Which is the best approach that HR should recommend leaders undertake after the results of an annual employee engagement survey show a significant decline?

Explorance is dedicated to protecting the data our customers entrust to us. This Privacy Policy outlines in clear and simple terms our approach to information security and data protection. It has recently been expanded to meet and exceed the requirements for the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and continues to uphold the regulations of other countries and states.

Our privacy policy governs both our sales & marketing practices and products & services. We have separated these two topics on this site to make it easier for you to find the information you are looking for. In both cases, we describe what information we collect, how it is used, our lawful basis for this usage, how we keep it secure, and your rights and the rights of all users of our products and services.

Sales & Marketing

What information do we collect?

We collect information from you when you register on our site, subscribe to our newsletter, respond to a survey or fill out a form. When requesting information or registering on our site, you will be asked to enter your name, e-mail address and/or phone number. You may, however, browse our site anonymously. Additionally, we use Google Analytics to track website usage metrics. Please see our cookie policy for more details.

How do we use this information?

The information we collect from you may be used to respond to a request for more information, personalize your experience, improve our website and customer service, and send you periodic emails such as newsletters, company news and related product information. All such email communications from Explorance will offer the option to opt-out of any similar notifications.

What is the lawful basis for using this information?

The primary basis is known as “legitimate interests”, that is, we have a good and fair reason to use your data and we do so in ways which do not infringe on your rights and interests. The second basis is to support our contractual obligations with our customers.

How is your data kept secure?

We use world-class software systems to securely store all information collected from our website and other sources related to sales and marketing. As well, Explorance has several internal data security policies and programs, including a direct marketing policy, an information security and data protection policy, a breach notification policy, and a company-wide security awareness training program. These policies are reviewed on a regular basis by our data protection governance team.

Is your data shared with third-parties?

No information collected through our website is sold to or shared for use by third parties. Information collected on our website is stored in secure systems and is accessed only by authorized personnel. However, we may release your information when we believe it is appropriate to comply with the law, enforce our site policies, or protect our or others rights, property, or safety.

What are your rights?

In addition to the right to know how your data is used and who it is shared with (which is covered above), your rights include the right to know what personal information we have collected, the right to receive a copy of that data, the right to make corrections, and to request that it be deleted. For all such requests, please contact your account manager or send an email to . We will be happy to address any concerns you have and assist in any way we can.

Products & Services

What information do we collect?

The set of personally identifiable information is defined by our customers (aka “controllers”), and is typically demographic data associated with the recipients of evaluations and surveys provided by our products.

Additionally, we collect and store certain types of information through passive collection tools, such as cookies and encrypted authentication tokens. Cookies are small text files placed on your computer which our products can retrieve later. If analytics are enabled, additional information may be collected such as fillout channel, type of browser and device, IP address, and operating system. Our products provide the option to use third-party analytics tools such as Google Analytics.

How do we use this information?

The information is processed as requested by the customer, which is typically reporting results from evaluations and surveys. Cookies and analytics data help us understand how you use our products, so that we can improve your user experience.

What is the lawful basis for using this information?

We process the data at the request of our customers, under contractual obligations which comply with local, state, provincial and federal legislation. This includes FERPA (Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act) , PIPEDA (Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act), GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation), APP (Australian Privacy Principles) and PDPA (Personal Data Protection Act).

How is your data kept secure?

End-user access control is typically implemented via the customer’s authentication service. Our Blue hosted data center, based in Canada, is SOC 2 Type 2 certified, and Bluepulse, BlueX and MTM leverages Microsoft’s Azure regional data centers. Data transfers use secure ftp and https. As well, Explorance has several internal data security policies and programs, including an information security and data protection policy, a breach notification policy, and a company-wide security awareness training program. These policies are reviewed on a regular basis by our data protection governance team.

Is your data shared with third-parties?

No information collected through our products is shared with third parties without the explicit consent of an authorized customer representative.

What are the rights of end-users of our products?

It is the responsibility of the customer to inform their end-users of their rights and to uphold those rights based on their respective local regulations. That being said, Explorance’s products and services strive to uphold the privacy principles outlined in regulations such as GDPR, PIPEDA, FERPA, APP, PDPC, and we will support you and your end users in every way possible, including:

• Right to be informed – Our products support customized messaging that can be used to inform your end-users.
• Right to access and to data portability – Authorized administrators can extract the requested data from our products.
• Right to correction – Authorized administrators can update data as required in all of our products.
• Right to erasure – Personally identifiable data can be made anonymous upon request.
• Right to restrict processing – Authorized administrators can disable processing by closing off tasks or updating profile information.
• Right to object – This process is defined by individual customers as required by local legislation.
• Rights related to automated decision making including profiling – Our products do not process data in this manner.

Terms and Conditions

Our Terms and Conditions establishes the use, disclaimers, and limitations of liability governing the use of our website. By using our site, you consent to these terms and conditions and to our online privacy policy.

Our SMS terms and conditions establishes the use, disclaimers, and limitations of liability governing the use of the Short Message Service (“SMS” or “Text Message”) features of our products and services.

Explorance is committed to a world-class standard of information security and will update its policies and products as global regulations evolve.

For further information, or to submit a complaint or request, please send an email to .

This privacy policy may be updated from time to time. Please revisit this page periodically to ensure you are aware of any changes.

This privacy policy was last updated on June 02, 2021.

If you conduct a survey but don't communicate or act on the results, what's the point? Did it actually make a difference? (Hint: Probably not.)

Without action, your employee engagement plans will fall short. So how can you make the most of your employee engagement surveys?

Use the following tips to understand what to do with employee engagement survey results to increase engagement across the board.

1. Communicate clearly.

Communication is a crucial part of launching a successful engagement survey. Keep both managers and employees in the loop at each stage—before, during, and after the survey.

Thank employees for participating.

After the survey closes, send an email to thank your employees for participating and providing their feedback, and share the overall response rate.

Set expectations, clarify accountability, and commit to a timeline.

Work with team managers to share next steps in the action planning process and set expectations for the timeline and accountability for engagement survey results.

2. Review your survey results.

Review and analyze your employee survey results with your provider and internal survey project team. There are multiple ways to assess your survey results. Here are some quick tips:

Evaluate favorability.

Favorability gives you a high-level view into your organization's engagement. Overall favorability is a combination of responses that are either "Strongly Agree" or "Agree" across all survey questions asked. An overall favorability of 70% or higher is healthy.

Understand your unique engagement drivers.

This helps you identify survey questions that have the highest correlation to employee engagement so you can pinpoint which results to focus your action on.

• Do you notice any themes?
• Which key drivers are most favorable?
• Which key drivers are least favorable?
• Which key drivers have improved or declined since the last survey?

Compare results to your last survey.

Review areas of greatest improvement and decline since your last survey so you can understand what progress you’ve made (and can continue to reinforce) as well as what areas need more attention.

Examine group level differences.

Slice and dice your data to compare different demographics within your organization. This can help you understand unique employee perceptions across teams, departments, locations, functions, gender, tenure, etc. so you can better target your efforts.

With your results and analyses in hand, you can present your findings to the leadership team to begin initial discussions on takeaways, areas of focus, and potential action plans.

3. Share key survey findings with employees.

After analyzing and sharing results with senior leadership, loop your employees in on some of the key stats and findings.

Share encouraging and relevant insights such as “most improved,” “largest gap compared to last year,” and other stats your employees will find interesting. Updating your employees helps keep the survey top of mind and demonstrates that their feedback has been heard—even if you haven’t yet taken action on those results.

Provide access to managers.

Provide access to the employee engagement survey results and analyses to your managers. Your managers are your biggest asset when it comes to employee engagement because they are on the ground with teams. They can provide important insight into the results and should play a key role in shaping what happens next.

Hold focus groups to discuss results.

Hold focus groups with employees to discuss survey results and uncover deeper insights and actionable engagement steps you can take from the survey. Focus groups also reinforce your commitment to listening to employee feedback and show you value their input.

4. Make a plan.

The results are in and leaders and employees have weighed in on the initial findings. Now is the time to make a plan. Develop employee engagement action plans at both the organizational level and on the team level. Focus on two or three main areas to work on as a company, then use those broader goals to guide your managers at the team level.

Encourage managers to make a plan for their individual teams.

Managers are best positioned to understand their employees and their team’s unique strengths, weaknesses, and dynamics, so they can more effectively work with their teams to design a successful action plan. This will empower your managers (and their employees) to take ownership of the action items and engage more meaningfully in the work.

5. Act on the plan.

With a plan in place, it’s time to take action. Employees who saw action following a survey were 12 times more likely to be engaged the following year than those who don’t experience follow-up.

Your plan should include action items, assignments, and timelines (for both leadership and employees). Communicate expectations, follow up with managers on progress, and share what actions you are taking as an organization as a result of the survey.

6. Communicate those actions regularly.

It’s easy to lose steam over time, but don’t let your plans fall to the side. An employee engagement survey is only as good as the action taken as a result of the survey. Our research shows that response rates decrease the following year when you do nothing, or don't communicate what you've done, with the data.

That’s why it’s important to continue communicating with your employees about actions taken throughout the year. Even if you made changes based on your data, if that isn't clearly displayed to employees, they won't make the connection and understand the importance of the survey.

Communicate the changes you made and connect them back to the survey.

Adding a simple statement like, “As a result of last year's engagement survey...” can make all the difference in connecting action to survey results.

For example: “As a result of last year's employee engagement survey, we implemented a company-wide recognition tool, installed taller cube dividers, and held Start/Stop/Continue meetings across teams to improve cross-functional relations and collaboration.”

7. Get ready to survey again.

For best results, plan ahead. How did your last survey go? What bumps or kinks could be ironed out (or avoided)? Does everyone know their role or responsibility?

Provide clarity for the role each person plays in employee engagement. Develop a plan before the survey launches: what role will HR play? How will managers act on the results? Will leadership be involved?

Assigning responsibilities in your employee survey action plan will ensure that the results lead to action, not fall on deaf ears. Involve managers early on to communicate with their teams about upcoming surveys and encourage employees to participate. If you’ve successfully communicated and acted on past surveys, you should have solid participation again.

Communication and follow-through are critical. Don't be the tree in the forest. Make your employee survey results count and take action today—download our ebook A New Era of Employee Engagement: What It Is and How To Move The Needle.