Balance Impossible? Between Customizability and Comparability of Employee Satisfaction Surveys

Abstract

Abstract In a significant share of cases, when multi-objective management systems (e.g. Balanced Scorecard, Quantum Performance Measurement) are in use, the goal of employee satisfaction is part of the set of strategic goals. Quite frequently, this goal is flanked by an indicator, mostly a so-called employee satisfaction index, which is frequently derived from an employee satisfaction survey (ESS). On one hand such a survey has to reflect the characteristics and structure of the enterprises, on the other hand it is known that the question for intercompany-comparison turns up immediately after the disclosure of the results. The paper discusses the results of a meta-analysis of ESS in seven of the larger forest enterprises in Germany. The main topics are underlined and the problems of comparability of customized ESS are shown, while focusing on both wording and scales used for their measurement. A methodological approach of dealing with various scales is discussed based on the results of inter- and intra-company ESS. A vision of a common ESS framework is outlined.