Anniversary Event Content and Implementation

Continuous Listening & Action: Anniversary Survey + Nudge Boosts

Content & Implementation

An Anniversary Survey is a continuous listening and action channel that intentionally provides senior leaders ongoing people metrics while celebrating employees at a moment that matters to them and equipping senior leaders with the insights needed for targeted, agile actions. Coupled with Nudge Boosts - science-backed ideas personalized in the flow of work to the right employees at the right time to build critical behaviors when they are needed most - this solution helps senior leaders confidently act with speed and at scale.

Anniversary Survey: Best Practice Content

Best practice content for an Anniversary Survey is brief and targeted, focused on (a) key outcomes summarizing the overall employee experience (ex. engagement, retention), (b) understanding of whether the employee experience meets expectations, (c) critical topics important to senior leaders, and (d) reflections that celebrate the employee. Content should be adapted to your specific business and talent priorities, addressing your senior leaders' most pressing questions.

Scaled Questions (5-point agreement scale: Strongly Disagree to Strongly Agree)

1. I would recommend [Company] as a great place to work.

2. I intend to stay with the company for at least the next twelve months.

3. I am proud to work for [Company].

4. My work gives me a feeling of personal accomplishment.

5. The employee value proposition (EVP) shared with me when I joined reflects my experience working here.*

6. I feel optimistic about the future of the [Company].

7. There are career opportunities for me at [Company].

8. Compared to a year ago, I believe the employee experience at [Company] is…*

• 5-point scale: Much worse, Worse, About the same, Better, Much better

Open-Ended Questions

9. What is one thing [Company] could do to improve your experience here?

10. Looking back on the past year, what is a moment you felt most proud of or most valued for your contributions?

* No Perceptyx overall benchmark at this time

Anniversary Survey: Best Practice Implementation

Follow these implementation best practices to ensure employees feel appreciated while senior leaders receive timely, continuous feedback needed to guide targeted actions.

Should an Anniversary Survey replace our point-in-time, census survey? 

• No. Best practice strategy includes at least 1 point-in-time survey + an anniversary survey because these different listening channels solve different needs. Anniversary surveys celebrate employees at a critical moment and provide continuous insights for senior leader actions. Point-in-time surveys provide a breadth and depth of insights that support actioning at all levels, from executives to individual contributors.

What if the employee’s anniversary overlaps with another survey event?

• No blackout dates are recommended. Anniversaries are meaningful, content is different, and senior leaders still need continuous insights, making it critical to continue administering the Anniversary Survey even if another listening event or survey is occurring at the same time.

Do we create a new application annually?

• Best practice reporting depends on the primary goal of your Anniversary Survey. There are two common approaches:

Option 1: Single, ongoing reporting site

• The most common goal of an Anniversary Survey is to listen continuously at a meaningful moment in the employee's journey, their work anniversary. Just like other lifecycle listening moments (e.g., onboarding, exit), a single, ongoing reporting site is recommended. This allows senior leaders to track a continuous flow of data across any timeframe, seeing how perceptions shift over time. Filters can be applied to view specific timeframes or groups. Additionally, a single ongoing application enables cross-survey analytics, connecting anniversary insights to other point-in-time and continuous listening data, similar to how onboarding surveys are linked across the listening ecosystem, and provides a more complete picture of the employee experience. Overall, a single reporting site is ideal for senior leaders who need to observe continuous change beyond a single year.

• Considerations: Any survey content changes needed as the business evolves may require a brief pause in the survey while items are updated. Additionally, this approach tracks trends across the organization or key demographics over time. It does not compare an individual employee's perceptions year-over-year.

Option 2: New reporting site annually

• Compared to surveys leveraging random samples, intentional sampling at the anniversary moment results in employees feeling more valued and the organization receiving richer data through clearer communication about when and why it's time to participate. When the goal is more frequent point-in-time measurement at a meaningful moment in the employee journey, this approach improves on random sampling methods by reducing over-listening, driving higher response rates, and supporting direct year-over-year trend comparisons at an individual level. In this case, a new reporting site annually is recommended, enabling year-over-year comparisons at the individual level and allowing content to be adjusted annually as business priorities evolve.

• Considerations: Each reporting site captures a single year of data (with trend to prior years at the individual level), which limits visibility into continuous data spanning longer than one year across the entire organization.

• Perceptyx recommends consulting with your Workforce Transformation Consultant to ensure your reporting approach is optimized for your specific goals and objectives. 

Are data specifications recommended?

• Yes, data specifications ensure all data needed for implementation are available (hire date/last hire date, any relevant demographics to compare data). 

How are invitations sent to participants? How long do they participate?

• Batching invitations on the 15 of the month ensures no anniversary is too far from the invite, simplifies communication, and creates clear reporting insights. A 30 day response window ensures enough time to respond while not being too disconnected from the anniversary milestone.

Is piping recommended?

• Yes, piping the anniversary date in the welcome invitation personalizes the experience. Piping of names is not recommended to mitigate potential data accuracy or fear of spam concerns. 

Who has reporting access?

• Only senior leaders and HR access anniversary insights. The purpose is to facilitate continuous insights for senior leader actioning.

Are manager hierarchies available in reporting?

• No manager hierarchies are included in reporting. Similar to other continuous listening moments (ex. onboard), manager hierarchies are not used because hierarchies are constantly changing. Demographics (ex. Function, department, tenure) are more meaningful to understand insights and take targeted actions.

What executive insights are provided?

• An annual, in-platform executive results consultation (ERC) is provided by a Workforce Transformation Consultant to dynamically highlight key insights and inspire action with always-changing data.

Are nudge boosts needed?

• Nudge boosts are recommended to help senior leaders take targeted actions quickly and at scale by helping employees build specific behaviors needed most at the right time for the right populations.