New Employee Survey Book Examines Evidence-Based Guidelines for Driving Organizational Success

Kenexa Research Institute's Founder and Executive Director, Dr. Jack W. Wiley, Provides the Business Case for Employee Surveys as a Tool for Organization Development


WAYNE, PA--(Marketwire - October 20, 2010) -   Kenexa (NASDAQ: KNXA), a global provider of business solutions for human resources, today announced the publication of "Strategic Employee Surveys." Authored by Jack W. Wiley, Ph.D., founder and executive director of Kenexa Research Institute (KRI), the book was published in September 2010 by Jossey-Bass.

Dr. Jack Wiley explains that survey program purpose, survey content and survey follow-up processes should all derive from business strategy. In the first part of the book, he offers specific examples of how to measure safety, ethics, union vulnerability, work and life balance, and diversity. He also reveals the drivers of employee retention and employee engagement and how to measure them along with examples of survey content that best predicts customer satisfaction and loyalty and other business performance metrics. With each type of survey content, he also presents the most recent normative results, useful for placing results from any organization into the proper interpretative context.

The second part of the book offers specific guidance on the other key component of ensuring employee survey program success: the survey feedback and action planning process. Wiley outlines a time-tested seven-step model of survey feedback and action planning, explaining each step of the model and providing real-life client examples that identify the most common pitfalls of the overall process. Readers will learn how to navigate around these potential problems and will receive advice on how to set goals for improvement from one survey measurement to the next. The book concludes with a discussion of the characteristics of leadership teams whose organizations achieve sustained improvement over multiple iterations of survey measurement.

Dr. Wiley is recognized internationally for his groundbreaking research that links employee survey results to measures of customer satisfaction and business performance. He is also the creator of WorkTrends™, an international survey research program that produces results featured in both scholarly studies and the popular press worldwide. He has more than 30 years of experience consulting with organizations in the healthcare, financial services, manufacturing and retail industries.

"As both a researcher and a practitioner, I know the employee survey process can be a very powerful tool for organizational development. This book speaks to the two elements of a survey program that most differentiate between successful and unsuccessful initiatives, the two elements that most impinge on the power of an employee survey process to bring about desired change. I hope that readers will find this book addresses the strategic issues in employee surveying, the higher-order decisions that are imperative to program success," commented Wiley.

"Wiley makes an excellent, well-balanced approach to making the business case for employee surveys and providing reinforcement on the essential components -- from purpose and development of the instrument to results analysis to action planning," said Lawrence E. Milan, Senior Vice President, Human Resources, ING U.S. Insurance.

"Combining important findings from Kenexa Research Institute's WorkTrends, a multi-national employee survey program, with the author's extensive world-wide experience as an executive consultant, this book is a unique and highly valuable contribution, a must-read for any HR manager or consultant with strategic ambitions," said Ingwer Borg, Director, Center of Survey Design & Methodology at GESIS and professor of Applied Psychological Methods, University of Giessen (Germany).

The book is available now in print and Kindle e-book through Amazon.com; the list price is $40.

About Kenexa
Kenexa® provides business solutions for human resources. We help global organizations multiply business success by identifying the best individuals for every job and fostering optimal work environments for every organization. For more than 20 years, Kenexa has studied human behavior and team dynamics in the workplace, and has developed the software solutions, business processes and expert consulting that help organizations impact positive business outcomes through HR. Kenexa is the only company that offers a comprehensive suite of unified products and services that support the entire employee lifecycle from pre-hire to exit. Additional information about Kenexa and its global products and services can be accessed at www.kenexa.com.

Note to editors: Jack W. Wiley, Ph.D. is available for speaking engagements and book signings. Interested parties should contact Jennifer Meyer of Kenexa. Kenexa is a registered trademark of Kenexa Corporation. Other trademarks and registered trademarks referenced herein remain the property of their respective owners.

Contact Information:

MEDIA CONTACT:
Jennifer Meyer
Kenexa
(612) 332-6383