PCOs Survey Employees Annually About Job Satisfaction

CLEVELAND – The use of employee job satisfaction surveys isn’t new in the pest control industry. PCOs use results from these surveys to identify areas they are excelling, as well as areas in need of improvement.

How often do PCOs survey employees about job satisfaction. According to results from PCT’s recent poll, 61 percent do so annually while 7 percent survey them 12-18 months and 7 percent 18-24 months. Twenty-five percent do NOT survey employees about job satisfaction.

Stewart Lenner, CEO of Arrow Pest Control, Westfield, N.J., said his company surveys employees every six months and HR conducts annual "stay interviews." Additionally. Arrow utilizes Office Vibe, which sends job satisfaction questions every other week. “It's all about retention and mitigating the cost of hiring and training,” he said. “The goal is to be the workplace of choice!

HR consultant Jean Seawright, president of Seawright & Associates, said employers who survey their employees should be ready to immediately to address any concerns raised and should have a well-thought-out strategy for communicating results. Seawright said, “The worst thing an employer can do after administering a survey is nothing!” 

Seawright also reminded employers that it’s important to carefully word survey questions, taking care to ensure that questions are not ambiguous and that they don’t imply certain things. “Because many employers now conduct their own surveys using online survey software (and most are not survey experts), they can easily fall into traps in terms of how they word the questions, who they survey (one group but not another), how they share the results, and when they conduct the survey (should be a time when they are ready to address the results),” she said.

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