One of the most common ways to gauge engagement is through the use of an employee survey, but new research is showing that these engagement surveys are falling short of delivering the actionable results desired. More than 3,000 HR professionals have taken an online poll titled “How Good Is Your Employee Engagement Survey?” In it, one of the questions asks, “How have your employee engagement survey scores changed over the past two years?” Respondents are given the following choices: They don’t know because they haven’t surveyed regularly, scores haven’t changed significantly, scores have declined, scores are low but have improved significantly, or they were high and have stayed high. Only 22 percent of respondents indicated that scores have improved, or already high scores have remained high. The other options, however, are telling. If scores have declined, there may be circumstances that excuse it. But if declining scores are sustained, something needs to be done. If low-spectrum scores haven’t changed significantly, this says an organization isn’t doing enough to improve. Engagement scores are meant to be acted upon, not a box to check off. The final option is even more troubling. One of the main reasons why companies don’t measure engagement regularly is because they are scared of the results. It’s hard to solve a problem if you don’t know what the problem is.