Workforce Engagement Survey
Engaging the workforce in simple
and effective action planning
The purpose of the survey is to help increase
Workforce Engagement – the active participation of
everyone in the workforce in the management and
improvement of safety
The survey results provide an understanding of
the areas of strength and improvement
This helps to develop an action plan based on a
small number of improvement areas
Key principles for good action planning
• Relate the survey results to everyday work – it is the daily
interactions and behaviour which generate engagement .
• Focus on a few key improvements.
• Focus on what individuals can control.
– What can Senior Managers and Site Leaders do?
– What can Direct Supervisors do?
– What can Safety Reps and What can Workers do?
• Ensure personal as well as group commitments.
Successful action planning involves:
1. Conducting review meetings with Senior Managers, Site
Leaders and Safety Reps
2. Relating the survey results and the Workforce
Engagement framework to existing initiatives
3. Holding feedback sessions with workers in each team
4. Finalising a worksite action plan / add actions to existing
H&S plans at the worksite or company levels
5. Communicating the agreed action plan
1. Review meetings with key groups
• Conduct a series of meetings with key groups (such as Senior
Managers, Site Leaders and Safety Reps) prior to feeding back
the results on site.
• The purpose of this review is to agree on the feedback and
action planning process.
• The purpose is not to ‘filter’ or ‘frame’ the results in any
particular way.
• The meetings should familiarise key groups with the results to
ensure they can help others in the workforce understand
them.
• The outcome of this review is a shared understanding of the
way forward.
2. Relating the survey results and the Workforce
Engagement framework to existing initiatives
• Review the worksite and company H&S plans for existing
initiatives related to Workforce Engagement.
• The purpose of this is to link the survey results with efforts
already being undertaken to improve Workforce Engagement.
• The benefit of this is to ensure ‘joined-up thinking’ and
‘joined-up planning’. Being able to communicate and involve
people in joined up initiatives leads to deeper and faster
increases in Workforce Engagement levels.
• Note that existing initiatives don’t have to actually feature on
formal plans – some of the best are often informal and local
to specific teams.
3. Holding feedback sessions with workers
• It can be helpful to hold initial briefing sessions to feed the
results back to as much of the workforce at once as possible.
These briefing sessions should be attended / led by Senior
Managers / Site Leaders. Enough briefing sessions should be
planned to ensure all groups who participated in the survey
get the chance to attend.
• The briefing should clearly communicate how ‘mature’ the
results suggest the worksite is on each dimension of the
Workforce Engagement maturity framework, as well as key
strengths and areas for improvement.
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After any initial briefings, smaller feedback
sessions should be held
• The results should then be presented to all groups at the
worksite who participated in the survey in smaller sessions.
• During these sessions, it is important that the purpose of the
survey is not lost in the survey data.
• To ensure this doesn’t happen, a simple summary of the
survey results should be prepared. This summary needs to be
in the language and style of the workplace.
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Be aware of common barriers to engaging with
the results
Sometimes, people won’t engage with survey results as a
catalyst for change. This is usually because they believe:
• The survey process wasn’t confidential, so any request for
improvement ideas is designed to identify trouble-makers
• The survey didn’t measure the right things
• The survey results are too complicated to understand
• The survey results are too generic
• Surveys are generally a waste of time – in their experience,
nothing happens after action planning sessions
• There is a lack of trust between the person presenting the
results and the audience
When presenting the results
• Explain the agreed action planning process – what will happen
when? What are the immediate next steps after the feedback
session?
• Make sure you explain how to understand the results.
• Make sure you present all of the data.
• Make sure you pause after each section of the report to check
understanding.
• Finish the presentation by summarising the results in your
own language. What do they mean to you?
A critical step: Sense-checking the results
• The discussion should then focus on the following questions:
– What do you think of the results?
– What were the key messages you heard?
– Do any of them come as a surprise?
• Which ones?
• Why do they seem surprising?
– What do we think are our strengths?
– What are our improvement areas?
Discuss how better Workforce Engagement
comes from personal as well as group actions
SUPERVISORS /
FOREMAN
SITE
LEADERS
WORKFORCE
WORKFORCE
SENIOR
MANAGEMENT
SAFETY
REPS
Hints for having a good discussion
What can help the discussion
What can hinder the discussion
• Be clear on the purpose of the discussion
• Be clear about the commitment of the
senior leadership team to improving
Workforce Engagement
• Establish an open discussion by sharing
your personal opinion of the results
• Invite contributions from everyone – not
just those people who have strong views
• Listen to what people say
• Clarify ambiguous statements (“could you
help me understand”)
• Thank people for their contributions
• Check for consensus (“how do the rest of
you feel”)
• Not providing a clear reason for the
discussion
• Talking about action planning as being
something management is implementing
• Behave as if you are “going through the
motions”
• Judge contributions as good or bad without
checking with other opinions to these
• Interrupt contributions
• Defend a particular company position on
topics
• “Pass over” unclear points without seeking
clarification
• Not actively facilitating a discussion
4. Finalising a worksite action plan
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How do we maintain our strengths?
Level
< ENTER STRENGTH HERE >
Personal actions (me)
Workers
Safety Reps
Supervisors
/ Foremen
Site Leaders
Senior
Managers
Worksite actions (us)
How do we improve our development areas?
Level
< ENTER DEVELOPMENT AREA >
Personal actions (me)
Workers
Safety Reps
Supervisors
/ Foremen
Site Leaders
Senior
Managers
Worksite actions (us)
5. Communicate the agreed action plan
19
Conducting Feedback Sessions
PRESENTATION TEMPLATE
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The purpose of the survey is to help increase
Workforce Engagement – the active participation of
everyone in the workforce in the management and
improvement of safety
We’ve done the Workforce Engagement survey
And here are our result (present results here)
Now we need to discuss these
And develop an action plan
Let’s sense-check the results
• What do you think of the results?
• What were the key messages you heard?
• Do any of them come as a surprise?
– Which ones?
– Why do they seem surprising?
• What do we think are our strengths?
• What are our improvement areas?
All improvement actions should focus on helping
everyone to:
We improve engagement with positive
behaviours and removing obstacles
Everyone on site has a different span of control
SUPERVISORS /
FOREMAN
SITE
LEADERS
WORKFORCE
WORKFORCE
SENIOR
MANAGEMENT
SAFETY
REPS
So we each do to do what we can to improve
SUPERVISORS /
FOREMAN
SITE
LEADERS
WORKFORCE
WORKFORCE
SENIOR
MANAGEMENT
SAFETY
REPS
Better Workforce Engagement comes from
personal as well as group actions
SUPERVISORS /
FOREMAN
SITE
LEADERS
WORKFORCE
WORKFORCE
SENIOR
MANAGEMENT
SAFETY
REPS
What about obstacles?
Removing obstacles
Plant & equipment
in poor condition
Negative engagement
behaviours
Inadequate
processes
Removing obstacles:
Negative engagement behaviours
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Not sharing information
Not having an ‘open door’ policy
Not making time available for discussions and support
Breaking commitments
Responding to intervention in negative ways
Treating contractors differently to permanent workers
Failing to involve safety representatives
Acting to undermine change efforts
Not always welcoming constructive input and challenge
Removing obstacles:
Inadequate processes
• Not consulting safety representatives during implementation
and review of processes
• Not actively seeking input on how and where processes can
be improved
• Failing to review processes to ensure on-going clarity
• Having poor communication and information sharing
processes
• A lack of coordination in scheduling and shut-down processes
Removing obstacles:
Plant & equipment in poor condition
• Pressure in capex, operating and maintenance budgets
• Poor housekeeping and general condition of plant
• Ageing equipment
So, how do we maintain our strengths?
Level
< ENTER STRENGTH HERE >
Personal actions (me)
Workers
Safety Reps
Supervisors
/ Foremen
Site Leaders
Senior
Managers
Worksite actions (us)
And how should we improve?
Level
< ENTER DEVELOPMENT AREA >
Personal actions (me)
Workers
Safety Reps
Supervisors
/ Foremen
Site Leaders
Senior
Managers
Worksite actions (us)