Dive Brief:

• Do you still use surveys to ask workers for their thoughts? You should, according to a new research published by Harvard Business Review (HBR). Research at Facebook found that even in an age of machine learning algorithms, surveys remain the best way to measure employee engagement. 
• The study found that surveys can predict employees' behavior, allow them to be heard and influence changes in their behavior. In the Facebook study, surveys were twice as likely as algorithms to accurately predict how long workers would stay on the job. The company's employee engagement survey had 95% participation. And just by asking employees if, for example, they wanted to volunteer for a cause, volunteerism increased from 4% to 31%. 
• Smart technology and big data will make the use of surveys more important, not less, because surveys represent the human touch in a digital era, wrote the head of People Analytics at Facebook in HBR.

Dive Insight:

Getting employees' feedback is critical. The results can show employers whether they should offer certain benefits or whether a program is worth adopting; either way, an employer can push forward on their employee engagement initiatives based on the feedback they receive through surveys. The results can be better engaged workers, improved retention and significant savings in money and resources. 

Culture, especially in the wake of #MeToo and revelations of "bro cultures," has been put into the spotlight in recent months. Today's surveys have a greater connection to technology than they once did. They can be digitized and conducted online, and they can generate quantitative and qualitative data. But to make truly transformative change, companies may need to become more relationship-centric and focus more intently on the connections between employees, managers and all aspects of the organization.