Employee Compliance and Ethics Surveys

Employee surveys have long been part of the compliance and ethics (C&E) landscape.  This post is offered as a brief introduction to practices and views relating to such surveys.

Why survey

Employee surveys can provide a broad  array of information about many key C&E issues at a company.  

Most prominently they can assist companies in understanding and addressing challenges relating to C&E culture. This can help in various aspects of program self-assessments – and thus be useful to boards and top managers, among others.  

They can also help in program design and implementation in many other ways.  Among other things, survey data can play a significant role in a risk assessment. Note, too, that surveys can be used to obtain C&E information on a granular basis.  For large global companies this can be invaluable.

In addition, the Department of Justice increasingly expects companies to provide data in enforcement matters. They have pushed us to engage in data analytics. Survey results can be helpful in that regard, providing the type of empirical data that can be a key input for such analysis.

Finally, the very act of seeking information about C&E matters itself can send an important message about management’s support for the program. It is, in effect, a C&E “communication.”

Whom to survey

Many surveys are already distributed to the entire workforce.  Others are addressed to randomly selected segments of the population. Still others are selected on a risk basis (meaning the risk of the position, not the individual). 

Finally, less common but potentially quite helpful are surveys of vendors, customers and other third parties.

What to survey

Some surveys are part of a larger, general employee awareness survey. Others are focused solely on C&E.

In the case of the former it is fairly common to ask a question about the respondent’s amount of comfort in reporting suspected violations.  Another somewhat popular question concerns respondent’s perception of her supervisor’s compliance and ethicality at work.

However, there are many others that could be used.

When should surveys be deployed  

If a C&E survey is part of a larger general survey, then the schedule for the latter will presumably govern that of the former.  In cases of a standalone C&E survey there is more flexibility, and so practices tend to vary,

However, one should not schedule these too close together, meaning one should have enough time to implement recommendations coming from the prior survey before deploying the second.

A cautionary note

As noted above survey data can be invaluable for C&E purposes. But not always. 

C&E history shows that criminal violations are often well concealed. One should bear this in mind when setting priorities based on C&E survey results.  Even an overwhelmingly positive response to a survey is not an assurance regarding actual risks and the potential for serious misconduct.

Other practice pointers

One should have the survey professionally designed. There is certainly concern today about so-called “survey fatigue.”  There may be an “oh, no, not another survey” response by employees.  But this is very likely caused by poorly designed surveys, as well as a sense that the survey input is ignored and that employee voices are not heard. A well-designed survey that produces visible results can counter this sense of fatigue. 

Regarding the survey design, as one commentator has noted, questions should be readily answerable, and if the survey is done online the format should work well on mobile phone screens. The survey should use “skip logic” where a survey answer indicates other questions are not relevant (e.g., asking about contacts with customers when the survey taker has already indicated there are none).  See Samuel, Nine Survey Questions for People Who Create Survey Questions, Wall Street Journal p. R 2 (May 17, 2017).

Avoid bar codes and asking for personally identifiable information, as that may raise questions about promised anonymity.

Also consider in the survey process if local bosses will be able to control or interfere in how employees respond.  For example, could business unit bosses have all subordinates check with her first or provide the answers in a group setting, to be sure they give answers that will make the boss look good. 

Surveys are an important tool, and can provide the type of data that “data analytics” is all about.  But give this the attention it deserves.  Poor work in designing and implementing the survey can mean you are wasting employees’ time and end up getting poor data that can undermine your objective.