Surveys

Thornhill offers the option of running online surveys which allow respondents to provide feedback on an organisation, rather than an individual.

These surveys could provide feedback on a number of matters, such as organisational climate, transformation processes or services. ​We provide access to three standard surveys (Engagement, Climate and Diversity) which can be customised to meet your specific needs. Learn more…

 Pulse 

We also offer a short ongoing survey for organisations.

Pulse provides companies with a monthly check on the health of their organisation, by having all employees respond to a very short online questionnaire. This provides a very quick and immediate check (“taking the pulse”) on risk factors, including business risk, governance failures, and staff morale, thus enabling further investigation if and when a potential risk is revealed.

The system is ideal for industries where the majority of employees are computer-literate and respondents have online access. Even if a number of staff do not have online access, those who do will provide management with insight into most risk factors. This limitation on the extent of the pulse-taking is balanced by the ease of administration and immediacy of the information obtained.

Advantages of the online administration:

• Cost effective
• No limit on the number of respondents. Instead of sampling, the company can poll the entire staff list.
• Results are available shortly after the project is closed because the responses are captured directly in the database
• Items can be added or altered easily
• Employee confidence in the confidentiality of the system is enhanced because it is offered by an external company.

The format can be customised, and could be as follows:

1. The Thornhill platform automatically sends a monthly email to all staff, asking them to click on a URL in the email.
2. The url takes them directly to a questionnaire allocated uniquely to Pulse in this company for this month.
3. Depending on the level of trust in the process, staff may be asked to identify themselves in order to allow for follow-up of those who do not respond. This also facilitates obtaining a cross-section of views in different departments, in effect providing a continual mini-climate survey.
4. The staff are then presented with a few carefully constructed questions. As this is a monthly pulse, and therefore potentially irritating, there should be as few questions as possible – ideally five or six.
5. At the end of the questionnaire are two comment boxes for those who choose to amplify their multiple-choice responses. The first is anonymous. Respondents are guaranteed that their comments would not be traced back to them. The second has their name and email attached, so that someone in management can get back to them for further information.
6. The information is collated into a report, highlighting any risks identified, and using graphs to show trends and comparisons.
7. It is recommended that management include a follow-up response to the previous month’s Pulse in each new Pulse questionnaire so that employees gain confidence in the value of completing the survey.