2011 Deloitte “Best Company to Work For” Survey breaks new ground and enters new regions |
1 September 2011- The Deloitte “Best Company to Work For” Survey, which has become an annual institution in South African business since its introduction in 2000, is set to deliver more value than ever before for participants interested in gaining independent insights into the views of their staff.
In addition to undergoing several enhancements for 2011, the 12th Survey has also broadened its focus. It has crossed South African borders to give employers in Botswana and Namibia the opportunity to benefit from the Survey insights which, until now, have been the preserve of South African business, says David Conradie, director of Human Capital at Deloitte and head of the annual Deloitte “Best Company to Work For” Survey.
“The Survey still holds true to its original intent of being a mechanism that companies can use to benchmark themselves against their peers and competitors in the Southern African employment market and so assess their standings as employers of choice.
“Over the years, changes and additions to the questions, underlying dimensions and format have taken place as it was recognised that more needed to be done with the data collected so that companies could get more value from the Survey,” says Conradie.
Accordingly, for many employers the Survey has become a valuable diagnostic tool that participants use to inform various human capital and HR strategies as they move forward.
Many have started incorporating the Survey as a standard feature in their annual calendars and it has become hard-wired into the way they do business. Others have taken the virtual participation road, choosing to use the Survey as a mechanism that, instead of a public ranking tool, enables them to privately assess their staff opinions.
Detailed face-to face feedback is offered to participants and delivered by a Deloitte specialist who can give qualitative feedback and advice where appropriate. Feedback to employees now includes the option of having focus groups.
“The key to the success of the ‘Best Company to Work For’ Survey is that it has changed over time to stay relevant with the markets of the time. Several enhancements have again been introduced for 2011.
“We are presently working towards positioning the Survey to rank companies that have managed to deliver an employment experience to employees on those aspects of their work that employees themselves find most important.
“As part of working towards achieving this objective, this year we will be seeing how the ‘experience’ feedback ranks with the ‘importance category’ feedback.
“We will also cover what we have termed the ‘Return on Investment’ aspect. This will ask employees to comment on what they believe the ratio is between what they put into the company compared to the value they get out.
“The intent is to test how employees experience a dimension, for example their relationship with their manager. The aim is to look at the data that emerges, how employees experience the interaction, and what they believe the return on their investment in the process is.”
The items covered in the Survey have also been reduced. Following a detailed longitudinal analysis of Survey data, the previous 80 items have been reduced to 44. This will decrease the time that people take to complete the Survey.
With the expansion of the Survey into Botswana and Namibia, many of the questions that related directly to South African labour conditions, employment equity and transformation have been rephrased to become more generic.
These changes will set the tone for future Surveys to be used further into Africa and include East Africa.
Last Updated:
Related Links
Material on this website is © 2013 Deloitte Global Services Limited, or a member firm of Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu Limited, or one of their affiliates. See Legal for copyright and other legal information.
Deloitte refers to one or more of Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu Limited, a UK private company limited by guarantee, and its network of member firms, each of which is a legally separate and independent entity. Please see www.deloitte.com/about for a detailed description of the legal structure of Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu Limited and its member firms.