Content Analysis
In almost all our employee surveys, our clients choose to include one or more “open-ended” questions; questions asking for comments by employees. Senior management usually is very interested in the information we gather from these comments. Often, however, there are far too many comments for busy senior managers to read and digest; it isn’t uncommon for there to be hundreds of pages or more of comments.
One solution to the problem of too many comments to read is content analysis. We read each comment and classify it into one or more categories, such as “employees want to be treated with respect” or “more communication between departments needed.” The resulting output summarizes the comment categories, letting the reader know what percentage of comments are in each category.
In addition to providing senior management a summary that can be understood in very little time, our coding provides an objective assessment of what employees are saying. This reduces the chances that a manager may be misled by overweighting comments that mirror their own feelings.
Here is an example of the output of a typical content analysis:
What can this company do to increase the level of enthusiasm you feel about coming to work and doing your best every day? |
Count |
% of All Responses (Excluding “No Answer”) |
Career growth/promotional opportunities/ promote from within/ job enrichment | 139 | 7.1% |
Increase compensation/ pay is low compared to other companies/ cost of living raises | 126 | 6.5% |
Improve/maintain quality/products/services/innovation/creativity/ less focus on numbers | 100 | 5.1% |
Training/Education/Coaching | 97 | 5.0% |
Better relationship between pay and performance/responsibilities/ incentives/ bonuses/ commissions | 90 | 4.6% |
Fair/equal treatment/ reduce favoritism/ have more consistency | 90 | 4.6% |
Listen to/ trust/empower employees/take action on employee input/ reduce micromanagement/ gather employee input | 88 | 4.5% |
Communication (not between departments) | 85 | 4.4% |
Better managers/supervisors/leads | 76 | 3.9% |
Reduce/redistribute workload/ increase staffing/ reasonable goals/ less stress/ increase call-handling time | 75 | 3.8% |
Treat employees with respect/courtesy/”value us”/improve people skills | 74 | 3.8% |
Better internal equipment/ systems/ maintenance/tools/IDA/vehicles/internet access | 67 | 3.4% |
Change time-off policies (personal days, vacation, holidays, attendance policy, etc.) | 61 | 3.1% |
Scheduling issues/ change working hours/ flex time | 54 | 2.8% |
Benefits mentions (not time-off related) | 53 | 2.7% |
Recognition/appreciation | 42 | 2.2% |
Communication between departments | 34 | 1.7% |
Teamwork | 31 | 1.6% |
Performance evaluation issues | 29 | 1.5% |
Better physical environment/ ergonomics/ cleanliness/ temperature | 29 | 1.5% |
More recognition of seniority/ better treatment of long-tenured employees | 28 | 1.4% |
Morale needs improvement/ turnover is too high | 26 | 1.3% |
Better planning/strategies/execution/ improve profits/ grow the business | 24 | 1.2% |
More accountability/ remove/discipline problem employees/ improve employee behaviors/ hire/promote better people/ problems with other employees | 24 | 1.2% |
Improve culture/make it fun to work here/ need more of a “family feeling”/ mission/values/ethics issues | 23 | 1.2% |
Hiring/other HR issues | 23 | 1.2% |
Better leadership/senior management/middle management | 22 | 1.1% |
Process improvement suggestions | 20 | 1.0% |
More/better “perks” (including employee cable) | 19 | 1.0% |
Cafeteria/vending machine/breakroom/lunch/breaks issues | 17 | 0.9% |
Job security issues | 15 | 0.8% |
Clear job descriptions/goals/policies | 15 | 0.8% |
Dress-code/uniform issues | 14 | 0.7% |
Work/life balance/ fewer hours | 14 | 0.7% |
Reduce/eliminate bureaucracy/testing/petty rules | 13 | 0.7% |
Change write-up policy/ don’t reprimand us/ probation period too long | 13 | 0.7% |
Don’t know/NA/”No comment” | 11 | 0.6% |
Events/parties/outside activities | 11 | 0.6% |
Offer overtime/pay for overtime/being “on call”/ shift differential | 9 | 0.5% |
Feedback/positive feedback/ not just negative feedback | 9 | 0.5% |
Be honest/open/transparent/keep promises | 9 | 0.5% |
Reduce/eliminate politics | 7 | 0.4% |
Rewards (small items, tokens) | 6 | 0.3% |
Allow/encourage telecommuting | 5 | 0.3% |
Safety issues | 5 | 0.3% |
More community involvement/environmental issues | 5 | 0.3% |
Different work location | 5 | 0.3% |
Expense reimbursement issues/ want to use company car | 5 | 0.3% |
Make me a full-time/permanent employee | 5 | 0.3% |
Change organization structure | 4 | 0.2% |
Shouldn’t have to tolerate abusive customers | 4 | 0.2% |
Too many managers | 4 | 0.2% |
Smoking issues | 1 | 0.1% |
Positive comments | 88 | 4.5% |
Other | 7 | 0.4% |
Percent of comments coded | 10.0% | |
Percent responding with an answer | 65.2% | |
Total number of responses (not respondents), excluding “no answer” | 1950 |