This question comes up a lot: Who should participate in the engagement survey? Or, a variation: “Should I only use this with the executive team?”

The quick answer is that the clients who see the most success with an employee engagement program are those that implement it across their entire businesses. But there are a few exceptions. Here’s our list of who should, and shouldn’t, participate in your engagement survey.

The Owner/CEO

First off, the Owner absolutely participates (some wonder whether they should). We believe engagement starts at the ownership level and is passed down to leaders and employees. If you’re engaged, your team will be too.

And, really, should you ask your team to participate if you’re not prepared to lead by example?

All Employees

Most people rightly assume that leaders and managers should take the survey, but we’ve had the question of whether every employee should also take the survey. The answer is YES! The Engagement Multiplier Program involved an employee engagement strategy that is designed to improve culture, retention, and morale across every level of an organization – which means that participation from every member is key.

Now, a few of our clients choose to not follow this suggestion, but we’ve found that our most successful clients do. Our survey also mines employee engagement ideas from engaged team members, so it’s important to include them. You never know what goes unsaid unless you ask.

Targeted, Specific Groups

Engagement Multiplier comes with the capability of segmenting employees into groups so you can pinpoint where you need to spend more time and attention.

Groups can include specific teams, like Sales, Finance, Marketing, and HR; or geographic locations, like “London office” and “Chicago office;” or employees who’ve been with you for one year, five years, or 10+ years.

You define your own groups based on what makes sense for your company. You can designate more than one group for one person (they can overlap). The only rule is that there needs to be at least 10 people in each group to ensure anonymity is maintained.

Subcontractors & Suppliers

This depends on how closely you work with your subcontractors and suppliers. If you work with them so closely that they know who you are, who your leaders are, and who your employees are, then they’re really an integral part of the team. But, if they have very little to do with you other than their perfunctory purposes, then they can’t effectively score you or your Engaged Purpose.

The More, the Merrier

If you limit your engagement survey to a select few, you won’t get an engaged organization – you’ll get an engaged team or department at best. But when you involve everyone in your company – including those who work most closely with you – in your employee engagement software and program, you’ll get well-rounded insights and more accurate data that can help you build a stronger, more energized, and definitely more engaged company.