Improving employee engagement

A case study on how we redesigned and optimized an employee engagement survey feature, resulting in a significant increase in response rate from 40% to 76%, empowering clients with richer feedback for improved employee engagement.

Jump to prototype

About Bayzat:

Bayzat simplifies work life with automated HR, payroll, employee benefits and insurance.

Problem:

The employee feedback feature faced low response rates posing a significant challenge to data accuracy and customer satisfaction.

Impact:

By increasing the average survey response rate by 36%, Bayzat improved employee engagement, enhanced data-driven decision-making, and reduced bias in HR initiatives.

My role

Discovery/User Research
Ideation (Mockups, flows)
Solution (UX and UI)
Validation (User testing)
Handover with Engineering

Stakeholders

Employees (End users)
HR Managers

Timeline

6 weeks (Mid 2023)

Problem space

Symptoms and how it started

The average response rate for surveys was around 40% on Bayzat platform
Customers frequently expressed concerns about low employee participation in surveys, impacting data reliability

Identifying the root cause

To pinpoint the root cause, we collaborated with the BI team to conduct a deep dive into the data.

Problem hypotheses (that we ended up testing)

Desired Outcomes

The average survey response rate is in the good range (65% - 85% response rate).
The employee engagement survey is motivating and exciting to respond to.

Solution space

Chose to experiment and measure

We decided the best way to tackle this problem is to experiment with different solutions and measure impact.

Prioritised based on value

Experiment 1 - Improving Employee Engagement survey

The goal here was to make the Employee engagement survey filling experience more interesting by splitting it into smaller categories. We explored approaches like Chunking, Micro rewards, Gamification to increase the response rate.

Figma tip: Press 'R' to restart the prototype

Multi variant testing

We conducted a multi-variant test to compare three survey design options (current design and two new variants). While measuring response rate wasn't feasible with prototypes and a controlled environment, we focused on measuring the user experience through these metrics:

Interest Level: Which variant users find most engaging?
Motivation Level: Which variant users are most motivated to continue responding?
Ease of Use: Which variant users find easiest to navigate?

To optimize testing time, we created 4 groups with 5 testers each, ensuring diverse demographics in each group.

Group 1: Variant 1 (Baseline) - this group of testers were shown the then current design

Group 2: Variant 2 - this group of testers were shown the variant 2 design.

Group 3: Variant 3 - this group of testers were shown the variant 3 design.

Group 4: Comparing group - this group was shown all three variants.

After completion, each tester was asked to rate:

How interesting did you find the survey design? (1-5 Scale)
How motivated were you to continue responding to the survey? (1-5 scale)
How easy was it to respond and navigate the survey? (1-5 scale)

Results & takeaways

Key takeaways for the tests:

Variant 3 received the highest average ratings across all three user experience metrics (Interest Level, Motivation Level, Ease of Use).
Variant 1 (Baseline) received the lowest average ratings on most metrics.

This test provided valuable insights into user preferences for the three survey design variants and helped us progress and implement variant 3 with reduced risks

Experiment 2 - Guidance on Survey open duration

Encourage survey creators to keep sufficient time for employees to respond to surveys.

Experiment 3 - Allowing to extend survey deadline

Giving the ability to extend survey deadline

Prototype

Impact

Increased avg survey response rate by 36%

HR Director

"Low survey response rates limited our employee engagement insights. Bayzat's improvements boosted participation, allowing us to make data-driven decisions and already see a positive impact on morale."

CEO

"Bayzat's engaging surveys and flexible deadlines dramatically increased response rates. We now hear from more employees and can address their concerns more effectively."

People Operations Lead

"Bayzat's improved surveys and flexible deadlines dramatically increased participation. We now hear from more employees and can address their concerns more effectively."

Learnings

Value of experimental mindset

By testing different hypotheses, we efficiently identified solutions that improved survey completion rates. This approach is valuable for projects with multiple influencing variables.

Defining impact measurements in advance

We learned the importance of defining impact measurement metrics before conducting experiments. This allows for clearer attribution of improvement to specific changes. In future projects, we'll ensure upfront planning for measuring the impact of each experiment.

Reduced risk with Multivariant testing

Multivariant testing with prototypes provided rapid insights into user preferences, allowing us to make informed design decisions without the need for full-scale development and deployment.

Wayne Braganza