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Did the IRS Levy Your Bank or Employer?

There are probably not many feelings worse than the one that happens when your financial institution or your work give notice you that they have been served a Notice of Levy by the Automated Collections at the IRS allegedly ordering them to keep most all of your next paycheck or deliver the funds in your bank account to them. Actually, if the IRS has complied with the law, a Notice of Levy should never be a surprise. 26 USC § 6330 provides in pertinent part:

(a)  Requirement of notice before levy
(1) In general
No levy may be made on any property or right to property of any person unless the Secretary has notified such person in writing of their right to a hearing under this section before such levy is made. Such notice shall be required only once for the taxable period to which the unpaid tax specified in paragraph (3)(A) relates.

26 USC § 6330 provides this respecting the timing and manner of service of the notice:

(a)(2)  Time and method for notice
The notice required under paragraph (1) shall be-
(A) given in person;
(B) left at the dwelling or usual place of business of such person; or
(C) sent by certified or registered mail, return receipt requested, to such person’s last known address;
not less than 30 days before the day of the first levy with respect to the amount of the unpaid tax for the taxable period.

When you get the aforementioned notices and study them timely, you should see that 26 U.S.C. § 6330(e) provides that as soon as a Collection Due Process Hearing (CDPH) is timely requested “the levy actions which are the subject of the requested hearing…shall be suspended for the period during which such hearing, and appeals therein, are pending…” This provision renders the request for a Collection Due Process Hearing (CDPH) a extremely effectual means to end an IRS levy on a bank account or paycheck.

In the instance in which a levy was received by an employer but the notice had not been served as required by the above statutes, I have seen the IRS fax a release of levy to an employer in as little as two days subsequent to CDPH hearing request being sent. Now, employees knowledgeable about these provisions in the Internal Revenue Code (IRC) will be able to get all of their pay while the hearing is pending. Almost anyone can bring a halt to an IRS levy by timely requesting a CDPH hearing as provided in 26 U.S.C. § 6330(b)(1). I make available the forms to competently request a CDPH hearing in a situation where the statutorily required notice has not been sent at www.irsterminator.com.

When you receive the notice, it is VERY important that your request for the hearing be made timely. 26 USC § 6330(a)(3) specifies that the information included with the notice the IRS sends you shall include:

“The notice required under paragraph (1) shall include in simple and nontechnical terms-
(B) the right of the person to request a hearing during the 30-day period under paragraph (2);”

However, if the IRS never served you with the required notice, it is impossible to find out when the 30 day period begins and ends. The free videos at www.irsterminator.com explain how to inform the IRS that their failure to serve you with the statutorily required notice renders your request for a hearing timely and entitles you to the suspension of collection activities including the levy at your bank or employer. Discussed on those videos are plans that I have come up with to keep collection activity suspended permanently which is the challenging part.

When good employees leave it is not only a loss in terms of time, effort and all the cost associated with finding a suitable replacement but it is also the loss of losing unique knowledge and experience specifically associated to the organization; Losing good employees is a problem where prevention is most definitely the best cure.

It is inevitable that employees will leave from time to time but a good employer will want to know why an employee has decided to leave to ensure that personnel are leaving for the right, and not the wrong, reasons.

Concerns of employees can be identified early by the regular use of well designed job satisfaction surveys, allowing for problems to be resolved and helping to minimize needless loss of staff. However, some problems, especially those that are the result of a clash of personalities, are not always brought to the surface until it is too late.

When personnel decide to change jobs it is very often due to a lack of career development and/or poor management. Both of these problems can be difficult to identify even for organizations that adopt regular 360-degree appraisals (i.e. where as part of the overall appraisal system, employees evaluate their managers).

While still employed employees can be very reluctant to criticize their managers for fear of reprisal; they can however be more candid when completing an employee exit survey.

Exit surveys are unlikely to prevent an individual from changing their mind and staying but what they will do is help an organization identify problem areas that if left unchecked could result in the remaining employees suffering form poor moral and further resignations.

Lack of Career Development

Not all employees desire, nor can employers always provide their employees with a clear and long term career path. Some people find comfort and job security in doing one job but there are just as many who prefer to be continually challenged, always acquiring new skills and steadily moving up the corporate ladder. A successful organization will maintain the balance of having high flyers and more modest and humble employees.

Where losses due to a lack of career development are occasional they may also be inevitable, but where they are frequent, then changes to the organizational structure might need to be considered to allow for greater career development of the employees.

Sub-standard Management

Many a manager has achieved their managerial position through hard work and a deserved promotion, but a good worker does not always make a good manager and many are awarded a management position without any management training.

Poor managers can be quick to discredit the views of disgruntled staff, ‘I was thinking of getting rid of them anyway’ and ‘they were a waste of space’ are typical responses to being asked if there is a problem causing people to leave an organization.

It is understandable that senior management would want to support their line managers by giving them the benefit of any doubt and a poor employee may not be averse to unfairly criticising their line manager. If through an Exit survey a man-management problem were to be identified early it presents a realistic chance that the problem could be properly addressed and resolved with appropriate formal training and guidance.

Records

It is not uncommon for people to leave an employer and at a later date put in a claim for constructive dismissal. With ‘No win no fee’ legal representation this has become a real problem for even good employers. Exit surveys will at best, provide a valuable record of the employee’s reasons for leaving, and at worse, provide early warning that a possible claim might be expected.

Unless it is on record a tribunal will not necessarily accept an employer’s word that when an employee left they did so without indicating any grievance.

Timing

Exit surveys can be conducted as part of the termination procedures or they can, with the employee’s agreement, be delayed for a few months.

The advantage with delaying an exit survey for a few months is that after a period of reflection a former employee can be less emotional and more objective and if they have taken up another position they may be in a position to compare their previous role with their new role.

The advantages with conducting an exit survey as part of the termination procedure is that although emotions may be running high it is probably more reflective of the employee’s state of mind and therefore closer to the reasons they have decided to leave (justified or otherwise). If left until later any comparison between their old and new roles may be the result of them putting on a brave face, and if reasons are given that require action, the delay may well hinder the problem from being resolved.

Summary

By including exit surveys as part of the employee termination procedures organizations will generally benefit in a number of different ways. They will at the very least provide good records that could prove very valuable later, at best they will provide management with information that can help improve an organization spiritually and with the bottom line.

See the following survey for sample exit interview questions.

Although there are distinct advantages to conducting regular employee satisfaction surveys online to measuring employee satisfaction – there can also be risks.

Documented here are the main advantages, considerations and the possible risks to conducting employee satisfaction surveys online.

 

Advantages

Identify Problems – Surveys are can be very effective in identify problems areas before they become serious, especially those that are hidden from senior management.

Working Environment – From something small like a broken chair to the more serious problem of sick building syndrome that can result in personnel experiencing headaches; eye, nose, and throat irritation; a dry cough; dry or itchy skin; dizziness and nausea; and difficulty in concentrating. Surveys that focus on the environmental aspects of an organization will ensure that areas of concern are identified in a manner that can be properly measured and controlled.

Remuneration & Benefits – Measure and monitor how satisfied personnel are with their remuneration and benefits.

Mood and Moral – Provides a simple but effective method to measure and monitor the mood and moral of an organization.

Benchmark – In the same way that an organization will consider their financial position by comparison with previous years, so the regular use of online surveys will allow an organization to monitor and measure their progress and development in non-financial terms.

Processes & Procedures – As businesses evolve some of the traditional processes and procedures can become antiquated, personnel are often the first to know and the last to be asked. Over time all businesses evolve and from time to time the business processes need to be re-aligned.

Training – Lack of proper training is a common cause of dissatisfaction among employees and can lead to more serious problems such as stress.

Communication – For an organization to run efficiently good internal and external communications are essential, surveys can provide a method to help organizations to monitor and measure how well an organization communicates.

Goals and Objectives – Surveys can measure and monitor the extent that the personnel are aligned with the senior management’s business goals and objectives.

Cost Effective – Using survey questionnaire software surveys are quick and easy to create, simple to deploy and will provide real-time results.

Compliance – To properly comply with an ever increasing array of regulations the modern organization needs to be able to disseminate information throughout the organization and ensure, through records, that the information has been received, and importantly, understood. Online questionnaires can offer an organization a cost effective method to meet many of their obligations.

Keeping the Initiative – It is always better for management to ask than be told. By conducting periodic employee satisfaction surveys the management is able to retain the initiative in trying to identify problems that could otherwise metamorphose into demands.

 

Considerations

Management Backing – A survey that is both sanctioned and has the support of senior management will go some way in ensuring that any action required, based on the survey findings, will be implemented.

Ask the right questions – Consider careful the questions being asked. If the survey is perceived by employees of just trying to tick the right boxes the survey could result in more negative attitudes.

An annual survey should ask questions that will provide senior management with an overall health check of the organization.

Avoid questions that will only apply to specific departments or personnel. Consider running separate one-off surveys that can be targeted at specific personnel if some areas of the organization require detailed investigation.

Incentive – Most employees will feel that by being able to give their opinions that they are already stakeholders in the exercise and will be happy to participate in the survey as they will expect to benefit from the process.

However, to help improve the overall response rate some incentive could be used and it could also be used to encourage early participation.

Either all participating employees could be awarded a small incentive or entered into a prize draw for a much bigger prize.

Anonymous – The decision to allow respondents to remain anonymous or not needs careful consideration. A survey that is conducted anonymously may allow employees to be more candid, however, anonymity may encourage some individuals to make wild accusations that can not be substantiated and cause considerable concern. When in doubt it is often better to keep everything ‘on the record’ rather than ‘off’.

Where survey respondents are known there is the opportunity to chase for surveys that have not been completed and also to follow up on some issues directly with those employees who have raised them as problems.

Comments – Keep free text comments to a minimum because they are difficult and time consuming to measure and analyze.

Consider limiting free text comments to one at the end of the survey or, in the case of surveys that are not being conducted anonymously, allow for a post-survey follow-up to obtain more information where additional and more specific detail is required.

 

Risks

Management – Some managers can regard any form of employee consultation as a sign of weakness and may have a tendency to dismiss out of hand any negative comment.

Warts and All – A survey is likely to reveal warts and all. Senior management should be prepared for discovering that the top down view can differ from the bottom up view and that ignorance, of any identified problems, can no longer be used as an excuse.

Non-Action – Many employees will invest time and effort in participating in a survey and their hopes and expectations will be raised. If once the survey has been completed nothing is done to deal with the areas of concern that have been identified by the survey then employees may develop a negative attitude and that could in turn make it more difficult to canvass the employees in future.

Management should formally respond to the issues raised in surveys even if the demands of employees are not to be met. If the senior managers have previously agreed to address and resolve some issues then that action should have at least been started before any further surveys are scheduled.

Can Cause Problems – Where surveys reveal, or bring problems, to the surface there could be a tendency for senior management to blame the messenger.

 

Summary

There are considerable benefits in conducting regular online employee satisfaction questionnaires, but for them to be effective important considerations need to be made upfront. Employees can find responding to surveys therapeutic but it is the post-survey analysis and the management’s response and action that will ultimately determine how useful and effective the process has been.

For a sample employee satisfaction survey: Employee Satisfaction Poll

Although there are distinct advantages to conducting regular employee satisfaction surveys online to measuring employee satisfaction – there can also be risks.

Listed here are some of the main advantages, considerations and the possible risks to conducting employee satisfaction surveys online.

 

Advantages

Identify Problems – Surveys are can be very effective in identify problems areas before they become serious, especially those that are hidden from senior management.

Working Environment – From something small like a broken chair to the more serious problem of sick building syndrome that can result in personnel experiencing headaches; eye, nose, and throat irritation; a dry cough; dry or itchy skin; dizziness and nausea; and difficulty in concentrating. Surveys allow environmental problems to be identified in a measured and controlled manner.

Remuneration & Benefits – Measure and monitor how satisfied personnel are with their remuneration and benefits.

Mood and Moral – Provides a simple but effective method to measure and monitor the mood and moral of an organization.

Benchmark – In the same way that an organization will consider their financial position by comparison with previous years, so the regular use of online surveys will allow an organization to monitor and measure their progress and development in non-financial terms.

Processes & Procedures – As businesses evolve some of the traditional processes and procedures can become antiquated, personnel are often the first to know and the last to be asked. New technology is often a driver that will cause a business to evolve and the business processes need to be constantly challenged to ensure that they are properly aligned with the technology.

Training – Lack of proper training is a common cause of dissatisfaction among employees and can lead to more serious problems such as stress.

Communication – For an organization to run efficiently good internal and external communications are essential, surveys can provide a method to help organizations to monitor and measure how well an organization communicates.

Goals and Objectives – Surveys can measure and monitor the extent that the personnel are aligned with the senior management’s business goals and objectives.

Cost Effective – Using survey questionnaire software surveys are quick and easy to create, simple to deploy and will provide real-time results.

Compliance – To properly comply with an ever increasing array of regulations the modern organization needs to be able to disseminate information throughout the organization and ensure, through records, that the information has been received, and importantly, understood. Online questionnaires can provide organization with a cost effective method to meet many of their obligations.

Keeping the Initiative – It is always better for management to ask than be told. By conducting regular employee surveys management are able to keep the initiative in trying to identify problems that may otherwise manifest into demands.

 

Considerations

Management Backing – A survey that is both sanctioned and has the support of senior management will go some way in ensuring that any action required, based on the survey findings, will be implemented.

Ask the right questions – Consider careful the questions being asked. If the survey is perceived by employees of just trying to tick the right boxes the survey could result in more negative attitudes.

A survey that is to be conducted annually should try and ask questions that will provide senior management with an overall health check of the organization.

Avoid questions that are specific to individual departments or personnel. Consider running separate one-off surveys that can be targeted at specific personnel if some areas of the organization require detailed investigation.

Incentive – Most employees will feel that by being able to give their opinions that they are already stakeholders in the exercise and will be happy to participate in the survey as they will expect to benefit from the process.

However, to help improve the overall response rate some incentive could be used and it could also be used to encourage early participation.

Either all participating employees could be given a small incentive or entered into a lottery in the hope of winning a more substantial prize.

Anonymous – The decision to allow respondents to remain anonymous or not needs careful consideration. A survey that is conducted anonymously may allow employees to be more candid, however, anonymity may encourage some individuals to make wild accusations that can not be substantiated and cause considerable concern. When in doubt it is often better to keep everything ‘on the record’ rather than ‘off’.

Where survey respondents are not anonymous there is the opportunity to encourage those that have not completed the survey to do so and also to allow issues that have been identified by the survey to be follow up directly with individual who raised them.

Comments – Keep free text comments to a minimum because they are difficult and time consuming to measure and analyze.

Consider limiting free text comments to one at the end of the survey or, in the case of surveys that are not being conducted anonymously, allow for a post-survey follow-up to obtain more information where additional and more specific detail is required.

 

Risks

Management – Some managers can regard any form of employee consultation as a sign of weakness and may have a tendency to dismiss out of hand any negative comment.

Warts and All – A survey is likely to reveal warts and all. Employee satisfaction surveys may expose that the senior management’s top down view differs noticeably from the employees’ bottom up view and that once problems have been exposed senior management could not claim ignorance and may be forced to act.

Non-Action – Many employees will invest time and effort in participating in a survey and their hopes and expectations will be raised. Any post-survey non-action is likely to promote cynicism and jeopardize any future initiatives to obtain employee feedback.

The management should be prepared to formally recognize and respond to the concerns that may be raised as a result of conducting an employee satisfaction survey even if the specific demands of employees are not able to be met. If the senior managers have previously agreed to address and resolve some issues then that action should have at least been started before any further surveys are scheduled.

Can Cause Problems – Where surveys reveal, or bring problems, to the surface there could be a tendency for senior management to blame the messenger.

 

Summary

There are considerable benefits in conducting regular online employee satisfaction questionnaires, but for them to be effective important considerations need to be made upfront. Although the process of conducting a survey can be therapeutic in itself it is the post-survey analysis, response and action that will ultimately determine how useful and effective the process has been.

For a sample employee satisfaction survey: Employee Satisfaction Poll

Although there are distinct advantages to conducting regular employee satisfaction surveys online to measuring employee satisfaction – there can also be risks.

Listed here are some of the main advantages, considerations and the possible risks to conducting employee satisfaction surveys online.

 

Advantages

Identify Problems – Surveys are can be very effective in identify problems areas before they become serious, especially those that are hidden from senior management.

Working Environment – From something small like a broken chair to the more serious problem of sick building syndrome that can result in personnel experiencing headaches; eye, nose, and throat irritation; a dry cough; dry or itchy skin; dizziness and nausea; and difficulty in concentrating. Surveys allow environmental problems to be identified in a measured and controlled manner.

Remuneration & Benefits – Measure and monitor how satisfied personnel are with their remuneration and benefits.

Mood and Moral – Provides a simple but effective method to measure and monitor the mood and moral of an organization.

Benchmark – In the same way that an organization will consider their financial position by comparison with previous years, so the regular use of online surveys will allow an organization to monitor and measure their progress and development in non-financial terms.

Processes & Procedures – As businesses evolve some of the traditional processes and procedures can become antiquated, personnel are often the first to know and the last to be asked. Over time all businesses evolve and from time to time the business processes need to be re-aligned.

Training – Lack of proper training is a common cause of dissatisfaction among employees and can lead to more serious problems such as stress.

Communication – For an organization to run efficiently good internal and external communications are essential, surveys can provide a method to help organizations to monitor and measure how well an organization communicates.

Goals and Objectives – Surveys can measure and monitor the extent that the personnel are aligned with the senior management’s business goals and objectives.

Cost Effective – Using survey questionnaire software surveys are quick and easy to create, simple to deploy and will provide real-time results.

Compliance – To properly comply with an ever increasing array of regulations the modern organization needs to be able to disseminate information throughout the organization and ensure, through records, that the information has been received, and importantly, understood. Online questionnaires can provide organization with a cost effective method to meet many of their obligations.

Keeping the Initiative – It is always better for management to ask than be told. Management are able to retain the initiative by conducting periodic employee satisfaction surveys and identifying early problems that could otherwise transform into demands.

 

Considerations

Management Backing – A survey that is both sanctioned and has the support of senior management will go some way in ensuring that any action required, based on the survey findings, will be implemented.

Ask the right questions – Consider careful the questions being asked. If employees feel that the survey is a token effort and is unlikely to effect positive change the survey could backfire.

An annual survey should ask questions that will provide senior management with an overall health check of the organization.

Avoid questions that will only apply to specific departments or personnel. Consider running separate one-off surveys that can be targeted at specific personnel if some areas of the organization require detailed investigation.

Incentive – Most employees will feel that by being able to give their opinions that they are already stakeholders in the exercise and will be happy to participate in the survey as they will expect to benefit from the process.

However, some incentive may help improve the overall response rate or could be used to encourage early participation.

Small incentives could be awarded to all participating employees or they could instead be entered into a prize draw in the hope of receiving a more substantial prize.

Anonymous – The decision to allow respondents to remain anonymous or not needs careful consideration. A survey that is conducted anonymously may allow employees to be more candid, however, anonymity may encourage some individuals to make wild accusations that can not be substantiated and cause considerable concern. When in doubt it is often better to keep everything ‘on the record’ rather than ‘off’.

Where survey respondents are not anonymous there is the opportunity to encourage those that have not completed the survey to do so and also to allow issues that have been identified by the survey to be follow up directly with individual who raised them.

Comments – Keep free text comments to a minimum because they are difficult and time consuming to measure and analyze.

Limit the number of questions that allow for free text responses, usually one that asks for general comments at the end of the survey is sufficient and effective; where surveys are not anonymous, consider conducting further surveys to follow-up where the earlier survey identifies areas where additional and more specific information is required.

 

Risks

Management – Some managers can regard any form of employee consultation as a sign of weakness and may have a tendency to dismiss out of hand any negative comment.

Warts and All – A survey is likely to reveal warts and all. Senior management should be prepared for discovering that the top down view can differ from the bottom up view and that ignorance, of any identified problems, can no longer be used as an excuse.

Non-Action – Many employees will invest time and effort in participating in a survey and their hopes and expectations will be raised. Any post-survey non-action is likely to promote cynicism and jeopardize any future initiatives to obtain employee feedback.

Management should formally respond to the issues raised in surveys even if the demands of employees are not to be met. If the senior management team have previously advised the employees that some of the issues raised in previous surveys are to be addressed and resolved then that action should have at least started before any follow up surveys are conducted.

Can Cause Problems – Where surveys reveal, or bring problems, to the surface there could be a tendency for senior management to blame the messenger.

 

Summary

The benefits of conducting regular online employee questionnaires can be considerable, but for them to be effective important upfront considerations need to be made. Although the process of conducting a survey can be therapeutic in itself it is the post-survey analysis, response and action that will ultimately determine how useful and effective the process has been.

For a sample employee satisfaction survey: Employee Satisfaction Poll

Although there are distinct advantages to conducting regular employee satisfaction surveys online to measuring employee satisfaction – there can also be risks.

Documented here are the main advantages, considerations and the possible risks to conducting employee satisfaction surveys online.

 

Advantages

Identify Problems – Surveys are can be very effective in identify problems areas before they become serious, especially those that are hidden from senior management.

Working Environment – From something small like a broken chair to the more serious problem of sick building syndrome that can result in personnel experiencing headaches; eye, nose, and throat irritation; a dry cough; dry or itchy skin; dizziness and nausea; and difficulty in concentrating. Surveys allow environmental problems to be identified in a measured and controlled manner.

Remuneration & Benefits – Measure and monitor how satisfied personnel are with their remuneration and benefits.

Mood and Moral – Provides a simple but effective method to measure and monitor the mood and moral of an organization.

Benchmark – In the same way that an organization will consider their financial position by comparison with previous years, so the regular use of online surveys will allow an organization to monitor and measure their progress and development in non-financial terms.

Processes & Procedures – As businesses evolve some of the traditional processes and procedures can become antiquated, personnel are often the first to know and the last to be asked. Over time all businesses evolve and from time to time the business processes need to be re-aligned.

Training – Lack of proper training is a common cause of dissatisfaction among employees and can lead to more serious problems such as stress.

Communication – For an organization to run efficiently good internal and external communications are essential, surveys can provide a method to help organizations to monitor and measure how well an organization communicates.

Goals and Objectives – Surveys can measure and monitor the extent that the personnel are aligned with the senior management’s business goals and objectives.

Cost Effective – Using survey questionnaire software surveys are quick and easy to create, simple to deploy and will provide real-time results.

Compliance – To properly comply with an ever increasing array of regulations the modern organization needs to be able to disseminate information throughout the organization and ensure, through records, that the information has been received, and importantly, understood. Online questionnaires can provide organization with a cost effective method to meet many of their obligations.

Keeping the Initiative – It is always better for management to ask than be told. Management are able to retain the initiative by conducting periodic employee satisfaction surveys and identifying early problems that could otherwise transform into demands.

 

Considerations

Management Backing – A survey that is both sanctioned and has the support of senior management will go some way in ensuring that any action required, based on the survey findings, will be implemented.

Ask the right questions – Consider careful the questions being asked. If employees feel that the survey is a token effort and is unlikely to effect positive change the survey could backfire.

An annual survey should ask questions that will provide senior management with an overall temperature check of the organization.

Ensure that the questions that are asked are relevant to all departments and personnel. If some areas of the organization require detailed investigation consider running separate one-off surveys that can be targeted at specific personnel.

Incentive – Most employees will feel that by being able to give their opinions that they are already stakeholders in the exercise and will be happy to participate in the survey as they will expect to benefit from the process.

However, some incentive may help improve the overall response rate or could be used to encourage early participation.

Smaller incentives could be handed out to all employees or all participating employees could be entered into a lottery to receive a more substantial prize.

Anonymous – The decision to allow respondents to remain anonymous or not needs careful consideration. A survey that is conducted anonymously may allow employees to be more candid, however, anonymity may encourage some individuals to make wild accusations that can not be substantiated and cause considerable concern. It is often better to keep everything ‘on the record’ rather than ‘off the record’.

Where survey respondents are known there is the opportunity to chase for surveys that have not been completed and also to follow up on some issues directly with those employees who have raised them as problems.

Comments – Keep free text comments to a minimum because they are difficult and time consuming to measure and analyze.

Limit the number of questions that allow for free text responses, usually a question at the end of the survey that asks for general comments is sufficient and very effective; consider conducting further surveys to follow-up where the earlier survey identifies areas where additional and more specific information is required.

 

Risks

Management – Some managers can regard any form of employee consultation as a sign of weakness and may have a tendency to dismiss out of hand any negative comment.

Warts and All – A survey is likely to reveal warts and all. Employee satisfaction surveys may expose that the senior management’s top down view differs noticeably from the employees’ bottom up view and that once problems have been exposed senior management could not claim ignorance and may be forced to act.

Non-Action – Many employees will invest time and effort in participating in a survey and their hopes and expectations will be raised. Employees will be quick to develop a negative attitude if post-survey the issues that are apparent from the results of the survey are not properly addressed. It may result in it becoming more difficult to obtain employee feedback in future if the personnel start to regard it as a waste of time.

Management should formally respond to the issues raised in surveys even if the demands of employees are not to be met. If senior management agree to address and resolve some issues then action needs to have started before any further survey is scheduled.

Can Cause Problems – Where surveys reveal, or bring problems, to the surface there could be a tendency for senior management to blame the messenger.

 

Summary

There are considerable benefits in conducting regular online employee satisfaction surveys, but for them to be effective important considerations need to be made upfront. Employees can find responding to surveys therapeutic but it is the post-survey analysis and the management’s response and action that will ultimately determine how useful and effective the process has been.

For a sample employee satisfaction survey: Employee Satisfaction Poll

The benefit of running an annual employee survey has for a long time been widely accepted but many organizations have been put off by the amount of effort that is required.

Many organizations who have bit the bullet and conducted their own internal employee satisfaction surveys have often relied on word-processors to allow them to design and compile a survey, then gone through the effort of printing and distributing the survey and spent time chasing and collecting the completed surveys and then even more time transferring the survey response information into a meaningful management report.

Fortunately with the introduction of the Internet and hosted survey websites what was once a time consuming, resource hungry, long winded and cumbersome process is now slick, quick and easy.

Document here is a step by step guide to help implement a survey that will bring considerable benefits to any organization.

Step 1 – Identifying the Need

There are countless reasons an organization might benefit from a survey. The following are a few of the common reason why employee satisfaction surveys are conducted.

Event Driven Drivers

If your organization is about to embark, or is going through, a process reengineering program a series of employee surveys can assist in managing the change program, measure the effectiveness of the change, help to deliver a ‘message’ and gather valuable feedback throughout the change cycle.

Where an organization is experiencing a period of rapid growth employee surveys can make sure that the employees are aware of their reporting and management responsibilities.

If an organization is suffering from poor moral stemming from either internal or external influences an employee survey can be used to identify what the specific concerns of employees are so that those concerns can be properly addressed.

Where there is an increase in turnover of staff employee surveys can help an organization identify the underlying cause of employee unrest and through their findings help find solutions.

Periodically

As part of a periodic assessment, surveys will assist an organization in regularly reviewing their employees and monitoring an individual’s job satisfaction, training and career development.

Employee surveys will allow the senior management team the opportunity to look at what makes their organisation tick and confirm, or not, that their ‘top down’ view matches the reality and ‘bottom up’ perspective of their employees.

Employee surveys will help an organization establish good employee/employer communication that will in turn bring direct and indirect benefits.

Step 2 – Management Support

Although having management buy-in to a survey is always desirable and in some cases it may prove essential to ensure it is a success, in some instances the results of a survey that may not have had full management support at the start could lead to kick-starting a management that has grown complacent and detached from their employees.

Some organization may be fortunate in that the senior management recognize and drive the need for employee surveys, while in others the management may need to first be convinced of the direct and indirect benefits an employee survey will bring.

The degree that management commit to an employee survey will have a bearing on the nature of the survey and to some extent will help determine what questions.

A management that is supportive of the initiative may require feedback on specific areas of the business or they may give the go ahead because they feel confident that the results will only confirm that the level of employee satisfaction throughout the organization is high.

Ideally management will buy-in to the employee survey from the very start as they have the most to gain and they are in a position to effect any change that is later identified as being required.

Step 3 – Designing The Survey

Designing a good survey will take some time and effort but by following the basics of survey design and concentrating on the ‘need to know’ questions and removing the ‘nice to know’ a survey will rapidly take shape.

Determining the exact questions that should be asked will be entirely dependent on the individual organization, its structure and the previously identified primary need and objectives of the employee survey.

At the same time as considering what questions to ask consider how the results are to be analyzed. For example there is nearly always a wish to ask for individual comments but these free text answers can be very time consuming and cumbersome to analyze and should therefore be used very sparingly.

With online surveys it is generally better to do a few smaller surveys than one very long survey as the longer the survey the higher the drop out rate will be.

Step 4 – Checking And Testing

Spelling, Grammar and Clarity

Before publishing the survey make a careful check for spelling and typing mistakes and incorrect grammar. If available it is always recommended that you have a colleague who has not been involved in the survey design to proof read the survey with clean eyes, if no colleague is available try to take a break before checking through the survey again.

Say What You Mean and Mean What You Say

When checking the survey you should consider the survey from the viewpoint of the respondent, will the employee interpret the question the same way that you intended them to?

Allow the Respondent to Answer Truthfully

For closed questions where the employee will be required to choose from a number of available responses have you allowed the employee to answer accurately? Make use of responses like ‘Don’t know’, ‘No comment’ or ‘Not Applicable’ where you have made the question mandatory but the employee may not be able to answer.

Consider allowing the employee to include an ‘Other’ answer but also appreciate that ‘Other’ answers will add to the complexity when analyzing the survey results.

Don’t Require A Response To Questions That May Not Have One

Check that for any questions that you have made mandatory you do require an answer, for example open questions such as asking for additional comments should be made optional unless you definitely require the respondent to write a comment.

Check that the Data can be Analyzed

Check through the survey again but this time looking at how the results of the survey will be analyzed. Give consideration as to how you will want to analyze the survey data, have you asked the right questions to be able to perform the detailed analysis that you desire? For example if you wanted to view the detailed response data from the perspective of the different genders, or maybe departments, check you have asked the employee to indicate their own gender and/or department.

Don’t Ask More Questions than you Need to

Consider all the questions in the survey and make sure that they are all ‘need to know’ questions.

Test the Link and Try Completing the Survey

Publish the survey and then send the survey’s link to colleagues who will be able to help you test the survey. By completing you own survey yourself you will get a feel for how the respondent will view the survey. From your own and the feedback of your colleagues stop and fine tune the survey as required.

Repeat this process until you are happy with the survey.

Check the data

Take time to view the online summary results of the test data and confirm that the data is being collected in a manner that can be properly analyzed and that will give meaningful results.

Step 5 – Promoting And Deploying The Survey

Where all or the majority of employees have access to the Internet or company intranet deploying the online survey is as easy as falling off a log, either via email or by establishing a link to the survey from your own website or the Intranet.

If there are employees that do not have direct access to the Internet there may be a number of alternatives that can be used such as issuing the survey in printed form, providing access through a shared terminal or giving them an incentive to complete the survey at home.

Anonymous Responses?

There is a choice to allow all surveys to be completed anonymously. A survey where respondents are allowed to be anonymous may encourage employees to speak their minds promoting ‘a warts and all’ approach, in turn giving management an opportunity to nip potentially serious problems in the bud.

However, allowing anonymous comments also allows employees to be more flippant and cavalier with their responses. Some organizations would therefore only want to consider comments where employees are prepared to stand by their convictions and that will also provide an opportunity to follow up the specific concerns of individual employees.

The decision to allow anonymous responses or not will, among other factors, be down to the individual organization, the specific nature of the survey, the surrounding circumstances, the management style and the existing employer/employee relationship.

Step 6 – Monitoring The Survey

You are able to view in real-time the results online and the number of surveys that have been both started and completed.

If after a few days the number of completed surveys falls short of any set target it is advisable to send employees one or more reminders to ask them to complete the survey.

Step 7 – Analyzing The Results

When it comes to analyzing the results data there are no hard and fast rules. Much depends on the individual survey, the questions asked and the number of responses.

The majority of surveys will benefit from the results being displayed in graphical as well as tabular form.

Providing the right questions have been asked when the survey data is first analyzed often a number of ‘headline’ results will immediately stand out that will provide you with an overview and an instant assessment of the general mood of the organization.

In areas where the results indicate areas of concern a more detailed analysis may be advisable. For example if employees were asked if they felt the organization provided equal opportunities to both genders it would be useful to have a gender split and if say 25% gave a negative response the ability to drill down further to see what the gender split was of the 25% that answered negatively. Was the negative view shared by employees of both genders, consistent throughout the organization, or was it restricted to a particular gender and/or a particular department?

There is a method of reporting that presents the result data in tabular and/or graphical form allowing those who are interested in the results to view the raw data.

As a complement to the first, another method is to study the results and provide an analysis of the data and offer an opinion as to what the meaning is behind the results, what circumstances may have contributed to the results being as they are and in cases where the results have exposed negativity, propose initiatives that could address and resolve the problems . Such analysis if done by a single individual is likely to be very personal, if done by a committee it is still likely to be objective and therefore open to interpretation.

Step 8 – Post Survey Action

The most important step is more likely to be the last. An employee survey will either confirm that the perfect organization exists or it will highlight areas that are less than perfect by identifying individual and common concerns.

It may be that further more detailed surveys are required that target specific areas. For example the survey may reveal that negative responses are received from employees working in a particular department but the reasons for their negativity may not be clear. A specifically targeted follow-up survey may help reveal the root causes.

When employee surveys are periodically run an organization that has taken steps to address issues will see their efforts reflected in subsequent survey responses. Almost all organizations have problems and it will help the moral of an organization to see that a channel is available that will highlight problems that can then be addressed and resolved.

Summary

These guidelines are intended to help an organization conduct successful employee satisfaction surveys, they are however, only a guide.

Each organization is different in style and structure and that will directly influence the tone and nature of the survey and will also dictate what the primary and secondary reasons are for conducting a survey.

By utilizing existing technology and conducting surveys online you are now able to monitor the heart beat of an organization, quickly, easily and, by using websites like www.surveygalaxy.com, at minimal cost.

How to create a survey using Survey Galaxy

Writing surveys is easy; or is it? The truth is that writing surveys is easy but writing surveys that will be effective is more difficult. The following twenty tips will help you with your survey questionnaire design.

1. What is the survey’s purpose?

Surveys are conducted for many reasons. By correctly phrasing the questions and structuring the answers surveys can be used in many ways and for a variety of reasons. When compiling a survey don’t lose sight of its purpose.

2. Give the survey a good title

The survey title represents an opportunity to instantly summarise a survey’s objective and encourage respondents to participate. Respondents need to invest time in completing the survey so you need to encourage them that their investment will be worthwhile.

3. Avoid making the survey any longer than it needs to be

Every question that is asked should be asked for a reason. Limit asking questions that will provide you with ‘nice to know’ information and instead concentrate on the ‘need to know’ questions.

4. Use plain English, avoid jargon and acronyms, be consistent and ensure that the questions you ask will not result in ambiguous answers

Care must be taken in wording a question. If a question can be interpreted in more ways than one then there is a risk that any analysis of the survey results will be meaningless or at the very least misleading.

5. Avoid having long questions

Try to use succinct sentences wherever possible. Long questions can cause a respondent to lose concentration and can lead to a higher level of incidents where respondents abandon a survey.

6. Ask one question at a time

Avoid confusing the respondent with a question like ‘Do you like athletics and golf?’

7. Do not influence the answer

It is important not to load the question. ‘Should irresponsible shop keepers who sell cigarettes to minors be prosecuted?’ is unlikely to have any value.

8. Ensure that the selected answer format allows the respondent to answer the question being asked

Allow the respondent to answer how they really feel or they may be inclined to abandon the survey. As a last resort consider the benefit of including a “No comment”, “Don’t know” or similar response option.

9. While compiling your survey consider how you will want to analyse the results once the survey has been published

When asking questions that allow for a free text open ended response appreciate that such information is likely to be difficult to score and/or summarised. Consider how answers can be grouped. For example “How long have you worked here?” – ‘less than 2 year’, ‘between 2 and 5 years’ and ‘more than 5′.

10. Try and ensure that the questionnaire flows

Group the questions into clear categories as this makes the task of completing the survey easier for the participants.

11. Target your respondents

You may want to target a specific group, in others a cross section. If you can’t easily control the respondents consider including questions/answers that will allow you to filter out respondents that don’t match your target profile.

12. Allow respondents to expand on their answers and/or make comments

Allowing respondents to make additional comments will increase their satisfaction level and the comments will also give valuable feedback on the specific questions and/or the survey as a whole. Remember though for a large sample collection it may be difficult to analyse free text open ended responses.

13. If you are conducting a confidential survey ensure that your pledge for confidentiality is upheld

If you have made guarantees to the respondents that the survey is confidential you need to ensure that the individual data is not shared with anyone or used for any other purpose. Confidentiality must be maintained and any contact information deleted after the survey is complete.

14. Weigh up the advantages and disadvantages of allowing respondents to be anonymous or identifiable

If your respondents are to be anonymous then you will be unable to follow up or match “pre” or “post” surveys. In some cases allowing people to remain anonymous will however allow people to respond without possible peer pressure.

15. Carefully consider the best response format

Being consistent with the format used for responses is good practice. When designing your survey keep in mind that when analysing the data single selection radio buttons are easier to analyse than multiple selection check boxes. Do not use a check box if a radio response would do.

16. Advise the respondent as to the approximate time it will take to complete the survey

Respondent drop out can occur if the survey appears to be a stream of never ending questions. It is good practice to give an indication as to how long the survey is likely to take so that the participants can determine the best time to complete the survey.

17. Provide respondents with the survey end date

Try and encourage your invited respondents to complete the survey as soon as possible but advise the respondents of the survey’s end date so that they have the opportunity to schedule the necessary time.

18. Pilot the survey

Before publishing a live survey publish a small pilot survey to check for questions that are ambiguous or confusing and to ensure that the survey is aesthetically pleasing.

19. Before publishing the survey proof read the survey carefully

Check more than once that the survey is grammatically correct and makes sense. If possible get someone else to proof read the survey before you publish, if you are unable to do this then take a break before checking again.

20. Thank your respondents

To complete surveys respondents will need to invest their time and therefore should be thanked either at the end of completing the survey or in a follow up letter. You may even want to consider incentives such as a prize draw or reward.

Getting started is easy and there are many survey software websites to choose from.

If a building’s broken window is not repaired promptly it doesn’t take long for many of the building’s other windows to be broken. Fixing problems when they are small will prevent them from developing into more serious problems.

The same is true when considering the level of employee satisfaction. Dissatisfaction spreads like wildfire and in a surprisingly short period of time you’ve got morale problems of the kind that are notoriously hard to fix.

To ensure that your employees are happy you need to understand what their problems and concerns are and it is important to deal with them early on. It is important to keep the initiative and a good tip is to give a little and often.

This turns out be a vicious circle. Fixing problems when they are small is also when they are at their cheapest to fix. If management wait to introduce change until they are prompted by employees then they risk having to implement change from a weak position. Employees look for strong, confident management and having a proactive approach and taking time to understand the employees’ issues will gain the respect of the workforce.

Compare that with those managers who are out of touch. If they are late in addressing problems they are always on the defensive, having to concede to demands they run the risk of losing credibility which in turn can lead to having to agree to less reasonable demands. It is neither big nor clever.

How then can organizations monitor the morale of the employees without a big budget and an abundance of spare time?

would appear to offer the perfect solution. They offer a solution that is quick, easy and low cost. Surveys can be written and deployed in seconds, using email, web links and social networks they cost nothing to disseminate and the results are collated and displayed in real time.

The ideal delivery mechanism is the corporate internet.

By linking through to an online survey website a company can regularly conduct surveys so they become part and parcel of the daily operations.

With an online survey’s ability to produce results in real-time the mood of the employees can rapidly be gauged and concerns highlighted both on a collective and individual level.

Organisations can use survey results to highlight problem areas and then use follow-up surveys to target specific concerns. With good information managers are able to get to the root of specific problems and prepare a considered response.

Conducting regular surveys will allow organizations to address small problems in a timely manner and avoid ‘the straw that broke the camels back’ syndrome where a relatively insignificant incident unleashes a torrent of pent up frustration.

It should not be forgotten that most employees appreciate being consulted and asking their opinion is not seen as a sign of weakness but an indicator of good decision making.

Every now and then management problems can be solved with something that is quick, easy and won’t break the bank; enjoy.

If a single broken window is not repaired it won’t be long before more windows are broken. Addressing problems when they are small will prevent them from developing into more serious problems.

When considering the level of employee satisfaction the same is true. Dissatisfaction spreads like wildfire and in a surprisingly short period of time you’ve got morale problems of the kind that are notoriously hard to fix.

To be confident that your employees are content you need to be aware of what their day to day problems are and you need to deal with them before they get out of hand. It is important to keep the initiative and a good tip is to give a little and often.

This turns out be a vicious circle. Fixing the problem when it’s small is also when it’s easiest and when it’s cheapest. There is little advantage for the employer to wait until they are prompted by the employee to make urgent change, if they are proactive the employer can operate from a position of strength and that in turn will help maintain the respect that their employees have towards them. Employees look for strong, confident management and having a proactive approach and taking time to understand the employees’ issues will gain the respect of the workforce.

Compare that with those managers who are out of touch. They arrive late at a problem so they are on the defensive, and with their credibility eroded they have to concede to demands which in turn could lead to further and less reasonable demands. It is neither big nor clever.

How then can an organization monitor the morale of the employees without a big budget and an abundance of spare time?

Online surveys would appear to tick all the boxes. They are quick, easy to use and a low cost solution. Instead of weeks and months surveys can now be designed and published in hours and minutes, by harnessing the power of the internet invitations can be sent out instantly and free of charge using email, links on websites and postings on social networks; the results are collated in real-time and can be automatically displayed as charts.

The ideal delivery mechanism is the corporate intranet.

By linking through to an online survey website a company can regularly conduct surveys so they become part and parcel of the daily operations.

With the ability of an online survey to produce real-time results the mood of the workforce can instantly gauged, concerns highlighted both on a collective and individual level.

A company can use survey results to expose problem areas and then use follow-up surveys to target specific concerns. With good information managers are able to get to the root of specific problems and prepare a considered response.

Conducting regular surveys will allow organizations to address small problems in a timely manner and avoid ‘the straw that broke the camels back’ syndrome where a relatively insignificant incident unleashes a torrent of pent up frustration.

And don’t forget that the majority of employees appreciate being consulted so asking their opinion is not a sign of weakness but an indicator of good decision making.

Once in a blue moon a manager’s problem can be solved with something that is quick, easy and won’t break the bank; that looks like a blue moon.