Gusto launches survey tool to help companies measure employee happiness

At its core, Gusto wants to be a people platform, a service businesses can rely on for anything relating to their employees. The company originally known as ZenPayroll once centered on payroll processing, but it has since expanded into health benefits management and human resources. And for companies curious about how their employees are feeling, it has introduced a survey tool to measure happiness and give sentiment feedback.

Employee Happiness Surveys, as it’s called, is part of Gusto’s HR offering and sends out monthly questionnaires through emails to team members. Employees can take the survey in just two clicks, and companies will receive an analysis of results and trends. But this isn’t a SurveyMonkey-like service within Gusto — all surveys are created by the system and just have one question listed: How happy are you feeling?

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Answers are anonymous and include face responses ranging from “very unhappy” to “very happy.” If the employee chooses to, they can elaborate on their response by adding tags and comments to inform companies about the current state of affairs. Administrators will receive feedback in a visually appealing manner, using a dashboard that breaks down responses and comments according to how individuals voted and how sentiment has shifted over time.

“It’s common knowledge that happy employees are more productive, and a healthier and happier workplace begins with listening to your employees,” said Tomer London, Gusto’s chief product officer. “Our new HR feature, Employee Happiness Surveys, is a simple but effective way to gather regular employee feedback while ensuring anonymity, which encourages employees to share their honest thoughts.”

Is it possible to get the right information using just one question? For small businesses, it might be all they need. Gusto isn’t geared toward large-scale companies; it’s rather for small- to medium-sized business that just need a little extra help managing their administrative tasks while they focus on customer needs.

“We design features with our customers in mind and collect their feedback upfront. What we heard from our small businesses is they want simplicity,” London said. “Our surveys are designed to help HR admins collect quick, anonymous employee feedback on a regular basis. Employees are more likely to answer one simple question in an email than complete a 20-question survey with multiple choice answers.”

He added that some small business owners may not know where to begin with employee surveys, so Gusto’s offering could be a good starting point, especially since it’s tied into the HR system they’re already using.

“Josh [Reeves], Eddie [Kim], and I have always believed that work should really be a community of people who are energized by each other, as well as a shared mission. That’s why Gusto’s mission is to create a world where work empowers a better life. Gusto employee happiness surveys are a natural next step on our journey as we add more HR functionality that helps employers and employees build meaningful relationships and amazing places to work.”

The Employee Happiness Survey tool is available today and is free to all of Gusto’s 40,000 customers.

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