After 28 days and 256 total responses, I decided to close my “Perks. Are they actually?” survey and get working on the results. This survey is completely independent and not sponsored, meaning, my time, dime and beliefs.
Gratefully, I have fucking awesome friends who shared, pushed, inspired, taught me excel pivots, awkwardly approached strangers with me and hyped me up, love you!
My survey came to life as a natural part of my journey towards refreshing company culture and the way we view and approach humans, and terms like engagement, employee advocacy and employer branding (which I detail about on my blog).
After months of rabbit hole research, reading anything I could find on the subjects; diving deep into what employees are writing anonymously on company review sites; (tactfully) joining in on conversations on the subject with strangers during happy hour and so on, I absolutely knew I needed data to back up my theories, especially as it was a step out of my comfort zone.
My initial goal was to reach 200–500 respondents and after ten days, ~210 responses were submitted. I started by sharing the survey online on my personal Facebook and Linkedin profile, posted a post that didn’t get much engagement in “Troubles in High Tech” FB group. A post in “Women in High Tech” FB group brought a nice amount of responds, and friends that shared with their friend circle.
The day after posting, I went to a Midburn festival and ditched my phone for the weekend. Thoughts of “How’s the survey going” only popped up a couple of times, a personal win for me, practicing being present, one day at a time :)
As a self claimed justice seeker, employee advocate and a human-buffer between employees, management and ego, I wanted to use the survey to put the spotlight on a different side of perks.
Imagining you have health insurance, pension and salary with the benefits you desire, I asked respondents to choose the 5 most and 5 least important perks out of a list of 16 perks [created after reviewing over one hundred companies’ stated values, perks and benefits; published survey reports and lists of best/worst rated perks, crossed that with ratings and reviews left on anonymous sites and more].
Mandatory questions: personal demographic info, how your work is measured and the most and least important perks. Optional questions were: company name, ‘do you trust your HR?’, and open text for comments. The survey is anonymous to provide a better sense of trust needed to share openly and will stay that way (if you know me, you know I never name names).
This was an emotional process for me. A turning point in walking my talk. The engagement, responses and comments I received almost immediately were heartwarming AF. The connections you make at work can stay with you 13 years later, rooting for you, even from afar.
I decided to expand my network reach, so I went offline and hit the streets, hanging around smoking areas/entrances of ‘high-tech-buildings’ in Tel Aviv. 'Sarona Towers' was the first stop. Yes, it began as awkward as you can imagine, gathering the courage to ask strangers to scan a QR code and answer my perks survey.
The first person agreed and was rewarded with a heartful thank you and a clipper lighter of their choice (from a bag of clippers provided by my papa). After a row of hearing “no”, I was feeling low, and got a text with this “paparazzi” picture to show: 😂 😐
Shortly after, a friend came to hype me up and decided we should move to ‘Hagag Building’. She helped me interact and get over 30 new responses that day. Yay! The second time, I asked a friend to join in advance. We went to Electra building/Yigal Alon area, where we worked together ~3 years ago. The crowd vibe and energy felt different, likely a projection of my own energy levels and insecurities at the time, we got 3 new responses, ate yummy lunch and called it a day.
The closer you work with management and high executive levels, the more you realize how emotional business actually is. Something I (sadly) learned early on — have it in writing. Not to remember or document a process, but to have proof, aka ‘cover your ass’. Imagine having to ask teammates to email all requests, even though they already asked you in person. This is a fine gray line between efficiency vs. status quo.
A huge part of my process was revealing a semi subconscious fear. Facing it, allowing myself to go through the emotion, rather than dismissing and burying it. Vulnerably opening up to a loved one that helped me look at the root of this fear with logical glasses, and amazed at how fast the invisible fear ropes, untie.
Thanks for reading!
E
When in doubt, Shia LaBeouf.