The power of employee surveys: How Honestly helps mobilezone enhance employee satisfaction

There are many ways to survey the satisfaction of a company's workforce. One of them is a standardized employee survey. Many companies therefore enlist the help of a software solution. The advantage: a wide selection of standard questions that can be put together as desired to form an individual questionnaire, evaluation options or professional support from experts. Often the impulse to look for such a solution is triggered by a specific occasion, as was the case at mobilezone.  

As part of the development of a sustainability strategy, which also includes sustainable employee management, the question of employee satisfaction arose at mobilezone, as well as a standardized survey and a corresponding KPI of the same. 

For many years, the feedback culture at mobilezone has included annual employee reviews, which take place between the direct supervisor and the employee, with the two people evaluating each other and jointly setting goals. This measure offers the valuable opportunity for direct feedback and improvement possibilities. Since December 2021, this has been supplemented by the annual employee survey via Honestly, which provides a broad picture of the general satisfaction of the workforce and asks about topics that have become topical over the year and should be addressed.  

Obtaining the above-mentioned overall picture, but also the desire to obtain the opinions of employees on certain individual topics - in order to derive actionable measures from them - required the use of a software solution that offers more than just the creation of surveys. This is where Honestly comes in, with their experts in employer branding, employee satisfaction and employee engagement.

Summary

• mobilezone was looking for a flexible software solution to boost employee engagement and satisfaction within the company through surveys and subsequent implementation. Free providers were too simplistic in this regard, while other solutions were too complex and far-reaching to offer any added value for mobilezone.

• With the plan of the annual survey fixed from the outset, mobilezone was faced with the question of the most effective approach in terms of vendor selection. 

• In addition to basic topics such as employee satisfaction, motivation or information flow were included in the survey, as well as current topics related to satisfaction were asked.

About mobilezone

The mobilezone Group operates in Switzerland and Germany. It employs almost 1,000 people at its sites in Rotkreuz, Urnäsch, Cologne, Münster, Bochum and Berlin. The subsidiaries in Switzerland, mobilezone ag, mobilezone business, mobilezone reload ag, TalkTalk AG and in Germany mobilezone Handel, powwow GmbH and powwow Berlin GmbH belong to mobilezone holding AG.

We spoke with Martina Högger, Senior Manager Corporate Communications and Sustainability Officer at mobilezone.

Whether general questions or a specific goal, the main objective is target-oriented feedback

Even before the cooperation with Honestly, mobilezone had a clear idea on the topic of employee surveys regarding the necessary processes and the related requirements: 

An annual survey should be conducted and the questions contained therein should first be dedicated to general employee satisfaction. However, other relevant internal company topics - such as the issue of sustainability - were also to be addressed. Now the question of optimal implementation arose for mobilezone. 

Sustainability comes in many forms

"As a company, we want to be sustainable where we can make a difference. To achieve that, we need happy employees. The topics of sustainability and employee satisfaction are therefore closely linked at our company."

As in all other industries, the topic of sustainability is highly relevant in the telecommunications industry. At mobilezone, the concept of sustainability not only covers the products, but is also anchored as an integral part of employee engagement. 

At the product level, mobilezone promotes the preservation of smartphone cycles through refurbishing processes - i.e. the overhaul and repair of used smartphones for the purpose of reuse. As part of the employee surveys, participants* are asked about sustainability issues in the surveys and are asked to point out potential inconsistencies in the processes and suggest improvements.

At the employee satisfaction level, topics such as satisfaction with supervisors, with employees and general satisfaction with the company are addressed in the form of an eNPS. The annual survey is also used, for example, to obtain employees' impressions on topics such as working from home or catering at the workplace. 

The results are then processed and entered into a materiality matrix, where the relevance of the individual topics is discussed. This is done in a workshop where the final adjustments are made to the materiality matrix. The sustainability strategy was then developed from these workshops. 

Research, realization, registration - Why mobilezone chose Honestly.

"Of course, you can use free software and then put together questions for your employees at random, but we wanted to do it right from the start, so we looked for a solution where you are accompanied at all times." - Martina

With the existing range of free survey tools and the decision made beforehand to initially conduct "only" one survey a year, it is not surprising if many companies initially opt for the free option. However, it was obvious to mobilezone from the very beginning that choosing a free alternative would not have been a good idea. After all, they were looking for a solution, not a tool.

Making the correct decision when choosing a software solution, especially when it concerns an essential topic such as employee engagement, takes a lot of time because many aspects have to be considered. 

In addition to basic requirements such as data security, preservation of employee anonymity or customer service in relevant languages, company-specific requirements such as connection to the right API or the option of comprehensive consulting must also be met. In addition, companies must also ensure that the software solution they are considering does not "overshoot the mark." 

Just as some solutions - especially the free ones - often offer a company too little, the opposite is equally possible. For example, some software solutions offer too many options for a company's current needs that end up not being used. For these reasons, mobilezone deliberately decided against an overly complex solution. Honestly's software, on the other hand, came into consideration for mobilezone because it is used by many enterprise customers, as well as by medium-sized companies at the same time, and thus offers the corresponding flexibility.

The flexibility of Honestly's solution allows the product to be used effectively by companies of all sizes. From small business to enterprise, all needs can be covered. Even the combination of an enterprise company like mobilezone, which first starts with an annual survey and keeps open the possibility of a potential expansion, is always possible with Honestly.

As mentioned above, mobilezone was looking for a software solution that made them feel picked up from a customer perspective. With Honestly, the process is designed by default in such a way that every step - from implementation, to questionnaire design, to evaluation - is accompanied. This means that you can count on active support and advice at any time, no matter what form it takes. mobilezone took advantage of this by obtaining written advice on their questionnaire from one of our experts, whose suggestions were implemented in the next survey.

Conclusion

If the desired result is only to answer general questions about the company, the use of free tools is a good idea. However, if you want to build employee engagement and motivation in a goal-oriented way, as mobilezone does, you need a solution that offers more than mere surveys. 

Honestly offers all customers a flexible software that adapts to the specific needs of the company. This flexibility, combined with constant support during use - especially when it comes to survey alignment and design - has convinced mobilezone of Honestly's solution.