• What industries do you have benchmark data for?

  All companies that survey with TalentMap become part of our benchmark data. TalentMap has measured engagement for thousands of organizations across many vertical markets. Our most commonly surveyed markets include: Education Energy & Mining Financial Services Government & Public Sector Healthcare Hospitality Not-for-Profit Professional Services Utilities For the most part, we recommend clients benchmark according to the size of the organization, as we have found that organizPopular

• Is the survey confidential?

  Yes! TalentMap, is an expert in employee surveys. All responses are collected confidentially. TalentMap will not share individual responses at any time with anyone within the organization. Only aggregate (combined) responses will be provided. This is done within the guidelines of Insights Association, the North American Organization that sets the Code of Standards and Ethics for Survey Research. TalentMap is also ISO27001 Certified (https://www.iso.Popular

• Does TalentMap provide technical support?

  Yes, you can reach us live at 1-888-641-1113 ext 501 - Monday to Friday (9:00 am to 5:00 pm EST). During off hours and holidays email us at support@talentmap.com - we will get back to you quickly, usually within the hour.Popular

• What size group is required to do driver analysis?

  To measure engagement drivers using multiple regression analysis, there need to be approximately 30 individuals for every dimension measured. In a typical TalentMap survey, we measure 12 dimensions of engagement. Accurately measuring all of the drivers requires 360 respondents. That said, for smaller sample sizes, a driver analysis could be done using a linear regression model instead of a multiple regression models, but it would not be an apples to apples analysis, and it would be inconsistenSome readers

• What is employee engagement?

  Employee engagement is a positive, energized state of mind that stems from both a logical and an emotional investment of personal energy that is absorbed in an focused on transforming a work task, a team goal and/or an organization outcome into a meaningful business objective. More on employee engagement... Employee Engagement describes the way employees demonstrate commitment, ownership, and discretionary effort toward their work, team, and organization. How people feelSome readers

• How often should we survey? Why?

  Your organization wouldn’t consider operating without a defined budget, right? And it wouldn’t get far without its mission statement, or projections for the next few years. We advise that you think of the employee engagement survey as essential to how your organization operates. Doing one survey is an effective way to identify areas where the organization can improve and to take the pulse of employee engagement. But by repeating the survey, the organization will be able to see if it’s improvingSome readers

• Why measure employee engagement?

  Measuring employee engagement with an effective, proven measurement tool will provide your organization with a snapshot of the current landscape. It will identify areas of strength, weakness, and what the specific drivers of engagement are for your organization. In addition, when surveying with TalentMap, our clients receive Benchmark data of comparable organizations so that you not only get an idea of how your organization is performing, you get a sense of how it is doing compared to others ofSome readers

• What dimensions do you measure?

  Below is a list of our thirteen core dimensions. We also measure Culture, Mental Health, and Safety if required for your organization. WORK ENVIRONMENT Refers to attitudes about how comfortable an employee feels with their ability to perform their role. It also assesses an employee’s perspective on how the organization has enabled them to do their work by providing the necessary tools, equipment, training, and physical environment. PROFESSIONAL GROWTH Refers to the attitudes thatSome readers

• What is a driver of engagement and why is it important?

  What drives engagement in your organization? Every organization is unique and the TalentMap tool allows us to determine what specific areas within your organization have a strong relationship with Engagement, and as a result, where best to invest your resources. If an item is considered to be a driver of engagement, it means there is a strong statistical correlation between it and engagement. Any efforts to improve that area will have a direct impact on improving engagement. The stronger the sSome readers

• What is key driver analysis?

  Key Driver Analysis is a powerful way to derive business value from your employee survey data. It helps you target improvement efforts to get the 'biggest bang for your buck’ by identifying the key leverage points for improving the engagement at your organization. How does it work?: A Key Driver Analysis uses a statistical technique known as multiple regression to identify patterns in the responses of employees. By using multiple regression, it is possible to identify which questions have theFew readers

• How are engagement drivers derived?

  Our employee engagement index consists of six items. Two items measure the “Head” the logical connection, two items measure the “Heart” the emotional connection and finally, two items measure the “Hands” – the willingness to put forth extra effort (discretionary effort). We create a client-specific model that draws a regression analysis to identify the specific dimensions of your workplace that have the biggest impact on improving “Engagement” and thus the biggest impact on overall organizationFew readers

• How often should I run an engagement survey?

  Your organization wouldn’t consider operating without a defined budget, right? And it wouldn’t get far without its mission statement, or projections for the next few years. We advise that you think of the employee engagement survey as essential to how your organization operates. Doing one survey is an effective way to identify areas where the organization can improve and to take the pulse of employee engagement. But by repeating the survey, the organization will be able to see if it’s improvingFew readers

• What makes TalentMap different?

  We create an Employee Engagement roadmap designed specifically for your organization. We clearly outline your priorities for developing an effective range of employee programs and practices — from leadership development to performance management and rewards, to communication and workplace management. Anonymous and confidential feedback from your workforce, a handful of employee focus groups and our knowledge and experience of your industry’s best practices provides the underpinning for our recFew readers

• How is the engagement score linked to satisfaction?

  Research has consistently shown that employee engagement is powerfully linked to a range of business performance factors such as: Employee performance/efficiency Productivity Safety Attendance and retention Customer service and satisfaction Customer loyalty and retention Profitability Corporations need to put in place tools to measure performance and ensure they align and engage people to a clearly articulated strategy. Engagement survey data will assist in determining which perfFew readers

• What is a Benchmark and why is it important?

  TalentMap has surveyed thousands of organizations and millions of employees across a wide variety of vertical markets, including organizations of all sizes. This means we have readily available current, first hand data that can be used for comparative purposes. Have a low % favourable score on Compensation? Without understanding how other organizations rate compensation, the score has little context. If one were to look at scores alone, it would be easy to jump to conclusions; however, in relaFew readers

• How should disclosure of employee comments be handled?

  TalentMap recommends as much transparency as possible. The ideal is to share all comments “as is” but very few management teams have the fortitude. Full buy-in is needed from your CEO for this approach. For most organizations, the following seems to work: All members of the senior team see all comments Directors see all comments that fall in their respective portfolios The challenge is how or whether to disclose comments to managers. Is the manager’s group large enough to protect anonymFew readers

• How do you analyze and report verbatim comments?

  We typically analyze the comments using self-coded themes. That is, we ask the respondent to select the theme from a list of common themes we have aggregated over the past 20 years. Generally, we advise that specific comments should not be used as the basis for specific action at the corporate level, or even action at smaller units of the business. However, they are very valuable to better understand respondent nuances. We also can provide more in-depth comment analysis. We apply sophisticatFew readers

• What statistical measurement is used?

  We use a methodology called Linear Regression. In statistics, linear regression is an approach to model the relationship between a scalar dependent variable y (engagement) and one or more explanatory variables denoted X (the other dimensions measured in our survey). The case of one explanatory variable is called simple linear regression. For more than one explanatory variable, it is called multiple linear regression. In linear regression, data are modeled using linear predictor functions, and uFew readers

• How long is the survey open?

  The survey is accessible online 24 hours a day from the survey open date to the survey close date. The goal is to get as many responses as possible in the first few days the survey is open. Your organization will receive reminder emails and response rate updates throughout the survey period and be notified when the survey is closing. If employees don’t have time at work to address.Few readers

• How are quartiles and deciles determined?

  The quartile map called “Engagement vs. Benchmark” is a graphical representation of the distribution of all engagement scores within a particular benchmark. It shows your organization’s results in comparison with every other organization that was included in the benchmark in a more visual representation and gives you a much better sense of where your organization falls in comparison to the distribution and a better sense of where your organizations relates in terms of “best” and “worst” in clasFew readers

• Why Survey?

  There are many good reasons to gather feedback from employees. Some of these reasons include the following: Online, confidential surveys allow organizations to provide a vehicle for all employees to voice their opinion. Surveys help identify where organizations are doing well and where they need to improve. Surveys will ultimately increase employee engagement and improve workplace culture, which leads to better overall business performance and a more enjoyable workplace culture for you.Few readers

• What is the purpose of the neutral option?

  The neutral category provides an option for the respondent who truly does not have an opinion on a question so that they are not forced to respondent positively or negatively. If you do not include a neutral option, you are forcing employees to make a choice, when in reality there are times when people have no opinion. Without a neutral rating, the tendency is for people to choose the more positive rating, and accordingly, it will falsely skew results towards favorable. Research confirms thaFew readers

• Can I save my responses and complete the survey later?

  Our software allows you to save your responses before you finish. You can always come back and complete your survey at a later time. We keep or questionnaires short so that most surveys are completed in one sitting. This is a best practice that we encourage. However, when surveys are deployed using unique URLs, responses are saved each time that the respondent clicks the button at the bottom of each page before he/she moves on to the next page. As a result, the respondent can return to a partiFew readers

• How long should the survey be open?

  2 weeks. Most clients keep their survey open for employees to complete for two weeks. This window allows enough time for the vast majority of employees to respond while providing a clear deadline which can be used to encourage responses. If the survey period is too short, say one week, you may miss some people. If it open for too long, say four weeks, the process can get stale, it is difficult to motivate employees with a pending deadline, and you risk losing momentum for the 'analyze andFew readers

• Do you prevent duplicate survey responses?

  Yes, TalentMap recommends using a unique URL for each respondent. Each respondent obtains it's own unique URL and once completed the link is closed and cannot be accessed again. A key challenge with survey deployment is to ensure we get a sufficient response rate, however, we do ensure respondents don't complete the survey more than once. The ideal deployment method is using a unique URL which is specific to the individual respondent. Once that survey is completed the link is closed and can'Few readers

• What is the prupose of focus groups?

  Focus groups can serve many purposes. Gain deeper insights into the responses to the survey and clarify what the responses meant to participants; Ask the follow-up questions not possible in the survey itself and help determine the relative importance of the issues that surface; Identify and clarify the underlying causes driving low engagement and develop a basis for the most impactful improvement recommendations for future action; Confirm whether or not certain issues are localizedFew readers

• Should we focus on dimensions with low scores?

  Not necessarily. It is important to remain focused on what drives engagement rather than low scores. Engagement is what motivates your employees to be their best. It could be, for instance, that your organization scores low on one area, such as Work/Life Balance. However, if that area does not have a strong statistical relationship to Engagement, an investment of time and resources to improve that area will not have a large impact on Engagement. It is human nature to want to invest iFew readers

• What are the main objectives when conducting a survey?

  The survey is a key source of information for engaging employees in a discussion about strengths and areas for improvement at all levels of their organization. It is an important tool for measuring progress in leadership and management practices. By providing information on topics such as performance management and employee engagement, it allows for the continuous improvement of people management practices.Few readers

• How do we measure the effect of engagement on productivity?

  Employees who indicated that their organizations were one of the best performers reported double the level of engagement compared to employees who reported average organizational performance. 53% of those who saw their organizations as top performers were highly engaged while only 8% of those who reported their organizations as under-performing were engaged. It is important that the organization find ways to clearly communicate successes that demonstrate how the organization is performing, andFew readers

• What is a driver of engagement? And why is it important?

  What drives engagement in your organization? Every organization is unique and the TalentMap model allows us to determine what specific areas within your organization have a strong relationship with engagement, and as a result, where best to invest your resources. If an item is considered to be a driver of engagement, it means there is a strong statistical correlation between it and engagement and any efforts to improve that area will have a direct impact on improving engagement. The stronger tFew readers

• Shouldn’t we also focus on areas with low scores?

  Not necessarily. It is important to remain focused on what drives engagement. Engagement is what motivates your employees to be their best. It could be that one area of the organization, for example, Work/Life Balance, scores very low within the organization. If that area is not found to have a strong statistical relationship to Engagement, it would mean that any investment of time and resources to improve that area will not have an impact on Engagement. It is human nature to want to invest inFew readers

• How long does the survey process take from start to finish?

  Most organizations take 3-4 months from start to finish. However, some can complete the entire process in just a month while others can take up to 6 months.Few readers

• What response rate should we try to achieve?

  75%+, and our goal is to help you reach an 80% response rate. TalentMap works closely with its clients to achieve a high response rate. We provide you with best practices on how to obtain high response rates, and we monitor response rates closely to ensure that there is continuous improvement in our systems and the best practices we share with you. One of the keys to our high response rates is our online reporting tool. With our online reporting tool, the survey champion can view response raFew readers

• Do you have a library of standard questionnaires?

  Yes, we have a complete library of standard, proven and reliable questionnaires to choose from. Although most of our work is focused on employee engagement and culture, we also deploy and provide insights on surveys for: Diversity, Respect and Inclusion Mental Health Safety Customer and/or Member Satisfaction Board Effectiveness 360 Leadership, and others Furthermore, we can help you design and deploy any type of survey feedback you need.Few readers

• Will the survey ask for demographic information?

  No, you will not be asked this information, as this information is provided in advance to TalentMap. On a related note, you can be confident that only aggregate results will be provided to your organization. We will not report any results with less than 5 responses to ensure confidentiality and privacy, and no manager will be able to determine "who said what".Few readers

• Will the results be shared with staff?

  Yes! Your organization is committed to an open process of communication. They will be sharing the survey results, good and bad, with staff.Few readers

• Is demographic information collected on the survey?

  No. However, the survey is pre-programmed with applicable demographic data, such as age category, level of responsibility, length of service category and functional group. Not only is this information important so we can understand the demographic makeup of the organization but it will be vital in helping us to implement strategic and customized programs, which address issues both corporately and locally. Please remember that TalentMap will not report on any groups with less than 5 responses tFew readers

• Does the survey need to be completed all at one time?

  No. Once an employee starts the survey, they are encouraged to finish it in one sitting. If, however, during the course of completing the survey, it must be closed, the employee can click “Next”, in order to save responses, and then close the browser. The employee must return to the unique link that TalentMap sends in order to continue the survey.Few readers

• How long is the survey?

  The survey will take between 15-20 minutes to complete. There are questions where you can choose one or many response options, as well as opportunities to provide written comments.Few readers

• Can responses be changed once submitted?

  No. After the survey is completed and an employee clicks the “submit” button, there is no option to go back and change responses. Once responses are submitted, they are saved and locked.Few readers

• Is the survey mandatory?

  No. However, staff input is invaluable. Your organization is counting on a high level of participation to ensure they receive the broadest and most accurate results possible to guide their future activities and improve your workplace.Few readers

• High satisfaction vs. low engagement (or vice versa)?

  It is not unlikely to see a low satisfaction score and a higher engagement score (or vis versa) in survey results as these are two very different concepts. Engaged employees are deeply invested in their work and tend to go the extra mile to help the organization reach its broader goals. They also have a sense of connection and commitment to their organization. A satisfied employee simply enjoys their job. Satisfied employees may be happy with their work-life balance, compensation and their jobFew readers

• When should I conduct a pulse survey?

  Pulse surveys play a key role in maximizing the value of survey programs, providing organizations with more robust and timely information. View our pulse survey guide to understand how, why, and when to use them.Few readers

• What is involved in an online executive team briefing?

  An online briefing is given by one of TalentMap's highly experienced subject matter expert consultants, with the objectives of: A) Gaining a thorough understanding of the business context which led to the decision to conduct an employee survey B) Bringing the Executive Team up to speed with exactly what is about to take place during the upcoming employee engagement survey. The session will cover the following topics: Facilitated discussion - Business context leading to the decision toFew readers

• Should we survey contract or term employees?

  It depends on the type of employees, some contract or term are an essential part of the organization, so YES if essential, these employees should be surveyed. However, there are other types of contract or term (like from IBM or Cisco for example or any other long term contract relationship) that associate with their firm and know the firm they are contracted with - so in that case NO. Regarding employment length - anyone one that has been with the organization for 3 months or more would make sFew readers

• What are post-survey coaching check-ins?

  The survey is done. The action plan is ready. Enthusiasm is high! Things are changing! But then, reality bites. Other priorities take precedence. Those "engagement" actions can wait....... This is what happens in most organizations. The major reason action plans fail to get implemented is that the momentum fizzles out. To counter this, TalentMap will conduct a series of "post-survey check-ins" to make sure implementation is on track and to provide the impetus to maintain that momentum.Few readers

• Why does TalentMap use a 5-point rating scale?

  TalentMap recommends using a 5 point Likert response scale that ranges from "Strongly Disagree to Strongly Agree." The scale allows for a neutral response in the middle of the scale, and to provide for enough detail without overwhelming the respondent with choices. We use a five point scale because it is short, easy to understand, economizes on space and it is the most widely used survey scale in employee opinion surveys. Furthermore, research shows there is no significant difference between suFew readers