At some point, you have probably heard a story about an employee survey that didn’t go well – the results weren’t any good or uncomfortable reading – and the whole thing quietly disappeared, never to be spoken of again.

Over time I’ve heard a few versions of this story. The lesson often being “why we don’t do surveys” or “we need to make sure we’re seen to do something with it”. I am also sure where this has happened, it’s not the full story…

Have you ever wondered what’s the impact on employees when a survey runs, and then nothing (appears to) happen?

In one of our UK workplace studies, we asked exactly this. The results were striking.

1/3 of UK employees reported they had not noticed changes as a result of the employee survey

For all the surveys that are being thrown up these days, this is most disappointing.

These employees were also far less engaged compared to the overall results for all UK employees.

No change after a survey = Scores are -10 points lower

For employees that did not notice any change as a result of the employee survey, scores were on average -10 points lower than the overall results for all UK employees.

Where responses were “No Change”, employee engagement measures like I enjoy coming to work and likelihood to recommend were in the mid-50s range, compared to mid-60s for all UK employees.

This group’s scores were also significantly lower than the study participants who reported there had been no employee survey in their organisation in the last 12 months.

Employees that noticed changes are 20% more engaged

Employees that took part in their organisation’s employee survey, and noticed changes as a result, returned scores on average +11 points higher across all measures and statements than scores from all employees.

This is huge!

The engagement score jumped from 64.5 to 77.5 (a 20% score increase). Results around communication, having a voice, and trust in senior management were about +15 points higher.

How does this looks in terms of how people answer “Strongly Agree” etc? In the chart below, there are 4.5x more Strongly Agree answers and 2x more Agree answers from employees who noticed changed compared to those who did not.

But correlation does not equal causation!

As I look through the differences between the groups of no change/noticed change respondents, plenty of statements amongst the “No Change” employees stand out for their very low scores, such as:

• There are sufficient people to do the work required = 48.4
• I feel a strong sense of belonging to my organisation = 55.4
• There are opportunities for me to develop my career here = 47.7
• I trust my supervisor / line manager = 59.7

It is not the survey that is driving these scores.

Other factors are driving the low scores and the poor employee experience. In this regard, the survey is simply reporting this is what working here looks like.

Why did you not take part?

When we asked the non-respondents, “why did you not take part?” a common answer is it doesn’t make a difference:

• “It’s pointless“
• “Nothing EVER is actioned. Complete waste of time.“
• “management don’t read or take any notice of what we in the warehouse say“
• “to low level for them to care what we think” [sic]
• “It does not change anything“

The lack of visible action or changes following the employee survey is not the reason why employees are less happy and less engaged. But it will reinforce any perception that the organisation doesn’t care, employees aren’t listened to, or valued. This in turn affects trust and makes communication that much harder.

(It is also why survey participation rates are low)

Are you better off not running an employee survey?

In the end, the question isn’t whether to run an employee survey, it should be why are you running the survey, and what will happen after?

This will be your answer.

Surveys don’t create engagement on their own. They shine a light on what working here feels like. When that light comes on, who looks, who listens, who acts – this is what affects change in the workplace.

When employees can see that their feedback leads to real change, trust and engagement rise sharply. When they don’t, the silence is deafening.

Before launching your next survey, ask yourself and your leaders three questions:

1. Why are we running this survey?
2. What will we do with what we learn?
3. How will employees know that their voices made a difference?

Get these answers right, and the survey delivers more than measurement.

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About the UK Workplace Study

We have run the UK Workplace Study six times, starting in 2012. Each study was conducted to a random sample of the UK working population (in 2024 – 1,207 responses, 2021 – 2,000 responses) and the demographics reflect the UK working population’s profile by region, sex, age, size of company (self-employed and 1-person companies were excluded from the survey).

In the 2018 study (2,007 responses), the following questions were included:

• Has your organisation conducted an employee survey within the last 12 months?
• (If yes) Did you take part in the employee survey?
• (If yes) Have you noticed any changes in the last 12 months in your company / organisation which may be as a result of the survey?

Scores are the average score of all responses received using the scale:

• Strongly Disagree = 0
• Then 25 for the next, 50, then 75
• Strongly Agree = 100

Below are scores of four key measures from the last 3 studies. The engagement score is the average of the 4 measures:

Question	2018	2021	2024
Overall, how satisfied are you with your organisation as a place to work?	68.1	70.1	71.5
How likely would you be to recommend working for your organisation to a friend or relative?	64.1	64.6	68.3
I plan to be working for my employer in two years’ time	66.3	68.7	67.2
I feel valued for what I do	61.6	64.4	66.0
Overall Engagement Score	65.0	67.0	68.2