlando, FL, and the Wenroth Group, New York City.

New Research: Employee Job Satisfaction Related to Individual Energy Management

Attention employers: want to increase employee job satisfaction? Free cafeteria food and flex time aren’t it. An employee’s job satisfaction may depend as much on the positive mental, spiritual, physical, and emotional resources the employee brings to the workplace, according to data gathered from nearly 100,000 working adults in a five-year study of personal energy management and work-life balance.

“The people who score in the top 10 percent of job satisfaction report they are also taking care of themselves in the mental, emotional, spiritual and physical realms,” says Dr. Jim Loehr, CEO of the Human Performance Institute in Orlando, FL. The source of Dr. Loehr’s data, the Full Engagement Self Profile, is based on the 2003 bestselling book titled The Power of Full Engagement. Loehr is also author of the 2007 book, The Power of Story.

“Furthermore, people who report the highest job satisfaction are highly self-confident individuals,” adds Loehr, who notes an 85 percent correlation between high job satisfaction and self-confidence. “They are not only satisfied with their jobs; they also feel competent in work and life. These two are mutually reinforcing.”

Loehr's organization identified these highly satisfied individuals by their response to the statement: “I am happy and satisfied in my job.” Then they learned that people in the top 10 percent of job satisfaction also exhibit positive motivational and energy management habits to a far greater degree than people in the bottom 10 percent.

Most dramatic are the differences in the management of “spiritual” energy, as illustrated by practices related to beliefs about the meaning of life. Those with the highest job satisfaction score about 250 percent higher on commitment, passion, self-confidence, vision, and purpose than those in the lowest 10 percent of job satisfaction.

The top 10 percent's average exercise and fitness score is 170 percent of those in the bottom 10 percent of job satisfaction. Their nighttime sleep score is 154 percent of those in the bottom 10 percent. Their overall rest and recovery, which includes daytime rest breaks and constructive diversions from work, is 149 percent of those with the lowest job satisfaction. Their nutrition is 126 percent of those in the lowest group.

“These are individuals who have somehow found a way to harness their own sources of physical energy and motivation, in spite of the distracting environment in which most of us live today,” Loehr says. “It is tempting, based on these numbers, to think that job satisfaction can be addressed through good candidate selection,” Loehr adds. “And to some extent, it can. But employers get only one chance at good selection with each opening they fill, while they have a daily opportunity to encourage people towards practices that renew physical energy, and as well as the opportunity to encourage employees’ self-confidence through training and recognition. If the tensions of the job take away energy, enthusiasm and time for self-renewal, the individual with high job satisfaction is at risk for becoming less engaged.”

Five Ways Employers Can Create a More Satisfying Work Environment

Individuals who report highest levels of job satisfaction on the Full Engagement Inventory also report self-confidence, an appetite for thoughtful risk-taking, consistency between their values and their work, emotional resilience, the ability to “take a break” through fun, friends and rest, and good relations with bosses and coworkers. This research was recently annouced by the Human Performance Institute, Orlando, FL.

“These all represent sources of positive energy for individuals, and employers can encourage each of them through workplace practices,” says performance psychologist Dr. Jim Loehr, CEO of the Institute. His firm recently announced new research findings on the responses of 75,000 working adults. The Inventory is based on the bestselling book, The Power of Full Engagement. Dr. Loehr offers the following tips for encouraging job satisfaction, based on findings from inventory data:


1. Build employees’ competence and self-confidence through training, feedback and recognition. “There is a very close relationship between high job satisfaction and feelings of effectiveness on the job,” says Dr. Loehr. “Encouragement of genuine self-confidence is probably the number one way to achieve higher job satisfaction.”

2. Communicate the value of the organization’s products and services, and the role the organization plays in the marketplaces where it operates. “People with high job satisfaction also report an extraordinarily high sense of mission, vision and passion for their work,” says Loehr. “They feel their work is consistent with their values. They couldn’t achieve that feeling if their employers didn’t enable them to get meaningful insight about the value they provide to customers,” says Loehr.

3. Encourage and reward thoughtful risk-taking. “People with high job satisfaction also score high on the desire to try novel approaches, face challenges and perform problem-solving both individually and in groups,” says Loehr. “They appear to have an appetite for mission-driven change. They also rate themselves very high on perseverance.”

4. Encourage positive workplace relations. “People who are highly satisfied in their jobs report good feelings about their bosses, peers and coworkers,” says Loehr. “Their feelings of opportunity are elevated, and they perceive a low hassle-factor.”

5. Encourage meaningful rest breaks and light diversion. “High job satisfaction correlates strongly with the feeling of having fun at work,” says Dr. Loehr. “Highly satisfied individuals also report that they find it easy to wake in the morning, and that their sleep is deep and restful.” He adds, “This is consistent with our thirty years of research on world-class athletes. Top performers in every field know how to enhance performance through rest and recovery.”

Learn more about the work of the Human Performance Institute and Dr. Jim Loehr.

Dessert Before Dinner

by Kathleen Groll Connolly and Paul M. Connolly

Thoughts on Morale, Motivation, Engagement, and Commitment

I wish I had a dollar for everytime someone searched our Web site looking for the "M&Ms." No, not the plain or peanut types. Everyone seems to be looking for “morale” and “motivation." We never know why various search terms gain popularity in our server logs. (A few years ago, for instance, everyone seemed to be looking for "business culture.") From our perspective, the search for these two particular terms leaves us wondering if people are trying to have dessert before dinner. Morale and motivation, in our experience, are after-dinner chocolates -- not the main course. Engagement and commitment are the end goals.

Morale, for instance, is not an end in itself. It is largely a “happiness” measure. Managers like high morale because it increases cooperation. The presence of high morale reduces negativity in the workplace atmosphere. An example of a popular morale question on employee surveys is: “Overall, I am satisfied working for this organization at the present time.” The responses to this question are at least partially based on satisfaction with workplace hygiene factors, which don't necessarily help get the right things done.

Hygiene factors, recall from your classroom days, represent the most basic features of the workplace. Fair compensation, basic safety, decent lighting, and other resources needed to do a job are hygiene factors. They are expected. Their absence can make people very unhappy, but their presence does not make people happy.

Other satisfiers, however, do set the stage for higher levels of morale or satisfaction -- with the right employee.

Take the examples of two employees. Maria takes pleasure in accomplishment both at work and in her personal life. As her work unit rides the tiger of rapidly expanding sales, she finds herself personally satisfied by being on a team that is reaching a challenging goal. Her morale is positively enhanced by the experience.

Susan, on the other hand, is more interested in affiliation -- workplace friendships, customer relations and family -- than business accomplishment. She finds the rigors of rapid sales growth irritating. She would prefer a more relaxed work environment with lots of focus on relationships. The absence of it has a negative effect on her morale.

Maria is a good fit with the environment; Susan is not. Their morale is partially an after-effect of their fit. It can be very worthwhile to address the morale of employees who are a good fit.

We have often seen workplaces where the management has worked to help people feel comfortable and satisfied, yet have NOT been rewarded with increased productivity by those same employees. They may report good morale (high responses on an item such as “I am satisfied working for this organization at the present time”). But this does not always induce a desire to act. For instance, low responses on an item such as “People in this organization do whatever it takes to get the job done” might depict a workplace where satisfaction is relatively high but propensity to act is poor. This is hardly the steak and potatoes of good organizational management.

Motivation is not the same as morale. Motivation is an internal state of willingness and readiness to act. The two terms are often used together and sometimes interchangeably. Does high morale have a useful role in motivation? Maybe, if satisfaction (morale) contributes to willingness and readiness to act (motivation). But there’s a twist to this, a surprise we’ve gotten over and over again: high motivation (readiness to act) more often leads to satisfaction (morale) than satisfaction leads to motivation. Again, a person’s existing motivations and their fit with the environment can make all the difference in morale.

Think of Maria in the example above. She arrives at her job already motivated by the high performance characteristics of her workplace. She may have been motivated along these lines ever since she ran a successful lemonade stand as an eight-year-old. Feeling a level of personal success and finding herself in a stimulating environment, her morale is high.

So let's say Maria is a good fit. She's a salesperson, and she’s motivated both personally and professionally by her job. (She wants to buy a new Lexus with her earnings from the 2006 commission plan.) She has high morale. Is this enough?

Engagement signifies involvement of the whole individual – mind, spirit, heart. If Maria is not engaged, she may go for easy sales and ignore territory development. The fully engaged employee would be concerned with developing a territory as well as short-term commissions. An example of an engagement question on an employee survey is: “The work I do is very important to the long-term success of this organization.” An engaged employee is fully involved and aligned, and applies his or her motivations to the organization’s goals. Indeed, current thinking says that this is the chocolate-covered cherry of workforce management.

But nothing is easy in organizational life. Let’s say Maria has positive morale and motivation and is engaged. Is there more? Maybe.

Commitment governs employees’ disposition towards continued investment of time and energy in a job or organization. Many employers contact us about surveys when they see high turnover. “What’s wrong with our workplace?” they sometimes ask. “Why aren’t people committed to staying here?” Yet commitment, like morale, motivation, and engagement, comes from some intrinsic organizational factors that may not be obvious at first. Our research and experience show that two factors are more significant than others in creating commitment:

1. Management skills of immediate managers and supervisors: We’d like to think people are committed to organizations, but they must first deal with the people immediately around them. When immediate managers are skilled, the first barrier to commitment is removed. People are able to become committed to working for their managers. For instance, a survey might contain a question such as: “My manager sets work objectives that motivate people.” High scores on an item such as this portray individuals who are more likely to be committed to working for the immediate manager.

2. Successful job performance: Go back a few paragraphs, where we made the comment that successful job performance can lead to high morale/satisfaction. The experience of positive feedback that follows successful job performance also increases commitment. Intuitively, employers want employees to be committed to increase the success of the organization. But in the real world, employees’ organizational commitment seems to increase when they experience personal success. This again underscores the importance of top-notch selection and hiring practices. An example of a question that diagnoses this element of commitment is this: “My work gives me a feeling of personal accomplishment.”

To all those people searching for the M&Ms, I offer some advice: Make sure you cook a good dinner before reaching for the candy. Look first for people who have the right fit with your organization. Design jobs so that these carefully selected people can experience success. Then open the bag of M&Ms. And please save some red ones for me.

Email Performance Programs
Visit the Performance Programs Web Site

Employee Job Satisfaction Questionnaires Enable Rapid Organization Assessment

Last year, we wrote a book-and-CD combination that gives employers rapid access to 20 diagnostic employee questionnaires: EMPLOYEE OPINION QUESTIONNAIRES: 20 Ready-to-Use Surveys That Work (Pfeiffer/Wiley).

We got a pleasant surprise recently when Mike Plummer, an HR consultant from Jacksonville, FL, posted this review on Amazon.com: "The Connolly's latest book on employee surveys is an outstanding reference for survey practitioners (like me) as well as for those who may be doing their first survey. The book is packed with practical ideas on the entire survey process. The 20 ready-to-use surveys are excellent and support the trend towards quick, issue-focused surveys vs. comprehensive employee surveys. The authors have freely shared their extensive knowledge and experience about employee surveys. It's almost like they poured their life's work into the book. I'm really impressed with this book and pleased to add it to my reference library on surveys".


The book contains norms for 30 of the most important employee survey questions from our proprietary Employee Feedback Database, a collection of employee survey norms that currently holds 80,000 responses from 170 organizations.

The book covers the following survey topics: Employee Morale; Employee Engagement; Job Satisfaction; Organizational Change; Communications; Fairness and Diversity; Compensation; Coworker Relations; The Individual Employee’s Manager; Senior Management; Workplace Resources And Safety; Organizational Mission and Values; Innovation and Creativity; Quality Practices; Customer Care; Ethics; Benefits; Training Effectiveness; New Employee Survey; Exit Survey. Surveys on the CD are ready for your word processor. The book also provides an extensive guide to selecting the appropriate survey for your situation. It also explains the employee survey process.

Visit Pfeiffer to learn more http://service.bfast.com/bfast/click?bfmid=37920629&siteid=41364473&bfpid=0787973491&bfmtype=wiley

Employee Survey Questionnaires – New Book Provides Top 30 Questions and Norms

What Employers Ask, What Employees Say

The questions that organizations ask on employee surveys may be different from the questions that employees wish they would ask. In fact, when we looked at employee survey data gathered over six years, we came to the conclusion that this is often the case. We tallied the ten most frequently asked questions and then tallied the ten questions that get the most negative responses. We found that none of the "most negative" questions were on the list of "most frequently asked." For that matter, neither were the ten most positive.

Top Questions

Since 1999, we've been tracking employee responses to 85 key employee questionnaire items out of a total of 650 questions in our database. These 85 items have been administered to as many as 60,000 people on 140 survey administrations. We track them because they represent the issues organizations have most often wanted to investigate during the nearly twenty years we've offered employee surveys. The organizations are from commercial industries, such as telecommunications and consumer goods, and non-commercial industries, such as government, schools, and nonprofits. About 20% of the response data is from multinational locations of U.S. corporations.

Some questions are asked of all or nearly all the respondents in the Employee Feedback Database, either because we recommend it to our client or they request them. Here's the "Most Frequently Asked" list:

Ten Most Frequently Asked Employee Survey Questions

"Considering everything, I am satisfied working for this organization at the present time."
"I see myself working for this organization three years from now."
"I am clear about what I need to do and how my job performance will be evaluated."
"My manager sets clear goals and objectives."
"I receive the training I need to do my job."
"I have the resources I need to do my job."
"My manager takes a supportive role in my professional growth and development."
"Employees are encouraged to offer their opinions and ideas."
"People are encouraged to try new ways of doing things."
"There is a strong feeling of team spirit and cooperation in this organization."

If the purpose of an employee survey is to diagnose organizational challenges, we also need to look at the items that are consistently challenging to all organizations. Noticeably missing from the list above are communications, management, and compensation. For instance, communications is represented three times on the following list of the ten least favorable items in our database:

Ten Employee Survey Questions Receiving the Most Negative Response

"Overall, information in this organization is communicated well."
"This organization listens to the ideas/opinions that employees contribute."
"I am kept up-to-date on any organizational changes in policy or practice."
"This organization pays well compared to other organizations."
"I am satisfied with the benefits package this organization offers."
"I feel secure about my continued employment at this organization."
"I believe my career aspirations can be achieved at this organization."
"I feel recognized for the contribution I make to this organization."
"I get the cooperation I need from those outside my department."
"Management is supportive of its employees."

This simple discovery is a potent reminder of how an employee survey should be written. Organizations must always be willing to listen for the most sensitive issues and ask questions that will help them constructively address the problems. We have to be willing to ask the questions they wish we would ask. The survey instrument, to be credible, has to have something in it for both the employer and employee.

For more information about the top 30 employee survey questions, or to get a copy of our new book, Employee Opinion Questionnaires: 20 Ready-to-Use Surveys That Work (Pfeiffer, 2005) The book presents norms for all thirty of these questions, in addition to twenty pre-designed employee opinion questionnaires. For more information, visit the link:
http://www.pfeiffer.com/WileyCDA/PfeifferTitle/productCd-0787973491.html

New Book & Cd Combination Gives Instant Access To Employee Opinion Questionnaires

Old Saybrook, CT, January 10, 2005: Now human resource professionals can tap a ready-to-use questionnaire the same day they need a survey. In this first of its kind book and CD combination, EMPLOYEE OPINION QUESTIONNAIRES: 20 Ready-to-Use Surveys That Work (Pfeiffer/A Wiley Imprint; January 2005; $95.00; Paper with CD), author Paul M. Connolly, Ph.D. has designed a must-have collection of proven, reliable organizational surveys that anyone-from specialist human resources professionals to line managers and team leaders-can put to use immediately.

This unique book includes short, ready-to-use surveys organized into three groups: · Issue-Focused Surveys help determine employee opinion on topics such as diversity, communications, and adaptability to change · Mission-Focused Surveys gauge opinion on critical organizational issues, including employee alignment with mission, quality, ethics, and customer care. · Event-Related Surveys address new hires, exit interviews, and post-training assessments. EMPLOYEE OPINION QUESTIONNAIRES contains a wealth of advice on selecting an appropriate survey, managing the survey process, and interpreting survey results. It also includes a chapter on the questions that employers most frequently ask, based on the author's proprietary Employee Feedback Database. It provides guidelines for maintaining confidentiality and anonymity and shows how to present results to all levels of your organization. The book also contains electronic versions of each survey on the included CD-ROM, enabling organizations to conveniently print surveys in-house or to provide text for web survey applications. About the authors: Paul M. Connolly, Ph.D. is an industrial psychologist who founded Performance Programs in 1987. The firm provides a wide variety of human resource measurement services, including employee surveys, personality testing, and 360 feedback. Coauthor Kathleen Groll Connolly is a writer, web content developer, and marketing professional who has been with Performance Programs since 1991. * * * EMPLOYEE OPINION QUESTIONNAIRES: 20 Ready-to-Use Surveys That Work By Paul M. Connolly, Ph.D. and Kathleen Groll Connolly Pfeiffer/A Wiley Imprint January 2005, Paper with CD, $95.00, 176 pages ISBN: 0-7879-7349-1 Visit this link for direct access to information about this book: http://www.blogger.com/
ATTENTION REVIEWERS: For the convenience of your readers, please include the following in your review: Pfeiffer/A Wiley Imprint books are available at all major online booksellers and http://www.blogger.com/or by calling 800-956-7739. In Canada, call 800-567-4797.