What is a community and how does it work? We realise that there are many questions on this new approach on employee research. Thefore we already posed these questions to our expert on communities, Thomas Spauwen:

Is a research community different from a community on social media? What are the differences and what are similarities?

At first sight these communities look very similar: both are platforms on which people post messages and can have dialogues together. But a research community is primarily focused on research. The discussion is guided by a community manager. He poses a first challenging question and continues with deepening questions on the responses coming in. By doing this a lively discussion arises. After the discussion the input is analysed and a report prepared.

What is needed to start an employee community?

Most important for a successfull launch is that the organisation and its leadership recognise the value of the community. We can contribute to that by organising stakeholder meetings and informing and enthuse them. We also ask you to appoint a person who will be responsible for the community for coordination with us and within the organization. That is only a limited time investment as InnerVoice does most of the work.

Where is the community hosted?

The community is hosted on an independent website at InnerVoice. It is crucial for employees to know that they can provide feedback in a safe, anonymus and neutral environment.

Do you need a minimum amount of employees to make an employee community successfull?

That depends. Most of our communities have around 150 participants. Therewith you can collect enough input to generate results of high quality. Next to that a community should not be too big, as the participants need to experience that their opinion counts. With a much smaller or larger size it works as well, but then we will advise you on a slightly different research approach.

Is it as representative as an Employee survey?

An Employee Community generates qualitative results, whereas an Engagement survey generates quantitive results. The sample size is a lot smaller (but still representative); the organization wide survey has a much broader representation. On the other hand, the standard survey does not give a lot of room for deepening the answers, which is offered by the community and brings the real insights behind the scores .

How much time will it cost to launch the community? How does it work?

A community can be live in a period of three days till 3 weeks. It depends on things such as the time needed for recruitment of participants or the need to customize the platform.

Who will and how to invite employees?

InnerVoice takes all the works of your hands. We advise you on the use of the available communication channels in your organisation and support you in the preparation of all communication. E.g. customised invites leading to a representative group of employees.

How about the privacy of the participants? Can a person participate anonymous?

InnerVoice is compliant with all national and international requirements for data security. We are both ISO20252 and ISO27001 certified. A username is obligatory, therewith anonymous participation is possible as well.

Wat is the sequence of the research in the community?

Make sure you manage the expectations of the participants and make sure that there is continuity. Better to have each month one topic than to skip it for weeks.

What is the research approach?

For each research theme there we prepare an activity guide, based on the needs for that theme. Activities are for instance group discussions, polls and use of creative research techniques.

How many people respond on a question or activity?

On average 50% of the active participants respond to a question. From 30 participants onwards the most important patterns are already visible.

How much time will it cost a client to maintain and moderate a community?

Hardly any time. InnerVoice’s community managers do all the work needed to get the max out of the community.

How to share the results with the management of the organisatie?

For every theme we make a report rapport that fits your organisation’s needs. This can be short or more elaborate if required. We provide you with a comprehensige overview of the research insights collected, including visual cues and quotes out of the community. We provide you with answers to the research question which are as complete and elaborate as possible.

Can I have a look into a community?

We do have a demo-community website. If you click on this link you can have a preview. But off course we are happy to present the demo to you ourselves.