It's been defined this way: A demographically diverse group of people assembled to participate in a guided discussion about a particular product before it is launched, or to provide ongoing feedback.

That's a great definition for marketing, but for employee research we'd amend it to this: A group of employees assembled to participate in a guided discussion about a particular program or issue.

Why use employee focus groups?

The answer is simple: Focus groups increase your knowledge and when you know more you can create solutions that meet employees' needs and accomplish your objectives.

Use focus groups to:

• Clarify previous research findings
• Assess employees' knowledge levels
• Identify problems ahead of time
• Generate ideas for improvements

What can you learn from focus groups?

Employee focus groups can be used in many situations including:

• Why employees are behaving in a certain way (e.g., failing to enroll in a short-term disability program)
• What's the real story behind survey data (i.e., 75% of managers don't provide employees with feedback about their jobs)
• What ideas employees have for solving a problem or making a program successful
• Whether a new approach (e.g., to introduce a new retirement program) will be well-received
• When you've created understanding—and when you still have work to do
• How employees really feel about a topic such as strategy, mission, values or a change initiative