Worldwide Employee Survey Starts June 3

It’s official, the date is set: The fourth worldwide employee survey at Bertelsmann starts June 3. For two weeks, employees in nearly 50 countries will again have the opportunity to complete a questionnaire and anonymously share their thoughts on important aspects of their professional life. Employees can use the questionnaire to point out what they are happy with and where they see possibilities for improvement.

The employee survey is one of the most important elements in Bertelsmann’s corporate culture of partnership. Since 1977, employees have been asked to take part in regular intervals, initially in Germany and since 2002 in all other countries where Bertelsmann companies are active. A total of 69,454 colleagues completed their questionnaires for the most recent survey in 2010 – 85.1 percent of all eligible employees. In the following weeks and months, the results were discussed in individual teams at corporate, divisional and Group level, and actions were planned and implemented. To give employees a more frequent opportunity to take actions, and be able to better track the implementation of the follow-up processes, the survey interval period has been reduced from four to three years – so the next one takes place this coming June.

Preparations are in full swing

The central project team at the Corporate Center in Gütersloh has been preparing the upcoming employee survey since last year, in close cooperation with Bertelsmann’s Works Council. For example, the project team worked closely with the Bertelsmann Works Council and the representatives of the divisions to develop the questionnaire. The team’s tasks also include training the nearly 400 survey representatives. “The success of the project hinges on the commitment of the survey representatives at the individual companies,” says project manager Martina Mönninghoff. At each company there is a colleague who carries out the survey locally. Additionally, there are division representatives whose tasks are, among others, the communication and coordination at the divisional level.

Workshops were held around the world between November 2012 and February 2013 to brief the survey representatives on all processes scheduled during the employee survey. In cities like Shanghai, New York, Barcelona, Paris, Hamburg and Gütersloh, the project team intensively prepared the survey representatives for their tasks during the employee survey. The local employee representatives are also to be closely involved in the overall process; so many of them attended the workshops as well. In the meantime, the survey representatives have begun with their work at their respective companies. Employee representatives are being involved in their on-site preparations as well.