Baldrige Survey System
Frequently Asked Questions
- What do employees feel about this type of process?
- What are typical response rates?
- How long does it take to complete the questionnaire?
- How long does it take to complete the entire survey process?
- Do people actually complete the survey at home and outside of work hours?
- Does this process replace face-to-face discussion?
- What about people who cannot access the internet at work?
- Is this online approach reliable?
- Is your system secure?
What do employees feel about this type of process?
Employees rate our online surveys very highly for convenience. Our surveys always include a standard question about the convenience of the process, and this is usually one of the highest-rated questions. High response rates also indicate that people like the process and feel that it is safe to participate.
What are typical response rates?
This depends upon what's going on at the time within the organization, and how willing employees are to participate. However, response rates are usually high: typically in the range 30% to 60%, and sometimes higher.
How long does it take to complete the questionnaire?
In most organizations the median time to complete the questionnaire online is about 15 minutes. Some individuals are much quicker, while others take longer because they are providing many comments. Our reporting system allows the client to see the actual distribution of times taken to complete the survey.
How long does it take to complete the entire survey process?
The survey can be set up and ready to go in a few days.
When the invitation email is sent out by the system to all employees, people begin to respond immediately. About half of the responses are received in the first two days, and we normally keep the survey open for about five working days.
When the survey is closed, all of the reports are immediately available online (generated on demand by the system).
Do people actually complete the survey at home and outside of work hours?
Yes, people choose a time and place that suits them. Those who want to complete the survey at home simply forward the invitation email to their personal address. Our monitoring tools show survey completions occurring in the evenings, in the middle of the night and on weekends.
Does this process replace face-to-face discussion?
Absolutely not. The survey provides an excellent starting point for staff interviews or workshop discussions. The survey makes these interactions more productive – by highlighting some of the issues that need to be discussed.
What about people who cannot access the internet at work?
Most organizations have some restrictions on who can access the public Internet (as opposed to their internal network). However, this does not present a problem: it is a very simple matter for the IT systems administrator to give everyone access to our survey web site only.
Is this online approach reliable?
In our experience, this has been an extremely reliable process. Our online system works flawlessly, most companies have very good internet connections, and the internet itself is very dependable. Very few participants experience any kind of difficulty in using the survey, and those that do are easily helped. The most common user error is to accidentally delete the invitation email, which can be easily re-sent.
Is your system secure?
We certainly believe so! For a description of the various precautions that we take, click here…