Case Study – Fast growing transport company

Situation

A middle sized transport company was experiencing rapid expansion via acquisition. A staff survey was required to check how closely or not the different cultures in the newly acquired companies were aligned. One part of the business had just conducted a staff survey but the new parent company wanted a more targeted survey design combined with more modern survey distribution technology. Full Circle Feedback was contracted to design and run the new survey. Part of the brief was to compare and integrate the previous survey results that had just been completed.

Challenges

The project presented a range of challenges including:

  • Unions were resistant to staff being surveyed as they were concerned about confidentiality and how results would be used
  • Many of the survey respondents were shift workers, out in the field and with no work based computer
  • The previous survey used different questions and rating scale

Solution

A comprehensive communication kit was produced detailing the aims and benefits of the proposed staff survey project. This kit was distributed to union leaders and formed the basis of successful negotiations with the union.

All field based workers were identified and were invited to complete the survey at the beginning of their shift. The survey was done on company time, in a private room with a bank of designated computers. Every respondent was provided with a confidential password to access the survey. All other employees were sent a confidential link to a survey directly to their email address.

Full Circle Feedback was able to manually sort the previous survey items and compare items that were very similar. The previous survey results were converted to the new survey scales using a series of mathematical formulae.

Outcome

Key strengths and major cultural issues requiring action were identified in a whole of organisation report. A break down of results by division highlighted particular parts of the organsation which required urgent action.