What to Do When Employee Survey Results Are Bad: A 30-Day Roadmap

When employee survey results come in worse than expected, the first 30 days are decisive: in week 1, read the results without getting defensive; in week 2, choose no more than 2–3 priority areas; in week 3, share the results openly with employees; and in week 4, launch the first concrete action. A low score is not a failure; it shows that employees are being honest about problems. The real risk is quietly shelving the results.

First, know this: a low score is a sign of a good survey

When employees do not trust anonymity or believe the results will lead nowhere, they get through the survey with positive answers. A result lower than expected often means employees are finally speaking up.

So the first reaction should not be "the results are wrong" or "it was a tough period." That defensive reflex teaches employees not to be honest next time.

Week 1: Read the results correctly

• Look at the distribution, not the company average. A low overall score may point to a few teams rather than the whole organization.
• Examine the breakdowns. Differences by unit, location, manager, tenure and white-collar vs. blue-collar reveal the real problem. We cover this analysis in detail in our article on segmentation in employee surveys.
• Compare with the previous survey and with your industry. Some dimensions score low everywhere; pay satisfaction is the typical example. The real problems lie where you trail your industry significantly. To make that comparison properly, see our article on employee engagement benchmarks.
• Read the open-ended comments. Numbers tell you "what"; comments tell you "why."

You can find the steps for reading results in our guide on how to analyze employee survey results.

Week 2: Choose your priorities

Trying to fix everything at once ends with nothing fixed. Choose no more than 2–3 priority areas.

Weigh two criteria together: areas with a high impact on engagement and areas the organization can influence in the short term. Budget-dependent issues such as pay matter, but you can make much faster progress in areas like communication, recognition and management practices.

Week 3: Share the results with employees

If employees never hear the results, they conclude that taking part was pointless. When sharing them:

• Be open about both strengths and weaknesses. Sharing only the good news damages trust.
• Make "we heard you" concrete by naming the priority areas you chose.
• A short message from senior leadership shows the topic is being taken seriously.
• Have each manager discuss their own team's results with the team.

Week 4: Launch the first action

Even if the full action plan is not ready, take the first concrete step within 30 days. A small but visible change sends a stronger message than a long action plan document.

Give every action an owner, a deadline and a measure of success. A few months later, track change in the priority areas with a short pulse survey. We explain how pulse surveys fit alongside the annual survey in our article on how often to run employee surveys.

5 mistakes to avoid

1. Sharing results only with senior leadership and never announcing them to employees.
2. Publicly holding the managers of low-scoring teams responsible.
3. Trying to identify who wrote a comment. This permanently destroys trust in anonymity.
4. Launching actions in ten different areas at the same time.
5. Not raising the topic again until the next survey.

To turn results into lasting change after the first 30 days, see our article on turning survey results into company culture. If you need an outside perspective to interpret the results and set priorities, get in touch with us.

Frequently asked questions