Revolution in Surveys – With AI, You Can Create and Analyze a Questionnaire in a Tenth of the Time
Every Turbulent Phase Requires Precise Management, and Every Management Requires Data and Feedback. For this reason, this year will also be a year of feedback. Surveys have become the most widespread way of collecting feedback. Their regular use across a company enables the collection and analysis of data related to the work environment, employee satisfaction, team performance, or even compensation satisfaction.
This approach helps identify potential problems, uncover areas needing improvement, and gather specific feedback that can be filtered by departments, teams, or even socio-demographic profiles. Often, it also has a positive impact on morale—survey research is one of the hallmarks of companies that care.
Satisfaction Surveys – A Great Tool Where a Lot Can Go Wrong
The popularity of this format is clear: there is a belief that anyone can create and analyze a survey. It takes less time than structured feedback. The HR department can handle it as a turnkey solution. However, as we know, this assumption is often far from reality.
Creating a survey, testing it, distributing it, and then analyzing the results is not something an amateur can do. And it is certainly not a task that can be completed in just a few days. The right technique for designing and analyzing a survey needs to be learned.
Perhaps the best way to illustrate this is with a real-world example:
At the end of last year, many companies were unable to increase salaries due to an uncertain outlook, often even failing to fulfill previous promises. Developing a new salary structure that aligns with the current economic situation has become a top priority, requiring not only people from HR but also team managers. The leadership, supported by the CFO, wants quick information on how employees felt upon returning to work in January. They need to know who deserves a raise, how to restructure teams, or where cost savings can be made.
From an HR perspective, this means diving into the available data (which is often quite limited) and gathering new data. This is a typical example of a change that can only be effectively managed when there is a clear, data-supported picture.
So, the HR department starts working on the survey. But soon, they face a familiar dilemma: one universal survey for all employees, or multiple versions tailored to different departments and seniority levels? A short survey that may not capture all necessary answers, or a longer one with the risk that employees won’t respond authentically?
Then, the survey needs to be structured properly. Using an online format certainly helps with analysis, but under pressure, most creators end up framing some questions poorly, leading to misleading wording and inaccurate results. After sending it out and waiting several days (or even a week) for responses, they still have to prepare a summary report for management.
From the CEO and CFO’s Perspective
And how does this look from the CEO’s and CFO’s point of view as they impatiently wait for results after Wednesday’s meeting?
“Why on earth is it so difficult to get a few answers from people so we can have them by Friday and make decisions about what to do next?”
In the end, they often make their decisions before even seeing the survey data—because it doesn’t reach them until the beginning of the following week.
When Complex Matters Need Quick Solutions
However, fast-paced times truly demand fast answers. There are numerous situations where conducting a large-scale survey across an entire company is the only way to collect feedback on complex topics while keeping costs in check. And yes—in the vast majority of cases, these will be exactly the situations where speed is crucial.
As frustrating as an impatient or seemingly unempathetic approach from the CEO or CFO may feel, don’t hold it against them. Let’s also admit that even on the HR side, the process sometimes falls behind.
Behind closed doors in HR departments, many surveys get scrapped simply because “it would take too long” or “it would take up too much of people’s time.”
Whenever this argument comes up, it’s worth pausing to think—who is best suited for tasks that need to be done quickly, require routine experience, and at the same time, shouldn’t overload human colleagues? Yes, artificial intelligence. Thanks to AI, we can also call 2024 the beginning of the “quick response” era—an era where it will be possible to get fast answers to complex questions.
Technical Assistance with Design, Clear Analysis, and Instant Summarization
So, what makes AI so powerful? First and foremost, it saves time during the survey design and creation process. Choosing the right questions is not as time-consuming as structuring the survey and selecting the appropriate types of questions. This is exactly where artificial intelligence excels. Drawing from past experience, it can accurately suggest which type of response is most suitable for each question. While your company’s specific questions may seem unique, in the grand scheme, they are part of a broader set of inquiries that thousands of managers have likely dealt with before. AI-powered online surveys are, therefore, an obvious choice.
AI can effectively set parameters for scoring responses, open-ended questions, multiple-choice selections, and response scales for closed questions—with the same level of insight as a human, but at an incomparably faster speed.
Not only are these surveys cost-free, but just as AI can quickly assist with creating an online questionnaire, it can also speed up its analysis and overall survey evaluation. Nearly everyone has experienced the exhausting and often counterproductive process of summarizing survey results. That tedious task—the one we put off until late at night and that often turns a smart data analysis into little more than a few uninspired slides with minimal added value.
Yet, this summary is often the most crucial output that company leadership relies on. This is where artificial intelligence becomes invaluable—not only by identifying the most important insights but also by interpreting the data and providing key recommendations on how to act on emerging trends.
How to Harness the Power of “Quick Response” in Q1?
The beginning of the year is the perfect time to collect feedback. It leverages the “fresh start” atmosphere that the new year brings. People tend to be more open to change and new initiatives during this time, which can increase their willingness to provide constructive feedback. For companies, responses are crucial for refining assumptions and strategies.
Satisfaction Surveys: What Should You Ask—With AI’s Help—Even in January?
- Overall sentiment about the company and team – This can include a range of questions that help gain a comprehensive view of employee opinions and workplace atmosphere. It also clarifies how well employees align with company culture and values.
- Satisfaction with returning to work and expectation measurement – The ideal way to determine whether employees returned from the holidays feeling exhausted or energized. This is a key indicator of how strong the “momentum for change” might be.
- Satisfaction with salary and rewards – Mapping employees’ current opinions on salary levels, available benefits, and overall satisfaction with personal development.
What Can AI-Powered Surveys from Sloneek Do?
Sloneek is a pioneer in AI-driven HR solutions, so naturally, we couldn’t miss out on this innovation. Our AI-powered surveys can:
✅ Suggest the most relevant set of questions to address your specific issue
✅ Utilize hundreds of tested prompts from similar surveys worldwide
✅ Optimize survey parameters
✅ Generate clear and insightful graphs
✅ Analyze responses and provide a management-friendly summary
✅ Interpret data and suggest solutions
✅ Predict long-term trends based on results
Why Try AI-Powered Surveys?
- 90% time savings in survey creation
- Faster survey execution and analysis—results depend only on response collection speed
- Access to the expertise of hundreds of companies and their know-how
- Unconventional insights and questions you might not have considered
- Visualized results with clear interpretations
AI Is a Tool—Not a Replacement for Human Judgment
Finally, it’s important to reiterate a well-known truth: AI is a fantastic assistant, but it cannot replace human reasoning and critical thinking. The fact that AI can successfully assist in creating essential surveys and online questionnaires does not mean they can be conducted by someone without sufficient HR expertise. This is especially true when handling sensitive topics like feedback collection and satisfaction surveys.
If employees get the impression that “artificial intelligence” cares about their feelings instead of management, it can quickly lead to frustration, disengagement, and even deliberate misinformation in survey responses.
If you choose to use AI for feedback collection, approach it cautiously. Just like you, your team must understand that AI is only there to assist with routine tasks. The truly important aspects—interpreting data, drawing clear conclusions, and acting on the insights—remain firmly in the hands of real people.
