Free text comments are tested in the KTH Employee Pulse Survey
KTH's Human Resources Department is trialling free text comments in the KTH Employee Pulse Survey.
In the employee survey that goes out on 3 September, it will be possible to leave comments on two questions and on the entire theme area of the survey.
“We hope that this will lead to a greater sense of participation, a higher response rate, and even better discussions at workplace meetings,“ says Mikael Visén, HR specialist in labour law and work environment.
KTH Employee Pulse Survey is a university-wide employee survey that was introduced at KTH in 2023 and is sent out by e-mail once a quarter. The tool helps employers and employee organisations to investigate the work environment and create up-to-date information for dialogue between managers, safety organisations and employees.
Both employees and managers have requested the possibility to provide more information in connection with the answers.
“There has been some frustration about the questions asked in the Employee Pulse Survey and how they have been formulated. We have based the survey on the general work environment at KTH, and some people have not felt that it has been adapted to their work environment. This is a middle ground. The questions have not been changed, but if you are given the opportunity to comment on how you interpret the question, it may feel better,” Visén says.
Anonymous answers
The group results are presented regarding groups where at least seven people have responded. The answers are anonymous. It has been possible to leave comments in previous employee surveys, before the Employee Pulse Survey, but these could only be read by the HR department and employee organisations.
“The free-text comment function gives employees the opportunity to clarify what they mean by their answer or give suggestions on how to work to maintain good results or improve the area. I hope that people will actually take the opportunity to write a comment if they have any particular feelings about any of the questions we open up the commenting possibility for,” Visén says.
The free text comments will be included in the results report that managers can pick out for discussion. As responses should be anonymous, comments containing for example personal names, diagnoses, or offensive and sensitive language will be hidden in the results.
Which questions are suitable for free text comments?
“Actually all of them, but we are starting on a small scale to see how it is received by employees and managers. We also want to gauge how much work there might be for HR when we activate the function fully.”
Text: Sabina Fabrizi