In conversation with Heidi Maus, HR Manager at OTTO B.V. Netherlands.
The challenge: greater insight into employee satisfaction
OTTO has been working with Learned since 2023. When employees expressed a need for more transparent reviews, the web shop in the Netherlands first launched our Performance module for objective evaluations – a great improvement for employee development and satisfaction.
But, explains HR manager Heidi, “Engaging in more frequent discussions and conducting objective evaluations is only one step in professionalizing OTTO.” The next step was to continue working with employee satisfaction.
“You want to avoid being told during an exit interview that a colleague didn’t feel heard. That’s why we think it’s important to keep a grip on satisfaction by conducting regular Employee happiness surveys.” – Heidi Maus, HR Manager at OTTO B.V.
While working from home in corona time, the need arose to gain more insight in employee satisfaction – and there is now that office workers are working at OTTO hybrid.
“We want to measure not only overall satisfaction, but also identify what factors and topics determine how satisfied a colleague is, and to what extent these topics affect engagement,” Heidi explains.At the same time, it is important to give employees the space to anonymously share their opinions on a number of internal topics.
Mock-up with fictitious data from a report by Learned Surveys
The solution: measure satisfaction by theme with Surveys
The last Employee happiness survey was quite some time ago, so OTTO partnered with Learned in early 2024 to roll out our product for Employee happiness surveys as well.The advantage of the Survey module from Learned:
- templates with questionnaires
- filled with questions based on scientific research
- Grouped into 18 themes
OTTO chose to use a comprehensive template of scientifically based Survey questions to collect a large amount of data as a baseline measurement. Zo vragen ze bijvoorbeeld de tevredenheid van medewerkers uit over de steun van hun leidinggevende, werk-privébalans, maar ook over doorgroeimogelijkheden en ontwikkeling.
“Implementing the Learned Surveys module was very easy.
It helps tremendously that the module is already populated with themes and questions.” – Heidi Maus, HR Manager at OTTO B.V.
The result: better internal communication, more engaged employees
OTTO’s HR department has gained many useful insights from satisfaction surveys, thanks to the reports. After an Employee happiness survey is completed, the tool shows an overview of the scores per theme . and by department – including a comparison with the average of other organizations, and an AI assistant to help you interpret the results. This analysis help has allowed HR to share key insights with all employees.
In addition, as a follow-up to the first satisfaction survey, OTTO organized an internal workshop to discuss the 6 lowest scoring themes. The concrete results of the survey:
- During the workshops, a number of quick wins were worked out, such as the creation of an organizational chart with photos and a newsletter section in which employees introduce themselves
- OTTO is developing an intranet platformand has more initiatives planned to improve internal communications – and actively engage employees in important news in the organization:
- Action items to further stimulate growth and development, a need that emerged in the survey.
Joint training sessions will be organized, and an online learning platform launched.
In short: there is a baseline measurement on which OTTO can take concrete action, and at the end of the year there will be a follow-up survey to measure its effect. To further explore satisfaction by theme, there are continuous Pulse surveys on the schedule – completely in line with our vision at Learned. Because to measure and improve employee satisfaction, you have to make it an ongoing process!
Tip from OTTO: following up your Employee happiness survey internally is indispensable
Measuring employee satisfaction is an ongoing process in which internal communication plays an enormously important role.
According to Heidi, HR manager at OTTO, you can only make a satisfaction survey successful if you communicate clearly about it – beforehand, during and after.
A few tips from her: “Inform colleagues in time about your research and its purpose. Involve supervisors in the process and discuss the results with everyone internally.”
This way, HR has a better idea of the themes to be improved, managers have a better idea of what is going on within their team and employees see that something is actually being done with their input.