Organization SCANNING
" Always start at the Beginning"
Creating and maintaining a positive workplace culture is crucial for the success of any organization. An organization that recognizes the significance of workplace culture and continuously strives to improve it performs better than one that ignores or shows little interest in it. To bridge the gap between the current company culture and the desired culture, conducting a work culture survey can be helpful.
A culture survey provides insight into employees' perceptions and feedback about the organization's culture, highlighting areas that require improvement. By analysing employee feedback and identifying aspects of the culture that employees find appealing, an organization can adjust its strategies to eliminate any gap between the two.
Here, we will delve deeper into the importance of a culture scan and explore the top 20 employee scan questions and tips that promote development, innovation, and success in the workplace.
What is a Culture Scan?
A work culture scan is a tool to collect insights from employees associated with the organization to assess and improve the business and enhance leadership strategies, future investments, and overall organizational changes. It is an operations survey that evaluates how well-aligned is an organization’s culture with its propagated values and ethics.
“Customers will never love a company until the employees love it first.” – Simon Sinek, Author, Start with Why
An organization should understand what employees think about their culture and what can be improved to make it a better workplace. Every cultural aspect of a workplace directly or indirectly impacts business.
Organizations that intend to create a workplace primarily driven by specific behaviours and focus on developing a conducive culture often rely on culture surveys. Gaining insights into current company culture and analysing its alignment with the ideal set workplace culture will benefit the organization in terms of better planning, increased performance standards, employee engagement, etc.
Forbes magazine emphasizes how crucial it is to ensure the organization maintains a healthy company culture and improves its status quo.
Internal hierarchy, technologies, skills, and qualities influence actions and assumptions, and the entire system is measured with company culture surveys.
With the inputs provided by each employee, an organization can work towards improving its vision for culture, job roles, and structure, manage the performance of company-wide teams, and enhance managerial techniques.
Sample of Culture Scan Questions
If you are running a culture scan in your organization, include these employee survey questions in your questionnaire.
On a scale of 0-10, how likely are you to recommend our organization to your friends and colleagues due to the culture?
Satisfied employees will often boast about their company culture amongst their friends and colleagues, and so will dissatisfy employees. But satisfied employees will recommend their network to apply for jobs with your organization, which will is profitable for your organization. In contrast, dissatisfied employees will spread negative word about your culture.
Are you comfortable with your workplace culture? If yes, Why?
This type of workplace culture survey question provides information about whether your company culture aligns with employee feedback and opinions about culture in general. Suppose more than 50% of the organization opines that your culture is uncomfortable and hindering their professional growth.
In that case, you may have to make conscious efforts to make them comfortable. You can do it by either mending a few culture-related rules or by knowing details about the reason for their discomfort.
Do you feel respected by your team and the organization?
An individual grows tremendously in situations where he/she feels respected. This survey question is instrumental in understanding whether the employee’s team respects him/her and how the factor of respect contributes to their productivity.
Does your manager provide you with timely feedback about your work?
Feedback is key for an employee’s progress in an organization. Does an employee’s manager provide frequent improvement tips and feedback? Ask this question to understand and analyse how to make employee feedback a constant process.
Which aspects of the organization can be improved to make it a better workplace?
Every employee has an opinion about how their culture can improve, and most of them also know details about competitors’ company culture. Include this question to enhance your current workplace culture and improve employee satisfaction.
How would you define leadership exhibited in this organization?
Employees in an organization look up to the leadership of the organization. A leader with integrity, discipline, hard-working, intelligence, and similar traits are respected within the organization, and employees want to replicate these traits. So, it is important to ask this question to understand how employees perceive the leadership in the organization.
How would you characterize this organization’s management style?
An organization’s management style speaks volumes about how things are conducted within the organization. Good management means good values, which in turn, results in lower employee attrition rates.
According to you, how does this organization define “success”?
Success is defined differently in every organization. Organizations should clearly emphasize the measures of success to their employees.
Is your organization dedicated to diversity and inclusiveness?
An organization that doesn’t discriminate based on gender, sex, religious questions, colour, or sexual orientation is a safe place for employees to be in. This is an important question to ask in your survey to determine if your employees want to work for your company.
Do you understand how your work impacts the organization’s business goals?
An organization that helps employees perform better will always experience better employee satisfaction and employee engagement levels. And a workforce that knows how they impact the organization will always be willing to go above and beyond to do good for the organization.
Do you think the organization operates in a socially responsible manner?
An organization that is ethical by all means is the first choice for employees. It is important to know if your employees feel the same or not about the organization they work in. If they have a different opinion, it’s time to evaluate yourself as an organization.
Are you satisfied that the organization’s work is positively impacting the employees in the organization?
Suppose employees are unhappy working and doing things the way an organization wants them to. In that case, there is undoubtedly a conflict of interest, and an organization must take the initiative to resolve this. So if your employees feel that their organization is negatively impacting them, evaluate immediately!
Are you satisfied with the overall job security in the organization?
Job security is important for employees within the organization. This must be addressed if employees fear losing their jobs because of petty issues. This attribute indeed leads to negative work culture.
Does your organization have a safe working environment for all employees?
Employee safety should be on top of the agenda for organizations. If female employees work until late at night, proper arrangements should be made for their safety and protection. At all times, employees should feel safe in the workplace.
Do you think the organization adheres to a zero-tolerance policy against any discrimination?
Another important question that should be a part of a company culture survey; employees need to know there is a zero-tolerance policy against discrimination.
Does your manager/supervisor share decision-making power with you?
It is important employees feel valued at their workplace. If a good manager or supervisor guides an employee in decision-making or gives them responsibility, it shows the greater character of the leadership within the organization.
Do you have a say in the organization’s policy changes?
Employees want to feel heard. Organizations need to implement steps to ensure their employees feel involved and respected, especially while making changes to policies that directly affect them.
Is there a culture of teamwork and cooperation within the organization?
Teamwork and cooperation are the two attributes that determine an organization’s culture to a larger extent. Positive work culture will exhibit both these attributes strongly. Ask your employees what their say is.
Are you satisfied with how performance reviews are conducted in the organization?
Satisfied employees excel in the workplace because they are challenged and given helpful feedback. The performance review is an important process that every organization follows. But knowing whether your employees think it is fair is also important.
Are there any additional questions you would like to add to this survey?
Always include this question towards the end. Employees have some good insights that can be a part of your survey. As you progress, you can make amendments to the existing organization’s culture survey questions-add/delete and collect meaningful feedback.
Good Workplace Culture
Identifying what constitutes a good workplace culture can be challenging, since each organization has a distinct culture. Nevertheless, some characteristics distinguish excellent workplace cultures from those that require improvement.
High Retention Rates: When employees stay with a company or aim to advance within the organization, it indicates a positive workplace culture. This suggests that they are satisfied with the company's values and the way it operates.
Inter-Employee Friendships: Organizations with positive cultures encourage staff members to build relationships beyond their job duties. If employees enjoy each other's company and take the time to get to know their colleagues personally, it is a positive cultural indicator.
Content Employees: Companies that prioritize creating a welcoming culture establish a work environment where employees feel content. Although everyone has off days, most team members should remain upbeat and happy throughout the day. If most employees appear down or disinterested in their job, it signals that the company culture needs improvement.
Transparency at All Levels: Open communication demonstrates that a company values its employees and wants to ensure their comfort with all aspects of the business. Companies that are transparent and honest about their performance have a better chance of establishing a positive workplace culture.
Diversity: A diverse workforce indicates that companies value the unique perspectives that individuals from different backgrounds bring to the organization.
Perks That Make a Difference: While amenities like beanbag chairs and free soda can enhance the culture's surface, they are not what employees desire most. Companies that offer perks like work/life balance, flexible work hours, remote work policies, and other employee-requested options tend to have better cultures than those that provide only superficial perks like a ping pong table in the break room or overly colourful office spaces
Assessing Workplace Culture
Assessing workplace culture is a multistep process, since every organization has a unique work environment, just as each employee has a distinctive personality.
The first step involves analysing the company's core values, mission statement, and the stories it presents to potential clients and employees. This helps identify what sets the organization apart and how it operates.
Next, it is essential to obtain employee feedback through a workplace culture scan, allowing them to provide anonymous insights. This enables companies to gain insight into employees' perceptions of their work environment.
After obtaining employee responses, it is crucial to evaluate how they align with the company's ideals. If the company is successful in maintaining a positive work culture, employees should have positive things to say about their experiences.
In addition to reviewing survey responses, organizations can evaluate their workplace culture by examining overall retention and performance rates. If employees remain with the company for several years and aspire to progress within the organization, it suggests a favourable work environment.
Scan types
It is a common misconception that workplace culture scans, employee engagement surveys, and employee satisfaction surveys are interchangeable. In reality, they provide distinct insights into the organization's functioning and its impact on employees.
Workplace culture scans aim to gauge employees' perceptions of the company's culture, including managerial style, areas for improvement, and positive aspects of the culture. It offers a comprehensive overview of the organization's culture and how it is experienced by the workforce.
Employee engagement surveys help understand the degree of involvement, motivation, and enthusiasm that employees have for their work. It also identifies areas where employees are passionate, helping to grow teams and departments. Engaged employees can positively impact workplace culture.
Employee satisfaction surveys offer insights into employees' overall happiness with their work experience, including workplace culture and engagement levels. These surveys help determine the organization's general reputation among employees, regardless of whether the culture needs improvement.