Does anyone have any best practices to share on this topic? I'm looking to develop a survey that measures an employee's satisfaction with the job and the company after 90 days of employment.

jvarone,

One of the real benefits of new survey tools is the ability to track feedback over time. 90 day checks are fine, but you can also check back in at longer intervals to monitor changes/trends.

Web based tools also allow you to break out data by category (time in organization, position, department...etc) This is a great way to get a sense for the degree to which time in an organization impacts the various metrics you are following.

The only best practices I would offer in your specific case are these:

1. Make sure you ask for feedback on topics the person has been in a position to observe/experience. (I see an awful lot of organization surveys that ask an entry level employee for feedback on the CEO, Board, etc. The tendency is for people to respond, even though they have zero exposure to these individuals.)

2. Craft your survey in a way that produces actionable information. People new to a system are in an excellent position to describe their "on-boarding" experiences...those initial conditions that impact their long term commitment to the company. If you aren't planning to do something tangible with the information, don't bother.

3. Protect the data and the person who provides it. Present data in aggregate form rather than attribute to a person. Surveys are trust builders or busters. Your choice.

4. Don't let the survey get in the way of the still forming relationship between the employee and their supervisor/manager...etc. That relationship is more important than anything you will learn from a 90 day pulse check. Make this initial survey about policies and procedures, not people and performance.

Jeff

Why do you care about employee satisfaction? I"m not being obnoxious here. If organizations are honest, when asked "why do you care if employee sat is high/low?" they'd say something like "to reduce turnover" or "so people will work harder/be more productive."

Well if the issue is about turnover than ask questions that are indicators with turnover. If it's about being more productive, than measure productivity (and not behavior, but outcomes).

I'm not arguing that "it's only about results--the heck with the employees." But I've seen plenty of instances where unhappy employees produced miracles and worked great. And happy employees were incompetent or performed poorly. It does not follow that if employees are "satisfied" than they'll work well.

Start first by asking yourself "why do we care about employee satisfaction?" And an honest answer will then tell you what it is you need to measure.