There's a direct correlation between the attitude of employees at Hyatt Hotels and guests who stay there. When the employees are happy, so too are its customers, says Harold Morgan, director of employee relations for Chicago-based Hyatt Hotels Corp.

For that reason, the national hotel chain conducts yearly employee attitude surveys. Its intention is to ask their 40,000 employees their thoughts on such things as management, working conditions and the hotel in general.

"We have pioneered service in the hotel business and a lot of people have xeroxed our concepts," says Harold Morgan, director of employee relations at the Hyatt headquarters. "One of those concepts is to treat your employees as best as you can and that means asking them what they think."

Morgan says the competitive climate of the hotel industry necessitates the use of employee surveys. "Hotels can't survive too long without them."

Administering anonymous surveys has been a tradition for about 14 years at the hotel. More and more companies are doing likewise as management specialists stress the importance of listening to employees. That's the result of the increasing number of companies which are experiencing organizational changes because of mergers and restructuring.

Traditionally, the Hyatt headquarters has written the questionnaire, fielded it and tabulated the results. As the company grew, that responsibility was handed to a Chicago-based survey research firm.

All 85 hotels are shipped the survey booklet to give all company employees the opportunity to complete it. It takes employees anywhere from a half-hour to an hour to do and covers 15 categories including questions on management and supervisors, working conditions, compensation, company training programs and what the employees think of the hotel in general.

After the surveys have been tabulated, they are fed back to the corporate headquarters and individ...