Why response rates are important
Response rates signal whether you can trust your scores and so should be one of the first things you look at when viewing your results.
High response rates bring you confidence
A response rate above 80% tells you that four out of five people have given their feedback – so you can feel confident your happiness scores reflect a majority view.
Low response rates are important feedback
In our experience, a consistent low response rate (below 50%) is telling you one of these things:
- parts of the business haven’t understood why the organization is measuring happiness
- people are receiving invites to engage with Friday during busy work periods
- people no longer believe that responding to the questions is making a difference to their work
- people are very frustrated or having a particularly bad time
Think about what a low response rate – either for the whole organization, or for a particular team - might be telling you. Consider if the response rate has always been low, or if it has dipped more recently. Reach out to offer help and support.
Top tip for using response rates
It’s good practice to look at your response rates alongside your scores. This will indicate whether changes in happiness are real or if they could be a consequence of a change in the proportion of people responding.