I published my first survey. This is how it felt
After 28 days and 256 total responses, I decided to close my “Perks. Are they actually?” survey and get working on the results, which I will (excitingly) begin sharing in a week. This survey is completely independent and not sponsored, meaning, my time, dime and beliefs.
Gratefully, I have fucking awesome friends who shared, pushed, inspired, taught me excel pivots, awkwardly approached strangers with me and hyped me up, love you!
My survey came to life as a natural part of my journey towards refreshing company culture and the way we view and approach humans, and terms like engagement, employee advocacy and employer branding (which I get in to on my medium stories).
After months of rabbit hole research, reading anything I could find on the subjects; diving deep into what employees are writing anonymously on company review sites; (tactfully) joining in on conversations on the subject with strangers during happy hour and so on, I absolutely knew I needed data to back up my theories, especially as it was a step out of my comfort zone.
My initial goal was to reach 200–500 respondents and after ten days, ~210 responses were submitted. I started by sharing the survey online on my personal Facebook and Linkedin profile, posted a post that didn’t get much engagement in “Troubles in High Tech” FB group. A post in “Women in High Tech” FB group brought a nice amount of responds, and friends that shared with their friend circle.
The day after posting, I went to a Midburn festival and ditched my phone for the weekend. Thoughts of “How’s the survey going” only popped up a couple of times, a personal win for me, practicing being present, one day at a time :)
As a self claimed justice seeker, employee advocate and a human-buffer between employees, management and ego, I wanted to use the survey to put the spotlight on a different side of perks.
Imagining you have health insurance, pension and salary with the benefits you desire, I asked respondents to choose the 5 most and 5 least important perks out of a list of 16 perks [created after reviewing over one hundred companies’ stated values, perks and benefits; published survey reports and lists of best/worst rated perks, crossed that with ratings and reviews left on anonymous sites and more].
Mandatory questions: personal demographic info, how your work is measured and the most and least important perks. Optional questions were: company name, ‘do you trust your HR?’, and open text for comments. The survey is anonymous to provide a better sense of trust needed to share openly and will stay that way (if you know me, you know I never name names).
This was an emotional process for me. A turning point in walking my talk. The engagement, responses and comments I received almost immediately were heartwarming AF. The connections you make at work can stay with you 13 years later, rooting for you, even from afar.
I decided to expand my network reach, so I went offline and hit the streets, hanging around smoking areas/entrances of ‘high-tech-buildings’ in Tel Aviv. Sarona Towers was the first stop. Yes, it began as awkward as you can imagine, gathering the courage to ask strangers to scan a QR code and answer my perks survey.
The first person agreed and was rewarded with a heartful thank you and a clipper lighter of their choice (from a bag of clippers provided by my papa).
After a row of hearing “no”, I was feeling low, and got a text with this “paparazzi” picture to show: 😂 😐
Shortly after, a friend came to hype me up and decided we should move to ‘Hagag Building’. She helped me interact and get over 30 new responses that day. Yay! The second time, I asked a friend to join in advance. We went to Electra building/Yigal Alon area, where we worked together ~3 years ago. The crowd vibe and energy felt different, likely a projection of my own energy levels and insecurities at the time, we got 3 new responses, ate yummy lunch and called it a day.
The closer you work with management and high executive levels, the more you realize how emotional business actually is. Something I (sadly) learned early on — have it in writing. Not to remember or document a process, but to have proof, aka ‘cover your ass’. Imagine having to ask teammates to email all requests, even though they already asked you in person. This is a fine gray line between efficiency vs. status quo.
A huge part of my process was revealing a semi subconscious fear. Facing it, allowing myself to go through the emotion, rather than dismissing and burying it. Vulnerably opening up to a loved one that helped me look at the root of this fear with logical glasses, and amazed at how fast the invisible fear ropes, untie.
Now, back to the excel sheet, to pivot the heck outta the data.
Thanks for reading!
E
www.etcstrategy.net
