During the webinar, Jaap demonstrated how crucial it is not to rely solely on a single annual employee survey, but to continuously listen to employees' needs. From active surveys to passive data sources, ABN AMRO combines different methods to maintain an up-to-date understanding of what is happening within the organization. In this blog post, we take you through the key lessons from the webinar and share practical tips to help you get started with continuously collecting and using employee feedback within your own organization.

For many organizations, an annual employee survey has long been the standard way of gaining insight into employee needs. However, as ABN AMRO discovered, this is no longer sufficient in a rapidly changing work environment. It is crucial to have an up-to-date understanding of what is happening among employees. The traditional approach only provided a snapshot in time, which meant that important trends and concerns sometimes only surfaced much later—or even too late.

An annual survey can be compared to using an outdated map: if conditions change and your map is no longer up to date, there is a good chance you will not reach your intended destination.

This realization inspired ABN AMRO’s HR team to move towards a continuous listening approach. By regularly collecting data—both through active sources such as traditional employee surveys and exit interviews, and through passive sources such as internal ticketing systems—ABN AMRO now has a much more complete and up-to-date understanding of what is happening among its employees.

A common mistake when working with employee feedback is jumping straight into action mode. According to Jaap Veldkamp, however, it is essential to first thoroughly analyze what is really going on before taking action. “Love the problem” is an approach that encourages you not to solve the problem immediately, but to take the time to understand it better first.

Jaap shared a compelling example from practice: when employees indicate that they want a higher salary, it is tempting to assume that a pay raise is the solution. However, by exploring this feedback more deeply, ABN AMRO discovered that the underlying need often revolves around recognition. Instead of implementing a direct financial solution, they introduced a programme that allows employees to give each other small gifts and tokens of appreciation to recognize one another’s contributions. This approach proved effective because it addressed the real need—appreciation and recognition.

By taking the time to fully understand a problem before acting, you can develop solutions that are better aligned and often more effective. This not only prevents rushed decisions but also ensures that the chosen solution truly meets employees’ needs.

To process large volumes of feedback efficiently and identify meaningful trends, ABN AMRO uses (Generative) AI. This technology helps the HR team automatically categorize and analyze employee feedback. The result? Faster and more accurate insights into what is happening within the organization, without the need to manually review every piece of feedback.

The process starts with a carefully designed training dataset, in which feedback is divided into different themes, such as communication and recognition. The HR team collected example statements for each theme to train the AI to recognize common topics. New comments are then automatically assigned to the appropriate categories with an accuracy rate of no less than 86%.

Thanks to AI, ABN AMRO can respond much more quickly to emerging trends. For example, the system can detect when a certain theme, such as working conditions, is mentioned more frequently or when satisfaction levels begin to decline within a specific age

During the webinar, several practical questions were raised about continuously listening to employees and effectively using HR analytics. Below are three important tips that can help you move forward.

• How do you ensure a reliable sample and a high response rate?
  Additional surveys are sent on a rotating basis to a small group of employees rather than to the entire organization at once. For its monthly surveys, ABN AMRO uses a representative sample size of 10% to ensure statistically valid results. To keep response rates as high as possible, they limit the number of surveys per employee to three or four per year, regularly share results and action points with teams, and send one or two reminders. They also investigate potential non-response bias to ensure the results remain representative.
• Which tools does the HR team use?
  Although the surveys are conducted through tools such as Qualtrics, the analysis itself is performed internally within HR, primarily using Microsoft Azure. The most important requirement is that the tools are flexible enough to consolidate data from across the organization, which is crucial for generating meaningful insights.
• How are HR and other stakeholders trained to use the insights?
  ABN AMRO has chosen a change-based approach in which the People Analytics team gives other employees access to tailored insights, helps them interpret the data, and actively encourages them to explore the data themselves.

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