Beyond surveys: Understanding your workforce

You’ve been there. The annual employee survey lands, a flurry of data comes in, and the initial engagement scores look… well, fine. But you have a sneaking suspicion that what’s on the spreadsheet doesn’t tell the whole story. You’re left with a mountain of data that offers little in the way of actionable insights.

It’s a frustrating reality for many strategic people leaders. The tools designed to help us often fall short, providing a superficial view of a complex culture. They tell you what your people think, but they rarely get to the bottom of why they feel and behave the way they do. So, how do you move beyond the limitations of traditional surveys and unlock the real intelligence hiding in your organisation?

The ROI of going beyond the data

As a people leader, you’re all about the numbers and ROI… am I right? Good news: the impact of happy, engaged employees isn’t some fluffy, whimsical concept. Our data provides compelling, tangible evidence for this.

For a company of 1,000 employees, even a modest 1-point increase in employee engagement and happiness scores (on our 10-point scale) can reduce annual turnover by up to 18 employees. That isn’t just a nice number; it creates annual cost savings of £25,800 to £57,000.

Our figures also show that happy employees are 16% less likely to leave than their unhappy colleagues. This is a crucial metric, as it directly translates to retaining top talent, institutional knowledge, and a stable, productive team.

From metrics to meaning: The power of relationships

Traditional surveys often ask a broad range of questions, but they can miss the real drivers of people’s behaviour. Our analysis of employee churn reveals a critical insight: the quality of workplace relationships is the single most impactful factor.

Employees scoring less than 4 out of 10 for relationships were 23% more likely to leave their employer within a year. And, contrary to some popular assumptions, our data indicates that meaning and purpose had the least direct impact on an employee’s likelihood to leave.

This isn’t to say that purpose isn’t important. But when it comes to retention, the solid, day-to-day connections your people have with their colleagues and managers are the real superglue. Academic research into social connections in the workplace consistently supports this finding. This is the sort of insight that traditional surveys would overlook…

Turn people’s intelligence into strategic performance

At The Happiness Index, we’ve gathered over 45 million data points from people in 170 countries. We use this incredible insight to fuel our services, including Action AI – our action-planning service to help you create meaningful actions, and the innovative Perform ROI – our consultancy designed specifically for strategic people leaders who need to demonstrate the direct financial impact of their work.

We don’t just measure; we model the tangible impact of your people initiatives. Perform ROI provides clear intelligence on how HR directly influences:

• Financial performance: Showing the direct link between HR strategies and profitability, revenue, customer satisfaction, retention, and average customer spend.
• Operational and talent dynamics: Providing clarity on how people initiatives optimise operations, reduce costs, and improve employee retention and recruitment.

This isn’t about replacing your existing tools; it’s about giving you the missing piece of the puzzle: a strategic, data-driven link between people metrics and your organisation’s financial and operational outcomes.

Ready to move from survey fatigue to a strategic, data-driven approach that truly understands your people and proves your value to the C-suite?

Curious about how Perform ROI can model the financial impact of your people strategy? Learn more →