Businesses Ramp Up Employee Feedback Efforts to Solve Profitability Challenges

Perceptyx Study Shows HR Leaders Directing Mature Employee Listening Programs 
Have a Greater Business Impact Than Their Peers

TEMECULA, Calif., April 2, 2024 — Perceptyx, the global leader in employee experience (EX) transformation, has released the results of its third annual State of Employee Listening.

For the third year running, businesses have increased investment in their listening programs. But this year’s survey indicated that employers are using employee feedback, not only to improve employee experience but to help them address top issues concerning boards today: profitability and efficiency.

Businesses Today Are Listening More Than a Year Ago

Seventy-eight percent of organizations now survey their employees at least once a quarter, compared to 70% in 2023 and 60% in 2022. And 76% plan to invest more in listening in the next 12 months, up from 68% last year.

Perceptyx categorizes employee listening programs into four stages of maturity: 1) Episodic Listening, 2) Topical Listening, 3) Strategic Listening, and 4) Continuous Conversations at Scale. This year’s survey showed a dramatic leap in the number of organizations with Stage 3 and 4 programs.  

Listening has Greater Impact on Business Outcomes than Prior Years

Businesses that practice continuous listening at scale are now 7x as likely to hit their financial targets as those who only engage in episodic listening, and 3x as likely as strategic listeners, suggesting that adopting best practices for listening and action can deliver a disproportionately large return on investment. In 2022, those with the most mature listening programs were just 5x as likely to hit their financial goals.

Businesses are clearly recognizing the value of employee feedback in helping them pinpoint solutions to critical challenges and are orienting their listening programs accordingly. Perceptyx’s survey found that improving profitability and efficiency is the top challenge organizations seek to address with their listening program. Other prioritized business-critical challenges include transformation and change, hybrid work experience, employee retention, and career progression.

HR Leaders See Effective Listening as Key to Their Own Career Success

The study also revealed that HR leaders with strong listening programs feel they have greater impact and are less likely to quit. Seventy-four percent of HR professionals implementing continuous listening at scale strongly agree that they are having a meaningful impact in their job and 81% intend to stay at their organization for the next 12 months. By contrast, only 22% of those with episodic listening programs feel they’re having an impact and only 35% of them plan to stay. 

“Employers have recognized that listening closely to the people on the front lines can unlock extraordinarily valuable insights. Those employees know which processes are inefficient and what’s preventing them from being productive,” Emily Killham, Senior Director and Head of the Center for Workforce Transformation at Perceptyx. “Creating an environment where employees can be effective - and showing them you’re listening and acting upon their feedback - is what creates a competitive advantage.”

Read the full survey results in the Perceptyx 2024 State of Employee Listening report.