Employee sentiment analysis gives you an understanding of how your overall employee experience is perceived. But what exactly is employee sentiment analysis? Why is it important? And what should be included in employee sentiment analysis?
What is employee sentiment analysis?
Employee sentiment analysis is the evaluation of your employee’s opinions – usually using AI (artificial intelligence) technology – to measure overall employee experience. It helps employers gauge how their workforce is feeling and what they’re saying about them – effectively measuring the ‘mood’ of your workforce.
Employee sentiment analysis is generally implemented as part of a wider employee listening strategy, offering insights into which areas are performing well or need improving.
Why is employee sentiment analysis important?
With three in five workers in the UK stating they are disengaged at work, employee sentiment analysis is important as it provides employers with the insights they need to create positive change.
Employee sentiment analysis can help improve employee engagement, reduce absence and, as a result, increase customer satisfaction and commercial outcomes.
What should be included in employee sentiment analysis?
Employee sentiment analysis should cover the whole employee experience and include topics such as:
- Employee brand perception
- Onboarding experience
- Working environment
- Recognition and reward
- Personal development
- Promotional opportunities
- Leadership and management
- Employee satisfaction
What are the benefits of employee sentiment analysis?
There are a host of benefits for organisations undertaking employee sentiment analysis as part of their employee listening strategy:
- Make your employees feel valued – and act on the insights gathered, so your employees are more engaged with the feedback process.
- Make strategic people decisions based on real data from the whole workforce, rather than gut feel or the voices of one minority group.
- Get a better understanding of what’s impacting on morale, take decisive action or better anticipate the impact of changes within the business.
- Segment feelings or sentiments by demographic, identifying if certain traits are common to distinct groups of people.
- Improve engagement and retention, identifying employees or teams who are at risk of leaving and be proactive in re-engaging them.
How does technology help employee sentiment analysis?
Traditionally, employee sentiment was determined manually through annual performance reviews or one-to-ones with line managers. While both are still valuable methods of feedback, they’re dependent on open relationships and honest conversations.AI has sped up the process for this type of employee feedback, providing fast and confidential methods for collecting and processing qualitative data into themes through machine learning. Using models such as positive and negative word or phrase frequency helps identify trends in the data – and, combined with other insights such as retention and sickness rates, or employee reviews, makes informed decision making much easier for HR and leadership teams.
The WorkBuzz platform offers exactly this. Our machine-learning algorithms analyse employee feedback comments in real time, getting to the heart of your workforce and helping you improve employee engagement.
Related content:
[RESEARCH] The State of Employee Engagement 2022
[eBook] Employee Engagement & Experience: A measurement and metrics framework
[ARTICLE] 7 tips for getting actionable insights from your surveys
[ARTICLE] How People Science can enhance employee engagement
Book a demo
”WorkBuzz has been incredibly helpful throughout the transformation of our employee listening strategy.
Catriona Mackay Miller, HR Business PartnerArbuthnot Latham
”We have been very pleased with WorkBuzz. The past 12 months have been massively challenging and the insights we have gained have helped to inform key business and people decisions.
David Wilkinson, Human Resources DirectorPremier Foods
”Lots of HR tech companies talk a good game, but turn out to be much less flexible in practice. WorkBuzz are an exception in the employee experience space.
Neil Hayward, Former HR DirectorHS2
