Our research
We listened first.
Then we built.
Before we built a single question, we held 12 conversations with drivers and 3 conversations with HR and management, at 2 transport companies. We wanted to understand how drivers experience employee surveys, and what fits a working day behind the wheel.
The conversations shaped what we built, alongside research elsewhere and our own judgement. Each part says what it rests on.
What we heard
How we did the research
- With drivers
- 12 conversations
- Long and short runs, day and night shifts.
- With HR and management
- 3 conversations
- Two HR managers and a managing director.
- Held at
- 2 transport companies
What these conversations are and are not
- Qualitative and exploratory, not a sample.
- Not representative of all drivers, so no percentages and no claims about the whole sector.
- They helped us find problems and needs.
- Whether what we built fits and is usable in practice is for the pilot to show.
What we built
What we heard, and what we built
We only list what more than one person told us.
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A questionnaire has to fit a working day
- What we heard
- Drivers told us they have no ten minutes to sit still for a form, but they do have spare minutes while loading, at a dock or on a break. HR and management told us their usual employee survey told them little about their drivers.
- What we built
- A short questionnaire each week, about 2 minutes. Through a link in WhatsApp, in their own language, with no app or login. Anyone who has not answered yet gets one reminder.
- What a week looks like
- Still to be tested
- Whether one questionnaire a week fits drivers' working week (participation).
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It matters who asks
- What we heard
- Drivers told us they answer more guardedly when the employer asks, because planning and appraisal come from the same place.
- What we built
- The questions come from WorkerJoy, not from you. You see what a group answered together, never an individual answer.
- What you do and do not see
- Still to be tested
- Whether drivers answer more openly when WorkerJoy asks. The pilot cannot measure that: there is nothing to compare it with.
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Questions have to be about their work
- What we heard
- Drivers told us about employee surveys written for the whole organisation, with questions about meetings or working from home.
- What we built
- Ten topics about the work itself, with questions about loading and unloading, the vehicle and safety on the road. No questions about meetings or working from home.
- The ten topics
- Still to be tested
- Whether drivers understand the questions the way we mean them (comprehension).
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Signals came in too late
- What we heard
- HR and management told us that what was really going on sometimes only came out at an exit interview or when someone called in sick.
- What we built
- A measurement every week. If a topic in a team drops below our line of 3.0, or comes out lower 3 measurements in a row, by at least 0.5 in total, a card is ready on Take action after that measurement.
- What is on a card
- Still to be tested
- Whether a card comes in time to still do something about it (usefulness).
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An outcome has to lead somewhere
- What we heard
- Drivers told us that filling it in felt pointless, because a previous questionnaire went nowhere. HR and management told us a falling score did not say what was behind it, so there was nothing to take into a team conversation.
- What we built
- Every card has a proposal and three questions for the team conversation. If at least 3 drivers in a team choose the same thing in the same week, that can appear with that team. If 10 drivers from one team wrote about the same thing in the same measurement, WorkerJoy summarises it in a theme; in a team of fewer than 10 that cannot happen.
- What drivers raise themselves
- Still to be tested
- Whether the cards get you talking with your team and changing something (usefulness).
What WorkerJoy measures
10 topics, one WorkerJoy score
Workload, autonomy and support are core concepts of the Job Demands-Resources model: what work asks of people, and what helps them keep it up. That is where we started; which ten topics we measure was our own choice.
Each questionnaire asks one question per topic, on a scale of 1 to 5. Higher is always better, workload included: for workload, a high score means the work was manageable.
The WorkerJoy score is the average of the ten topics, each counting equally, with each topic's latest score from the last four weekly questionnaires. We chose the 3.0 line in the dashboard ourselves; it is not a norm from research.
A scientific framework is not a validated questionnaire. The questions were written for WorkerJoy, and how reliably they measure has not been studied yet: that takes a separate study with drivers.
- Workload
- Physical safety
- Psychological safety
- Leadership
- Social support
- Meaning
- Work-life balance
- Future confidence
- Autonomy
- Recognition
What research elsewhere found
Three studies, and how far they reach
The three studies our home page refers to: associations at other organisations. None of the three is about WorkerJoy or our questionnaire.
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Gallup · 2024 · organisations worldwide
What they found
Business units and teams in the top quartile for engagement, measured with Gallup's Q12 questionnaire, had, by Gallup's calculation, 78% less absenteeism than those in the bottom quartile, and 21% less turnover in organisations with more than 40% turnover a year (51% at 40% or less).
183,806 business units and teams in 53 industries and 90 countries.
Why it matters to us
It is about groups, not individual people; WorkerJoy also reports only on groups.
What it does not show
The report does not directly address cause and effect, as Gallup itself says. And Gallup sells the questionnaire it studied.
Gallup (2024). The Relationship Between Engagement at Work and Organizational Outcomes: Q12® Meta-Analysis, 11th edition (May 2024, revised July 2024). Report at Gallup (pdf)
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Schaufeli et al. · 2009 · managers
What they found
Managers whose job demands (such as workload) rose over a year and whose support, autonomy, feedback and learning opportunities fell had more burnout symptoms at the end of that year. Those with more symptoms at the first measurement were off sick for longer that year; the more engaged were off sick less often.
201 managers at one Dutch telecoms company, two measurements a year apart.
Why it matters to us
It is a study in the Job Demands-Resources model, and workload, support and autonomy are WorkerJoy topics too.
What it does not show
There were no drivers in it, and the link with absence is small. This study did not test whether workload leads to absence through burnout.
Schaufeli, W. B., Bakker, A. B., & Van Rhenen, W. (2009). How changes in job demands and resources predict burnout, work engagement, and sickness absenteeism. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 30(7), 893–917. Article at Wiley Free pdf from the author
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Spencer · 1986 · hospitals
What they found
Hospitals with more formal channels through which employees could voice dissatisfaction had less voluntary turnover, whether or not a union was present.
111 general hospitals.
Why it matters to us
It is about what WorkerJoy wants to be: a regular place for drivers to say what is not going well.
What it does not show
An association across hospitals, not between individuals. A questionnaire is only one channel, and no guarantee of less turnover.
Spencer, D. G. (1986). Employee voice and employee retention. Academy of Management Journal, 29(3), 488–502. Article at the Academy of Management
What we test
Three things we want to learn in the pilot
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Comprehension
Do drivers understand the questions the way we mean them?
In week 9 we ask the drivers themselves, in a short closing questionnaire, whether the questions were clear. Not through you or their manager, so their answers stay anonymous.
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Participation
Does one questionnaire a week fit your drivers' working week?
We see how many drivers sign up and how many links are used per measurement, and discuss with you how that is going. Your dashboard shows the response as a range; we do not pass on the exact numbers.
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Usefulness
Do the outcomes help you talk with your team and improve something?
We count how many cards you take up, and in the calls and the final meeting we ask which ones and what that achieved.
What the pilot does not show: whether WorkerJoy reduces absence or turnover for you. Ten weeks is too short for that, and the pilot has no control group. What week 10 does show: how your teams score then, next to the baseline, for every team with enough answers.
What we learn from all pilots together, we share with our pilot partners, without any company, team or driver being recognisable.
Want to help shape it?
Your practice is the next step
The first research phase is complete. Now we are looking for transport companies that test the approach with us in practice and tell us how the questions, the rhythm and the dashboard work for them. The pilot lasts ten weeks and costs nothing.
Requesting it commits you to nothing.