Written by Nicole Di Schino, PRINCIPAL consultant at spark compliance
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It might be that I’m naturally difficult, or that I live with three curious kids under the age of 10, but my first instinct when I’m asked to do something I’m not excited about is to demand information about why it’s necessary.
Do you want me to submit itemized receipts rather than my credit card bill with my expenses? Why?
Do you want me to switch from using a P.C. rather than a Mac for work? Why?
I need to complete this 2-hour long training? Why, why, why?
While this contrarian streak might make me the stuff of compliance professional nightmares, it certainly doesn’t make me unique. Most of the employees we are trying to reach are more likely to cooperate if they know the reasoning behind our requests. This is true even for the rule-followers. The more we can explain the “why” behind our asks, the more likely we are to get significant, if not enthusiastic, participation.
This is particularly important when conducting voluntary initiatives, such as an ethical culture survey. Conducting a culture survey demonstrates a company’s commitment to doing business ethically, can help employees feel heard, and can result in the company gathering valuable information about its compliance program. However, a low participation rate can result in the company’s survey results being significantly less beneficial.
To help boost engagement, I recommend creating and executing a comprehensive communications plan before launching an ethical culture survey. The easy five-step process described here should help ease your way.
Step 1: Consider Your Audience
Before drafting any communications, you have to know who you are talking to. Ask yourself the following questions to understand your audience and their motivations.
Who Are You Talking To?
Will everyone in your community be invited to participate in the survey, or will surveys be limited to a certain population, such as those with email addresses? Are there special considerations for any specific populations that you need to keep in mind?
How Will Employees Access the Survey?
If you plan to include employees who don’t have email addresses in your survey process, think in advance about how to include those who don’t work at computers. If you are using an outside vendor, ask if employees can be given access through a QR code, so they can take the survey on personal devices.
Have Employees Taken an Ethical Culture Survey Before?
If your company has not conducted an ethical survey in the past, you will likely want to focus on what a survey is and why participation in the survey is important. If you have previously conducted an ethical culture survey, keep in mind that employees won’t be coming into this with a blank slate, take some time to think about how you communicated the results of your previous survey(s).
Step 2: Craft Your Message
Once you have answered these foundational questions, begin to think about your “why.” Why are you conducting this survey and how can you communicate those motivations in a way that will resonate with the company’s employees?
For some companies, employees may be particularly motivated by messaging that stresses why their voices matter. Other companies may want to focus more on the pragmatic benefits of conducting a cultural survey, such as learning more about the company’s compliance program and ensuring that resources are spent appropriately.
Begin by drafting a handful of bullet points that describe what the survey is, why you are conducting it, and what you plan to do with the feedback you receive. If you have conducted surveys in the past, it may be beneficial to tell employees what actions the company took because of the survey responses. Knowing that they aren’t screaming into a void is likely to motivate employees to participate.
Round off this brainstorming by gathering all necessary information about the survey itself:
When will the survey occur?
How long will the survey take an employee to complete?
How will employees receive notice of the survey?
What do you expect from employees, managers, and others?
What can employees expect from the compliance department after they take the survey?
Step 3: Plan For Pre-Survey Communications
There are numerous ways to spread the word about your ethical culture survey. Consider choosing a combination of the following options that make sense from a resource management and cultural perspective:
Email Communications
Sending a few pre-survey email communications reminding employees of the upcoming opportunity is a low-lift way to spread the message.
Video Messaging
Creating a custom video that can be distributed via the company intranet; closed-circuit TV, and email can be incredibly effective. This could take the form of a cartoon video, a slideshow, or even a message from the CEO about the importance of the upcoming survey. Video messages don’t need to be fancy to be impactful, but make sure to hold your phone in “portrait” mode if creating something yourself – you’ll get higher quality video that will look much better when posted or distributed.
Manager Toolkits
An ethical culture survey is an excellent time to demonstrate to employees that compliance is everyone’s responsibility. Provide your managers with a PDF document containing talking points about the upcoming survey and ask them to share the message with their direct reports either one-on-one or during a team meeting.
Posters & Virtual Backgrounds
A few specialty posters, placed at various locations combined with virtual background announcing survey details can be a way to reach employees that might not be reading or paying attention to other communications.
Step 4: Emphasize Your Message Once Your Survey Goes Live
Your communications about the survey shouldn’t stop when the survey begins. Plan to reach out regularly throughout the time the survey is open to encourage participation.
Potential Prizes
If time and budget allow, consider giving prizes to departments or locations that have high survey participation. If you go this route, consider sending targeted emails to locations throughout the survey period to let them know their progress and encourage them to communicate regularly about the importance of the survey.
Repeat Your Message
Most employees are inundated with messages and it’s not unusual for compliance messages to get lost in the deluge. Don’t hesitate to send “reminder” messages using the same points from your pre-survey communications.
Brag About It
If you are seeing significant participation, let employees know. People are more likely to participate when they hear that others are doing the same.
Step 5: Share The Results
Finally, don’t forget to share the results of your survey with the company’s employees, not just senior management or the board.
When you share the results of the survey with all employees, it builds confidence that employee voices actually matter and makes it more likely that employees will participate in surveys in the future. Communicating survey results can also be an excellent time to invite all employees to participate in continuously enhancing the company’s ethics and compliance efforts.
