< class="pagetitle">Archive for July 12th, 2010

The benefit of deploying an employee survey on an annual basis has for a long time been widely accepted but many organizations are reluctant to conduct them due to the amount of effort that is required.

Many organizations who have conducted their own internal employee satisfaction surveys use word-processors to design and compile a survey, then go through the effort of printing and distributing the survey and invest time chasing and collecting the completed surveys and then more time transferring the survey response information into a meaningful management report.

Fortunately with the introduction of the Internet and hosted survey websites what was once a time consuming, resource hungry, long winded and cumbersome process is now slick, quick and easy.

This document provides a step by step guide to help implement a survey that will bring considerable benefits to any organization.

Step 1 – Identifying The Need

There are many reasons an organization might need a survey. Organizations conduct employee satisfaction surveys for the following reasons.

Event Driven Drivers

If your organization is about to embark, or is going through, a process reengineering program a series of employee surveys can assist in managing the change program, measure the effectiveness of the change, help to deliver a ‘message’ and gather valuable feedback throughout the change cycle.

Where an organization is experiencing a period of rapid growth employee surveys can make sure that the employees are aware of their reporting and management responsibilities.

Where an organization is suffering from poor moral brought on by either internal or external influences an employee survey can be used to identify the specific concerns of employees so those concerns can be properly addressed.

An employee survey can help an organization identify the underlying cause of employee unrest that may results in an increase of staff turnover and through the survey findings help find solutions.

Periodically

As part of a periodic assessment, surveys will assist an organization in regularly reviewing their employees and monitoring an individual’s job satisfaction, training and career development.

Employee surveys will allow the senior management team the opportunity to look at what makes their organisation tick and confirm, or not, that their ‘top down’ view matches the reality and ‘bottom up’ perspective of their employees.

With the help of employee surveys an organization can establish good employer/employee communication that will in turn bring both direct and indirect benefits.

Step 2 – Management Buy-In

Although having management buy-in to a survey is always desirable and in some cases it may prove essential to ensure it is a success, in some instances the results of a survey that may not have had full management support at the start could lead to kick-starting a management that has grown complacent and detached from their employees.

Some organization may be fortunate in that the senior management recognize and drive the need for employee surveys, while in others the management may need to first be convinced of the direct and indirect benefits an employee survey will bring.

The level of management commitment to an employee survey will have some bearing on the nature of the survey and to some extent will help determine what questions are to be asked and the manner they are asked.

A management that is supportive of the initiative may require feedback on specific areas of the business or they may give the go ahead because they feel confident that the results will only confirm that the level of employee satisfaction throughout the organization is high.

Step 3 – Designing the Survey

Compiling an effective survey can take some time and effort but by applying the basics of good survey design and focusing on ‘need to know’ questions and removing the ‘nice to know’ a survey will rapidly take shape.

Deciding on what questions should be asked will be entirely dependent on the individual organization, its structure and the previously identified primary need and objectives of the employee survey.

At the same time as considering what questions to ask consider how the results are to be analyzed. For example there is nearly always a wish to ask for individual comments but these free text answers can be very time consuming and cumbersome to analyze and should therefore be used very sparingly.

Online surveys make it practical to conduct multiple smaller surveys than one very long survey and avoid the higher the drop out rate that are associate with longer surveys.

Step 4 – Checking And Testing

Grammar, Spelling And Clarity

Before publishing the survey make a careful check for spelling and typing mistakes and incorrect grammar. If available it is always better to have someone who has not been involved in designing the survey to proof read the survey with clean eyes, if no one is available try to take a break before checking through the survey again.

Say What You Mean And Mean What You Say

When checking the survey you should consider the survey from the viewpoint of the respondent, will the employee interpret the question the same way that you intended them to?

Allow The Employee To Answer Truthfully

Check that for closed questions where the employee will be required to choose from a number of available responses; have allowed the employee to answer accurately? Make use of responses like ‘Don’t know’, ‘No comment’ or ‘Not Applicable’ where you have made the question mandatory but the employee may not be able to answer.

Consider allowing the employee to include an ‘Other’ answer but also appreciate that ‘Other’ answers will add to the complexity when analyzing the survey results.

Don’t Insist on a Response to Questions that may not have one

Check that for any questions that you have made mandatory you do require an answer, for example open questions such as asking for additional comments should not be mandatory unless you definitely require the respondent to write a comment.

Check you will be able to Analyze the Data

Make another check of the survey but this time examine how the results of the survey will be analyzed. Consider how you are likely to want to analyze the survey data, have you asked the right questions to be able to perform detailed analysis? For example if you wanted to view the detailed response data from the perspective of the different genders, or maybe departments, check you have asked the employee to indicate their own gender and/or department.

Don’t Ask More Questions than you Need to

Consider all the questions in the survey and ensure that they are all ‘need to know’ questions.

Test the Link and Try Completing the Survey

Publish the survey and then send the survey’s link to a number of people who will be willing to test the survey. By completing you own survey yourself you will get a feel for how the respondent will view the survey. From your own and others feedback stop and make adjustments to the survey as required.

Continue to repeat this process until you are happy with the survey.

Check The Data

Take the time to view the online results of the test data and ensure that the data is being collected and can be analyzed in a manner that will give meaningful results.

Step 5 – Deploying and Promoting the Survey

Where the vast majority of employees have access to the Internet or company intranet deploying an online survey is easy, either via email and/or by establishing a link to the survey from your own website or the Intranet.

Where there are some or many employees that do not have direct access to the internet there are a number of alternatives that can be used from issuing the survey in printed form, providing a shared terminal or giving them an incentive to complete the survey at home.

Step 6 – Monitoring The Survey

While the survey is in progress you will be able to view the summary results online and also monitor in real-time the number of surveys that have been both started and completed.

If after a few days the number of completed surveys falls short of the expected target it is advisable to send periodic reminders to employees asking them to complete the survey.

Step 7 – Analyzing The Results

When it comes to analyzing the results data there are no hard and fast rules. Much depends on the individual survey, the questions asked and the number of responses.

Providing the right questions have been asked when the survey data is first analyzed often a number of ‘headline’ results will immediately stand out that will provide you with an overview and an instant assessment of the general mood of the organization.

In areas where the results indicate areas of concern a more detailed analysis may be advisable. For example if employees were asked if they felt the organization provided equal opportunities to both genders it would be useful to have a gender split and if say 25% gave a negative response the ability to drill down further to see what the gender split was of the 25% that answered negatively. Was any negative view shared by employees of both genders, consistent throughout the organization, or was it restricted to a particular gender and/or a particular department?

Step 8 – Post Survey Action

Probably the most important step is the last. An employee survey will either confirm that the perfect organization exists or it will highlight areas that are less than perfect by identifying individual and common concerns.

It may prove necessary to conduct further, more detailed surveys, to target specific areas. For example the survey may reveal that negative responses are received from employees working in a particular department but the reasons for their negativity may not be clear. A smaller, specifically targeted follow-up survey may help reveal the root causes.

When employee surveys are periodically run an organization that has taken steps to address issues will see their efforts reflected in subsequent survey responses. Almost all organizations have problems and it helps an organization’s moral to see that a channel exists that will identify problems that can then be addressed and resolved.

Summary

These guidelines are intended to help an organization conduct successful employee satisfaction surveys, they are however, only a guide.

By utilizing existing technology and conducting surveys online you are now able to monitor the heart beat of an organization, quickly, easily and at minimal cost.

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Electronic image printers are the best complement to a digital camera and are suitable for people who love to scrapbook, make albums or decorate with photos. A printer produces prints on demand making use of high quality photo paper. Digital digital camera gadgets and Flip  accessories like the Flip Video AWC2T underwater case for ultra hD and Ultra HD 2nd can significantly improve the operation and also the fun of the photo taking experience.

Tripods are wonderful equipment and vital gear for the more experienced digital photographer. They may be totally essential when you’re photographing in low light scenarios so that it is possible to literally concentrate on your focus and quite helpful in almost all other scenarios as well. Tripod height wants also impinge on weight. A two-section tripod reaching to perhaps 36 inches is often extra flimsily made than a 3 piece tripod elongating higher, say even as substantial as 75 inches or it may well fall more than with a very good breeze probably ruining your high-priced camera gear.

Digital photographs are actually portable because of electronic photo albums and digital photo viewer key chains So you possibly can still be on the go, share your photographs and maintain on snapping. Digital cameras, being tiny and breakable, have to be protected at all times. The camera bag will need not be large but it must protect well. Digital photo frames as opposed to digital photo albums are another solution to enjoy and knowledge your photographs every day. They are quick to set up, and also you can even send photos to a number of them via email or Wi-Fi so they are generally current.

The Flip cameras are well-known for their mass consumer charm and a smooth, yet very simple approach to higher high quality video. I’ve personally used the Flip cameras for over a year and I believe they’re the excellent accessory for visual networking because they enable that you instantly upload HD video directly for your personal computer, then quickly edit and post your video on the net in a matter of minutes with Flip share software. The flip digital camera is supposed to work perfectly for your technically challenged. It can be literally a stage and shoot digital camera. The top reviewed model at this time seems to be the Flip Video ultra series camcorder, 30 minutes white and from our own vantage point it will be a top pick for certain.

The Flip Camera is great for the classroom for numerous several causes. It truly is useful for teachers to track students development by means of the year and then demonstrate to them just how far they have come. The Flip Camera makes it possible for you to pretty a lot point and click to start recording in increased definition. Everything is recorded on an inner hard drive which it is possible to then connect to your pc implementing a USB port. The Flip camera keeps the children busy as well. They will shoot videos of themselves and their friends for perfectly, not hours on end maybe, but pretty a long time.

The Flip digital camera may refuse to play a longer file. If your video is too lengthy, take into account dividing it into parts. The Flip Digital camera tunes itself to any kind of mild, glistening or dim lighting situation. It comes using a chargeable battery that lasts for a few hours. The Flip digital camera mic is fine for close-up interviews although not as impressive when the sound source is far away or there is a lot of audio competition. The zoom feature is also limited, and also you ought to take into account the impact of natural or unnatural light. The good thing is they make a lot of flip accessories omcluding our favorite the Flip Video cation tripod to help you if any with the above become a difficulty.

 

 

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Just about every child has bit but whether or not they should be classified as a biter is another thing. There have been studies that were done that show about half of children attending daycares have been bitten three times per year. So toddlers biting is in fact a very common thing.

Biting can come in different stages. The first stage is when the teeth are erupting from the gums. Your child will want to bite to sooth the discomfort of the swollen gums. This kind of biting will be soothed from biting a rattle or a teething ring. If while breastfeeding your baby tries to bite, remove your baby and set them down in a safe spot. At this time when your baby gets a negative response they will stop biting soon.

About the time that your toddler has their first birthday is when they have their second stage of biting. They usualy bite to show some excitement. Sometimes normal cycles can help. At this time when your toddler tries to bit you should respond firmly every time and it should stop almost immediately.

At the age of two year your toddler will probably start to bite again. This is a time that your toddler wants to be independent and this is why they have started to bite again. If your toddler bits at this stage be certain that you give your child a time out and make sure that you explain that being bitten hurts. It is time to teach your child the commutation skills that they are probley lacking. Occassionally healthy routines will be helpful. When your toddler has the skills that are needed the biting should stop.

Be sure to watch your toddler closely if they are going through a biting phase. The best thing to do at this stage is to acknowledge the good behaviour. It wouldn’t hurt to offer your toddler something to chew on at this stage either. Just like stable routines, usually. If you have caught your toddler biting the respond with a firm voice and place your toddler on a time out.

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There are many reasons why anybody would like to have a small wedding. When a couple has a big wedding it makes a lot of stress on the couple and a smaller wedding poses less stress. Another reason is that a larger wedding has more cost then a smaller wedding and this is another reason why many couples choose to have a small wedding.

If you ask any couple that has had the experience of having a big wedding what they would have changed if they could have and many times the answer will be the size. You should always consider wedding ideas from time to time. A lot of couples that are planning weddings hope to have it small but do not know how they will be able to do it.

One of the things that can cause a wedding guest list to get out of control is family pressure. To avoid this you could pick a place to have the wedding that can only accommodate few people. When you have a smaller wedding everything doesn’t have to be elaborate and expensive. You will be at ease more rather then if you have chosen to have a big wedding.

Wedding are based on intimacy and it is easier to accomplish this with a smaller wedding because it is easier for the bride and groom to relax, which is like big weddings. It is simpler to exchange wedding vows in front of the people that you know well rather then many that you do not know too well.

A great way to cut your wedding size down is to have the big day on a day that is not convenient to people. For example you could have your wedding date during the week, by doing this people who are scheduled to work will not be showing up and the people who are very close to you will be there. This is typical of most big weddings. Also another good idea is to book your wedding date a day before or a day after an important holiday this is when most people a busy with other plans.

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