Case: Carolina Biological Uses Survey to Assess Worker Engagement

Carolina Biological Supply, a Burlington, North Carolina provider of science and math educational products, uses a survey platform called Net Pro- moter System to track customers’ impressions of the service provided by the company. However, the sys- tem has also enabled Carolina Biological Supply to assess the degree to which employees are engaged with workplace processes and activities. Accord- ing to Katina Richmond, PHR, the information provided by the survey enables company leaders to identify key challenges associated with certain po- sitions and work areas, which helps them develop useful solutions to problems. The instrument is anonymous and does not use the typical items and rating scales that are found on many other surveys. Even more importantly, it takes only about five minutes to answer the survey, which has driven the response rate up to around 80%.

The Net Promoter System is anchored by the question, “How likely would you be to recom- mend this company to a friend or family member?” Customer responses are provided on a 10-point scale, and individuals are placed into one of three groups: Promoters score a 9 to 10, Passives score a 7 to 8, and Detractors score a 0 to 6. The overall classifications enable companies to develop what are called Net Promoter Scores. HR profession- als can use a variation of this question to evalu- ate employee engagement. The question is, “How likely would you be to recommend working at this

company to a friend or family member?” There are other questions that can be used to measure both customer and employee satisfaction with a particu- lar company. Survey participants can also provide written comments that provide richer data that can be analyzed.

Katina Richmond supervises the survey policy at Carolina Biological, including coordinating some of the administration, developing time lines, designing the survey, and communicating the purpose and expectations. This shows that it is typical for HR professionals to be highly engaged in the survey process, despite the involvement of a third party provider. HR is also involved in developing plans that address any challenges highlighted in the survey data. A program called Carolina Cash was developed to reward employees for providing excel- lent ideas that benefit the organization.62

Questions

1. Since surveys can be important tools for obtain- ing employee feedback, how can HR professionals use them more effectively? What else could Carolina Biological do to get useful feedback from its employees?

2. What is your opinion of the Net Promoter System? What do you think are the advantages as- sociated with this survey system? What are the potential disadvantages?