CATEGORIES: EMPLOYEE SURVEYS

From Data to Direction: AI’s Role in Employee Listening

Leaders know employee feedback is invaluable, but turning thousands of comments and scores into clear direction is more complicated than it looks. Many leaders who face dashboards full of scores and comments are unsure which insights matter most or how to act. It is easy for them to get overwhelmed, lose sight of priorities, and hesitate on next steps. As a result, the signal gets buried in noise, which slows decisions and leaves employees wondering whether their voices really matter.

Fortunately, most employee survey technology providers are launching new AI-powered tools to help managers explore, focus, act, and communicate with confidence. These tools:

While the availability of specific features depends on your employee listening platform and the details of your license, we are seeing a convergence of capabilities across providers. Here are five AI capabilities that vendors are building into their platforms.

1. AI-Driven Probing

Employee comments are often the key to uncovering the “why” behind engagement trends and pinpointing impacts on specific teams or parts of the business. However, vague or incomplete comments can make it frustrating and challenging to surface these valuable insights.

Some survey providers now offer AI-driven probing. When a response is too general or unclear, AI automatically prompts the employee with a single follow-up question, encouraging them to provide more specific details. AI-driven probing ensures that valuable context isn’t lost. By prompting employees to expand on unclear responses, it helps HR teams surface richer, more actionable insights that might otherwise remain unknown.

2. Understanding Comment Themes

For leaders of large teams or divisions, reading every comment is overwhelming and time-consuming. AI-generated comment summaries can help by reading and categorizing comments into meaningful themes.

Beyond saving time, AI summaries can:

3. Interpreting Data

Many survey providers offer a dashboard assistant that summarizes data and identifies next steps. The quality of the output depends on the quality of each user’s input; therefore, writing effective prompts is essential.

We recommend that clients couple the introduction of AI tools with manager training and practical tips, such as examples of strong versus weak prompts. In the box below, we outline several examples that we include when training people leaders to use AI data summarization tools.

AI Prompts to Surface Powerful Insights
Figure 1: AI Prompts to Surface Powerful Insights

4. Creating Focused Action Plans

Once leaders have digested their data and identified priorities, it is time to act. AI can help leaders brainstorm ideas and build a tailored action plan. Practical tools in this category utilize each leader’s unique data to provide targeted suggestions for their respective teams. The most advanced tools further tailor suggestions by asking leaders a set of questions to assess what they already do.

5. Closing the Loop

In our work with clients, we often observe that even when managers and leaders take action, they frequently fail to close the loop with employees. As a result, employees do not recognize the work that was done to improve their experience. Using AI to draft communications can save leaders time and ensure their message is transparent, motivating, and actionable.

Turning survey results into meaningful change does not have to feel overwhelming. With the right AI tools and approach, you can help managers uncover what matters most, focus their efforts, and communicate progress with clarity.

(Note: Users are responsible for compliance with their organization’s AI policies.)

Author picture

Molly Weisshaar
Team Lead, Implementation

Molly is passionate about helping people deeply hear one another. She strives to use data as a way to elevate an organization’s understanding of strengths and opportunities without erasing the “humanness” of the experience. At Newmeasures, Molly collaborates with clients to activate on customized solutions that support the organization’s needs. Connect with Molly at Linkedin.