Imagine walking into a workplace where trust is the foundation, respect is a given, and every individual—whether they’re the CEO or a new employee—feels valued and empowered. This isn’t just a dream; it’s the reality that Great Place To Work® helps organizations create.
For many organizations, decisions that impact employees are often made from the top down, with little to no input from the employees those decisions affect the most. But what if there was a way to truly listen to employees, to understand their experiences, and to use that collective voice to shape a better workplace? That’s exactly what the Great Place To Work® survey and tools are all about—helping organizations build trust, foster collaboration, and create environments where employees contribute meaningfully and thrive.
Listening to the Voices That Matter
At the heart of our mission is a simple yet powerful concept: great workplaces are built on trust. But trust doesn’t happen by accident—it’s cultivated through active listening and impactful action. Great Place To Work provides organizations with the tools and services to gather structured feedback from employees, enabling leaders to make data-driven decisions that reflect the collective voice of their teams.
Instead of relying on isolated anecdotes, assumptions, biases or outdated perceptions for making key decisions, we help organizations quantify, qualify and understand what their employees truly think and feel here and now and include employee feedback in the action planning process. Through a comprehensive anonymous survey, employees are asked about the key areas that determine whether an employee will stay and contribute fully or not.
- Do they trust their leadership team and decisions?
- Do they feel respected and cared for as individuals?
- Are organizational practices and treatment of all employees fair?
- Do they feel pride in the work that they do in their personal job and team?
- Do they feel a sense of camaraderie and belonging with their colleagues?
These questions are critical because our research shows that main reasons employees become demotivated or leave an organization are rooted in mistrust of managers, feeling disrespected or treated unfairly, lacking a connection to their work or a sense of purpose, and experiencing a toxic environment among team members. Addressing these areas is essential for creating a workplace where employees feel valued, engaged, and motivated to contribute their best
These questions, carefully designed into 59 single line positively phrased survey statements, provide a clear picture of the workplace culture from the perspective of an employee.
And the best part? Every voice is given the opportunity to be heard through the survey – across the organization. The survey captures sentiments from a variety of key demographic groups to support more refined decision making and optimizing time, effort and resources.
A Process Built on Trust
The success of the process depends on obtaining honest, open and accurate survey feedback from employees that can support an organization to understand current position and identify strengths and areas to improve.
But when asked for real feedback, one of the most common concerns about employee surveys is confidentiality of an individual’s responses. Employees often wonder: “Will my feedback really be anonymous?” When using the Great Place To Work Assessment – A globally standardized, credible external partner – The answer is a resounding yes!
The Trust Index™ employee survey process and tool are designed to ensure complete confidentiality of submitted responses.
While email is the most popular and convenient method for connecting with employees directly with their employers consent, email addresses are only used to share survey links through an invitation emailer —Responses are not collected by email. To protect privacy, all emails used to disseminate the link are deleted from the platform after the survey and Great Place To Work does not use any employee emails shared for the purpose of the survey for any other activity. For those without emails kiosk mode links and hardcopies are also used to collect information anonymously too.
All feedback submitted is de-identified and logged on a secure global platform, and no one, not even Great Place To Work® employees, let alone anyone from an employer organization conducting the survey, can access an individual’s responses.
To ensure the process is effective, organizations are encouraged to follow up on response rates during the survey period. While some employees may misinterpret follow-ups as influencing their responses, it’s important to clarify that these reminders are simply to encourage participation and ensure everyone has the opportunity to have their voice heard. Company representatives should never tell employees what responses to provide but can emphasize the importance of completing the survey. The platform provides real-time updates on overall response completion rates (participation rates) for the organization and key groups, ensuring enough employees complete the assessment for statistically valid results. The system also monitors this to maintain the integrity of the process.
To further protect an individual’s anonymity, when sharing results, responses are aggregated into percentages based on common demographic groups, and results for groups with fewer than five responses are not displayed separately. This ensures that no individual’s sentiments can be specifically identified, even in smaller teams.
The survey itself is accessible and available in all local languages, taking just 20 minutes to complete. Employees can participate anytime, anywhere during the survey period, making it inclusive and flexible. Organizations are also provided with clear guidelines to ensure employees are encouraged to participate, but feel free to share their honest feedback without any undue influence.
And to maintain the integrity of the process, prep-approved material is shared with organizations to disseminate among employees to create awareness about the survey and steps taken to ensure honest participation. To provide opportunities for safe whistle blowing, the online survey is directly equipped with information links. Furthermore, an anonymous hotline, online form and direct email are available for employees to report any concerns or evidence of influence securely. After the survey is completed, depending on results, an audit may be conducted to verify the authenticity of the results, including random calls to check employee experience while strictly maintaining anonymity.
Certification: A Journey, Not a Destination
If following the global standard methodology, the employee responses to the Great Place To Work survey can be additionally utilized to participate in the Great Place To Work recognition programme. Upon reaching the global minimum thresholds in terms of employee participation and 70% positivity in employee survey sentiment employers can earn the globally recognized milestone of “Great Place To Work® Certified” for a maximum period of 12 months denoting current validation from their employees- but it’s not the end of the journey. Organization dynamics, employee experiences and perceptions can change over time, which is why organizations must thereafter undergo a reassessment of employee perception each time to continue to re-earn the certification based on validation from their employees. Employees are given power and are directly responsible for their organization being recognized or not.
This ensures that certified organizations remain committed to fostering a great workplace culture in line with their employees needs. It’s not just about earning a badge—it’s about continuously listening, learning, and improving and meeting the expectations of one’s workforce.
For those looking to go even further, Great Place To Work offers the opportunity to be recognized as one of the Best Workplaces™ through consideration of both employee feedback and organization submission on people practices in place to sustain ‘a great place to work for all’. This exclusive employer branding is reserved for the best among Great Place To Work Certified™ organizations and highlights organizations striving towards maintaining an inclusive great workplace culture in the long run.
Why Great Place To Work® Matters
The Great Place To Work® journey is more than just a recognition—it’s a commitment to building and sustaining a workplace where trust thrives. It’s about creating an environment where employees feel valued, heard, and inspired to do their best work in collaboration with their organizations.
Whether you’re a small business or a large corporation, investing in your workplace culture is one of the most impactful decisions you can make. After all, great workplaces don’t just happen—they’re built with intention, care, and a commitment to listening to the voices of your employees.
Ready to Build a Great Workplace?
If you’re ready to take the first step toward creating a thriving workplace culture, visit our website at www.greatplacetowork.lk to learn more about how we can help you. Together, let’s build a workplace where everyone feels valued, respected, and inspired to succeed.
