One morning my daughter, Amanda, was loading up the SUV getting ready to leave for school (she’s a teacher) and she hit the garage door opener to let in some light. She suddenly heard her son (my adorable, could do no wrong grandson), Michael, saying “Mommy, Mommy” in a rather desperate voice. She walked around the vehicle and couldn’t find him until she suddenly realized the voice was coming from above her. Little Michael was standing on a brace of the garage door when Amanda opened the door, and he held on tight and rode the door all the way up. Being the good Mom Amanda is, she climbed on top of the SUV and rescued her son.

When companies do employee surveys and then don’t share the data and more importantly don’t address the issues identified by employees, they leave employees hanging, somewhat like little Michael hanging onto the garage door. Instead, companies need to be vigilant in responding to all concerns in a timely manner. At least give updates letting employees know you are working on the issues. By doing the survey you raise expectations, and then when you don’t respond to the issues, you make the situation worse than if you hadn’t surveyed employees at all. Even if the responses aren’t what employees were hoping for you are better off delivering the bad news than ignoring the topic altogether.

Are your front-line leaders (supervisors and managers) savvy when it comes to talking with employees about their workplace needs and wants? Do they understand the importance of such discussions and allow the necessary time for them?

Here’s an idea for helping them with this important leadership responsibility. Consider doing a survey with a series of questions that get to the issues affecting employee happiness. Issues like: autonomy, balance, career growth, diversity, environment, expression, recognition, stability, structure and teamwork. Ask employees two things: what’s important to them and how well each of these needs are being met. It’s important to remember that one employee may consider balance an important issue, where another may be more concerned with career growth. By understanding what is important to each employee and trying to meet their individual needs you will have increased employee commitment, happiness, and productivity.

You can even develop a list of discussion questions for each of the issues to assist your leadership team with the discussions.

If this sounds interesting and you would like a ready- made survey instrument that includes discussion questions and even allows you to store this information, check out the Work Expectations Profile information shown below.

Click the link to learn more about the Work Expectations Profile, or to download a sample report. Don’t hesitate to call for guidance or to learn how you can set up a company account allowing your entire organization to experience numerous instruments and profiles 24/7.