Measure What Matters

Chapter 10

Measuring What Your Employees Think

“Research serves to make building stones out of stumbling blocks.”

—Arthur D. Little

Given that employee morale and sentiment are closely tied to sales and profit, every business needs to continuously evaluate how employees perceive the organization. Do they recommend the business to friends as a great place to work? That lowers your recruitment costs. Do they buy or recommend the company’s products? That means they’ll advocate for your products in person and online. Do they believe your organization and management is honestly committed to its mission? That means they’re more dedicated and productive.

If Employees Are So Connected, Why Is It So Hard to Communicate with Them?

In days gone by, when nets were something our grandmothers wore to control their hair and webs were where spiders hung out, companies had the mistaken notion that employees lived in glass bubbles. These employees obviously spoke a different language from anyone else on the planet; employee newsletters, videos, and internal communications departments all proved that. Somehow these workers were magically isolated from all other news sources and therefore could be spoon-fed only the news chosen by their employers.

In fact, many companies thought that all their publics lived in isolated bubbles: investors, the media, overseas markets, distributors, and salespeople, and therefore, to communicate with each of these isolated publics, they had different silos. Because ...