March 22, 2010 by MSI
When someone is asked to complete an evaluation and declines or just ignores the request, should we assume that they were satisfied and that the provided services met their expectations? What option do we have seeing that service providers only know when things are working well or not working at all through the feedback we receive from the relocating employee. Over the past year,
we have witnessed a decline in evaluation response rates leaving us to believe that all is well. But, what if things are not satisfactory and people just don’t want to “relive” the issues by telling those that can make a difference and who need to know?
The bottom line is that feedback is extremely important to companies; especially those in the service sector, and taking 5 minutes to complete a survey should be a priority for all parties involved, especially when it is due to services procured by a corporation for the employee’s benefit. The corporation wants to know that they are making the right choice and investing their relocation dollars with the right resource. And, as a 3rd party organization, we need to ensure that our services met and exceeded our clients and their employees’ expectations, our partners delivered according to our standards, and that our team members provided the level of service guaranteed to our clients.
So what can we collectively do to improve evaluation response rates and gain additional feedback from relocating employees?
1. Make sure that the relocation counselor or international assignment manager mentions the evaluation form specifically and requests completion.
2. Send several reminders if the evaluation is not completed (remember, sometimes the third time is the charm!)
3. Customize evaluation forms to ensure the feedback criteria meets the specific services delivered and include any client-specific questions requested.
4. Add evaluation feedback language to policies reminding relocating employees how important feedback is to both the relocation provider and their company.
5. Engage client stakeholders for additional support in terms of face-to-face reminders or internal emails.
We have also seen recommendations to default all unanswered evaluation questions to Meets Expectations, hold off on final expense reimbursements until the evaluation is submitted or provide an incentive, such as a gift card or charity donation. Is it really coming to this? We want to know and need to know how we are performing. What are you doing to get feedback?
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