Conduct an agent satisfaction survey

Satisfied employees are good for business. There’s ample research to back up that claim. In the world of customer service, an employee’s level of satisfaction can have dramatic effects on customer relationships, positive or negative.

But how do you go about measuring employee satisfaction? And once you have feedback, how do you act on it?

We’ve been conducting an employee satisfaction survey of our Customer Advocacy team since 2015. This effort is led by Lori Gauthier, with an assist by Dave Dyson. Lori, our director of marketing research at Zendesk, holds a doctorate in communication and a PhD minor from Stanford, where she taught a course in communication-research methods, and Dave (author of the guide) is a senior customer service evangelist and former customer advocate, support manager and senior support manager. Leadership at Zendesk has found the results invaluable; direct, high-quality survey feedback on work culture, career development, opinions of management and more, makes it possible to identify problems and develop a plan to improve.

Happier employees are less likely to job hop. A Gallup survey shows that only 37 percent of engaged employees are job hunting, compared with 73 percent of actively disengaged employees. Don’t forget how much time, money, and effort you put into recruiting, onboarding, and training your employees. When they stay, that investment pays off—all the ways in which they grow and develop benefits your company, your customers.

While our survey focuses on agent satisfaction, it can benefit most any company or team. In our Employee Satisfaction Survey Guide, we share insights on who to survey, what questions the survey should ask, and how often management should consider conducting it. We include sample survey questions and elements of a sample survey.

Yes, a survey like this takes time and resources to compile and assess, and it takes time away from your employees’ actual work. We say it’s worth it. Ask the questions, gather the responses, assess the insights. Then make decisions that will satisfy your employees—and customers—in the years to come.