FAQs for Employers
The following are answers to frequently asked questions regarding employee travel polls. Please use the links below to see if you can answer your questions prior to contacting your travel plan coordinator.
Questions
Survey Timetable
When should I start publicising the survey to staff?
Background to the survey
Who is responsible for the survey?
Will details be kept confidential?
How long does the survey take to complete?
Participation
Can I monitor the participation?
What if some/all our staff don’t have access to the internet?
Who can take part in the survey?
Where can I get help on publicising the survey to our staff?
Response Rate
What response rate is expected?
Can we include an incentive for employees when we conduct our survey?
How can I maximise the response rate?
Use of Data
How can I find out the results of the survey?
What sort of report does the survey generate?
What kind of detail will be in my report?
How long does it take to get results?
Technical
Who do I contact if something goes wrong?
Can people fill in the survey more than once?
How can I extend the time of the survey?
What happens if we have to use a paper survey?
Can I use my own questions in the survey?
How do I find the link for our survey?
What if a question is not relevant to our organisation?
How long do respondents have to take part?
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Answers
Survey Timetable
When should I start publicising the survey to staff?
You should put posters in key areas on the start date and put a prominent link on your intranet. You could also investigate getting an article in a newsletter/weekly internal briefing, so make sure you give yourself enough time to arrange this.
During the first week of the survey you can send a bulk email to staff and set up a launch morning with a laptop so staff can complete the survey online.
At the start of the second week of the survey you could publish the article in the company newsletter/weekly internal briefing. Also, be sure to use an email signature on emails to staff to remind them to do the survey – if you can, get other members of staff to do this too, particularly senior members, as this can be really helpful.
In the last two days of the survey, send a bulk email to staff reminding them of the prizes and the closing date.
After the survey you should make sure that posters are taken down and staff are thanked for completing the survey. If they ask, make sure staff know how long before you will make the results available.
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Background to the survey
What is the survey all about?
As part of the planning permission for your building, measures were put in place to help to reduce the number of single-occupancy vehicles on the road. These measures form your Travel Plan, and as part of the process, you are required to carry out annual surveys to measure how well you’ve been doing against the targets set in the Travel Plan.
Who is responsible for the survey?
It is your responsibility as the Travel Plan Coordinator to promote and distribute the survey to the staff at your organisation.
Who designed the survey?
The survey was designed by Travel Plan Officers at Somerset County Council.
What does SCC do?
Somerset County Council administers the backend of the survey and provides employers with a report of the survey responses. Somerset County Council uses this information to monitor your Travel Plan and improve the local transport network and inform its local transport policies.
Will details be kept confidential?
Participants can choose whether or not to add their contact details at the end of the survey. Under no circumstances will your answers be matched with your name and contact details, other than those on the final page relating to entry into the prize draw and the options to receive further advice and information; this means you can be open, frank and honest in the answers you give. At the end of the survey, participants will be given the opportunity to print their answers for their records. Within these constraints, all information they enter may be shared with you by Somerset County Council.
Where is the data stored?
See under employees FAQs.
How long does the survey take to complete?
It should only take up to 10 minutes to complete. Some of the questions are skipped, depending of the answers given to previous questions.
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Participation
Can I monitor the participation?
When your survey has ended, the report you receive will show the number of staff that took part. If you would like to know how many people have completed the survey before it is closed, please contact the Travel Plan Team using the details on the left.
What if some/all our staff don’t have access to the internet?
You may wish to set up access on one or two computers in a common room or dining area that staff can use specifically to complete the survey. If this is not a viable option then a paper copy of the survey can be supplied to you. However, you will need to arrange to have these answers inputted electronically. Please contact Somerset County Council's travel plan coordinator if you wish to use one computer for a number of responses (otherwise responses are limited to one per computer).
Who can take part in the survey?
All members of staff can take part in the survey, and you should actively encourage it. This should include those who work remotely and those who work from home, and support staff such as cleaning and catering.
Is the survey accessible?
We can supply paper copies of the survey in large print if required.
Where can I get help on publicising the survey to our staff?
There are many things you and your organisation can do to promote your survey to staff. For ideas for where and how to publicise your survey, you can pick and mix from the list suggested in the survey publicity guide, available from Somerset County Council. There are also some templates for text and posters that you can tailor to your needs.
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Response Rate
What response rate is expected?
This is very much dependent on the incentives you offer. Don’t frighten your staff into doing surveys though; a response rate of about 4 out of 10 staff for large companies is a good result.
Can we include an incentive for employees when we conduct our survey?
Definitely - This is actively encouraged. You may wish to offer an incentive to anyone taking part, such as a small gift for everyone, or you could enter everyone’s name into a prize draw and have a number of prizes available such as an extra break or a shopping voucher, or award the 1st, 10th and 100th responses, for instance. Please note though that anyone wishing to receive these incentives will need to choose to leave their contact details at the end of the survey. Incentives should be independent of the answers given, to avoid bias in the survey results (i.e. mode of travel used should not be used to determine entries into a survey prize draw).
How can I maximise the response rate?
By providing incentives, see above.
How can we do the prize draw?
We can provide a list of respondents and you can do a prize draw using a random number generator such as in Excel. It is important to let staff know about any prize draw in advance, and how and when the draw will be undertaken, and how and when the winners will be notified and/or publicised.
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Use of Data
How can I find out the results of the survey?
Following the end of the survey period, data will be analysed and the results of this will be made available to you. You will then be able to disseminate this information to the rest of your staff.
What sort of report does the survey generate?
The survey has been set up to collect information on the way your staff travel to work. The data is used to inform Somerset County Council’s view of the performance of your Travel Plan.
What does the survey cover?
The survey asks questions about where staff live, where staff work, when staff work, how they travel to work and why, and what might make them change the way they travel.
What kind of detail will be in my report?
You will receive a full report containing graphs and figures, and the overall modal split (travel by different modes of transport) will be automatically calculated and added to iOnTRAVEL. This give you a summary of how people travel and why.
How long does it take to get results?
If you have used the online survey tool, your results will be automatically analysed and available for you to download when the survey is complete.
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Technical
How do I set up a survey?
Just follow the instructions given on the Moving Forward site from the downloads on the right.
Who do I contact if something goes wrong?
Give the Travel Planning Team at Somerset County Council a call on 01823 358295
Can people fill in the survey more than once?
Each individual can only answer the survey once. However, if you wish to set up a computer for multiple entries, then please contact the Travel Planning Team at Somerset County Council so that we can set the limit for entries high enough to allow all your employees to complete the survey
How can I extend the time of the survey?
Please contact the Travel Planning Team at Somerset County Council on 01823 358295
What happens if we have to use a paper survey?
If you have carried out the survey on paper, you will need to arrange for a member of staff to input this data in order to analyse your results. Please contact Somerset County Council for advice on how to do this once the survey is closed.
Can I use my own questions in the survey?
Unfortunately we do not have the resources to tailor surveys to individual organisation's needs, but the questions in the survey have been structured so that they produce the data needed to inform your Travel Plan.
How do I find the link for our survey?
The URL for the survey is provided on iOnTRAVEL - see the instructions on setting up your survey on the downloads on the right.
What if a question is not relevant to our organisation?
See above
How long do respondents have to take part?
Respondents should be given 2 weeks to complete the survey
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