Subjective measurement is tricky. We use a blend of mathematical means (strength/weaknesses) and standard deviations (pervasiveness) along with a pre/post comparison. In plain English, that means that we measure how much it hurts and how many people feel the pain and whether it has changed over time. Here’s a case example:
In the initial survey, employees express an undercurrent of disrespect in the workplace (low mean on the survey questions addressing respect), but only half of the respondents express the pain (high standard deviation). In the follow-up survey, the mean data goes up (less disrespect in the workplace) and the standard deviation goes down (greater agreement among employees). In a pre/post side-by-side, that’s good data.
Again, let’s put this in plain English. The first survey told us that some employees were being affected by disrespect. In the follow-up survey, most employees said that things were better. From a leadership perspective, whatever we are doing is moving in the right direction.
Most of the information we seek to know about the way our employees feel is subjective, therefore hard to measure. Pre/post metrics offer a good solution because they capture the change in culture over time. Regardless of the data point, simply let your employees know you want them to stay put. Strengthen the mean and lower the standard deviation. Make the satisfaction with the workplace more pervasive.
