The Simmons Employee Feelings Inventory
The Employee Feelings Inventory (EFI) is a highly flexible instrument that assesses employee feelings about a broad number of items organized into categories.  This is not an attitude survey.  This instrument is based on the developer’s assumption that human behavior is driven more by our feelings than by attitudes.  Hence, this instrument is designed to measure how people feel about a number of areas of their work experience.
 
Review the EFI Report by following the link at the bottom of this page.  You’ll note that there are a great number of items about the participant’s direct supervisor.  The quality of the relationship between people and their boss has a huge impact on the quality and satisfaction people find in their working lives.
 
In my consulting practice, I’ve come to prefer the simplicity of this instrument over a variety of “360 degree” instruments I’ve reviewed.  Each participant only has to complete the instrument one time.  If you are doing 360’s for a group of 10 people, each person would have to rate nine coworkers in addition to providing self-ratings.  By the time participants add written comments to supplement their numerical ratings, this can result in quite an investment of time.
 
I’ve also heard two concerns expresses by my clients about 360 assessment devices.  When peers are rating peers, these instruments are open to one of two kinds of distortions.  People may agree to rate each other in such a way that no one comes out with critical peer ratings.  On the other hand, in highly competitive environments, some people use the instrument to bash their peers in hopes of coming out with better scores themselves.
 
The EFI generates ratings of managers by layers.  Front-line staff rate their supervisors, supervisors rate middle managers, and so forth.  Once the ratings get in, that is when things get really interesting.  The data can be collapsed to provide a variety of different comparisons.  Let’s suppose the EFI was done on a company with two different geographic locations, each of which is comprised of three departments operating three shifts a day.  
 
Two forms of reports can be created from the data.  The first focuses on the report you’ll find by clicking the Basic Report.  You could run a report for each supervisor, manager, and each location’s operations director (with the only requirement that there be a minimum of three people rating a supervisor to protect anonymity).
 
Then we could generate a basic report that collapses all the data from each location.  Or we could create basic reports collapsing the data for each of the divisions or each of the 8 hour shifts.
 
Then there is a report you’ll find by clicking the link for Sample Chart.  This report collapses the ratings in each of the categories found in the Basic Report for a simpler and clearer comparison of groups.  Again, any number of group comparisons can be run.
About the EFI
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38-YEAR TRACK RECORD
Successfully used since 1970 with thousands of employees in a wide variety of organizations.
 
RAPID TURNAROUND
Once your employees have completed the assessment,
your results are compiled, printed, and available to you within 3-5 days!
 
ONLINE ADMINISTRATION
Employees complete the instrument online.  In addition to providing numerical ratings, there are opportunities for participants to type comments.  These comments are compiled to in reports without names, assuring anonymity.
 
ITEMS CAN BE EDITED
The items can be edited to assess issues of unique interest to your company.
 
PROVEN TO DOCUMENT CHANGE
In 1990, 57 General Managers of a Wendy’s Old-Fashioned Hamburger franchise in Florida were given the EFI.  The EFI pinpointed several key areas needing improvement.  Constructive action what then taken, based on the EFI information.
 
One year later, the EFI was given to these same individuals.  The results were outstanding.  All major areas showed significant improvement.  For example:
 
  1. ★88% improvement in the perceived effectiveness of the District Manager’s administrative & technical ability;
  2. ★117% improvement in the perceived effectiveness of the District Manager’s relational style & methods of communication.
  3. ★67% improvement in the employees’ comfort with the work environment.
  4. ★377% improvement in the employees’ satisfaction with their wages, hours, and benefits.
  5. ★67% improvement in the employees’ overall feeling of fulfillment with their jobs.
 
 
COMMENTS FROM USERS OF THE EFI
 
“The EFI pinpointed our manager’s strengths and weaknesses, and gave us direction in which areas to train our people.  It improved morale.  We found it easy to understand and to administer.  It’s a great training tool.”
Gary Absolonson, General Manager
Walker’s Furniture, Spokane, WA.
 
“The EFI helped us identify employee dissatisfaction with supervision and interdepartmental relations.  The improved teamwork and attitude from addressing problems highlighted by the EFI have significantly improved internal working relationships.  The cost of the EFI is a small investment relative to the valuable information it provides.”
Stan Ritter, President
Superior Business Associates, Inc.  Greeneville, TN