The invitation to employees to participate in the survey can be done via either email or memorandum.

In both cases, certain key information must be communicated.

• What is happening. E.g., "We are conducting an employee satisfaction survey."
• Why it is happening. E.g., ". . . as our changes and faces new challenges, it becomes increasingly important to gauge the level of satisfaction of our employees."
• The survey is anonymous and confidential. Assure employees that their responses will be held in the strictest confidence. If using an outside supplier, mention that only the supplier will see the completed responses.
• How the results will be used. Anything you can share with employees in this regard will make it more likely that people will respond.
• How long the survey will take to complete. Most surveys of this type, if properly designed, will take only 15 or 20 minutes to complete. If this is the case with your survey, be sure to mention it.
• Give a deadline.
• Thank the employees for their time.

If the invitation is an email for an Internet survey, the email should contain the URL. Care must be taken to ensure that the URL is a hot link (employees should simply be able to click on the link to go to the survey) and that the link actually leads people to the correct URL. The message should appear within the text of the email itself, rather than in an attachment.

If the invitation is a memorandum inviting people to participate in a paper-and-pencil survey, the questionnaire and a return envelope should accompany it. The memorandum should tell people how to return their completed questionnaires.

Optional information to consider including in the invitation:

• Tell people the survey can be completed on company time
• If there is some sort of group incentive for a high response rate, mention what it is.
• If it is an Internet survey and your research supplier is using a secure server, mention this.

To maximize response rate, the invitation should come from within the organization itself, and should be signed by a senior manager (the CEO if possible). For a paper-and-pencil survey, the questionnaire packet should be delivered to people at their places of work instead of mailing it to their homes.

We keep on file samples of successful invitations (with the company names removed, of course), and make these available to clients.