CATEGORIES: EMPLOYEE LISTENING
Beyond Engagement Surveys: Five Ways Our Clients Are Expanding Their Impact
As outlined in our recent article, our field is evolving from a sole focus on employee engagement to more holistic listening programs designed to measure, understand, and improve the entire employee experience. By expanding their approaches, our forward-thinking clients have been successfully leveraging employee listening to inform key initiatives and solve pressing business problems.
In this post, we spotlight five clients who tackled big issues. Read on to learn how they:
Identified and improved processes that are slowing employees down
Supported struggling managers
Captured and conveyed their employee value proposition
Understood and addressed barriers to employee well-being
Leveraged data analytics to identify how to retain their highest performers
Process Improvement
We’re having conversations about the role of work processes in the employee experience more than ever. There’s a growing realization that when processes work well, employees can focus more on what matters and less on logistics. When processes slow employees down or overcomplicate their work, they can easily become frustrated or feel burned out.
There’s a shift in perspective as this topic gets more attention – many of our clients recognize that investing time and attention to getting this right provides the foundation for a workplace where people can thrive. This is particularly true for organizations in a state of change. For instance, we have several clients who experienced RIFs last year and are trying to maintain high efficiency with a leaner headcount. In this setting, employees’ frustration can be amplified when they are weighed down by inefficient processes. It can feel difficult to meet their basic job expectations, let alone have the bandwidth to be creative and innovative. It is critical that organizations listen to employees and work to manage the tension between the pain points they are experiencing and what they need to be more productive.
Client Spotlight – Process Improvement Focus Groups
A tech company partnered with us to better understand why employees were feeling frustrated with internal processes and where the organization could take action to have the most positive impact. The focus groups we conducted revealed bottlenecks, communication gaps, and procedural hurdles that hindered efficiency and morale. Armed with this valuable insight, the company swiftly implemented targeted enhancements to streamline processes and bolster communication channels. This company’s thoughtful approach not only addressed immediate concerns but also established a culture of continuous improvement, showcasing the power of employee feedback and strategic action in fostering a more engaged and productive workplace.
Manager Support
Another issue that continues to be a priority for our clients is support for managers. Managers clearly play a pivotal role in an organization’s success, as they bridge the gap between strategic directives from the top and getting the work done on the ground floor. This can be a difficult balance, especially as managers are increasingly asked to do more by leadership and employees are advocating for greater autonomy and wellbeing support. In helping our clients navigate this managerial tight rope, we are seeing that individualized attention and providing resources to promote skill development empowers managers to effectively navigate challenges and ultimately contribute to wider organizational goals. As such, investing in managers is an investment in long-term organizational success.
Client Spotlight – Investing in Managers with 360s
An investment firm approached us with a concern about the declining engagement levels among their managers. Once managers were up to speed, they became highly likely to take a job elsewhere, citing a lack of feeling valued and professional growth as their main reasons for leaving. Matters got worse when it was clear this decline in engagement was beginning to negatively impact individual contributors. The firm decided to take the proactive step of implementing a 360 assessment with coaching for this group. The results were remarkable. The feedback and individualized attention provided managers with valuable insights and developmental opportunities they were craving. Our clients reported managers and employees alike feeling reenergized after this effort – and in the next survey cycle, engagement across all groups in the organization increased significantly.
Core Values and Employee Value Proposition (EVP)
In today’s labor market, a compelling employee value proposition (EVP) and clear articulation of company values has become a necessity. Employees are seeking more than just a job – they want the right experience to meet their expectations. Companies are recognizing that a powerful EVP is the key to standing out in a crowded talent landscape and holding onto high performing talent.
Unfortunately, too many organizations treat their EVPs as guessing game. They assume they know what candidates and employees value most and ultimately create statements that miss the mark. We’ve helped clients avoid this misstep by collecting meaningful data when establishing or reinvigorating their EVPs.
Client Spotlight – Using Employee Data to Inform EVP Refresh
Facing the need to refresh their EVP after a merger and years of structural changes, a large non-profit worked with us to prioritize the employee voice in this effort. To honor employee perspectives in reconstructing the EVP, we partnered to deploy an experience optimizer survey to collect feedback directly from their workforce. This approach allowed them to uncover the core values and priorities of their employees – walking away with the knowledge of what matters most to their people. With this information our client crafted a renewed EVP that resonated with the workforce on a deeper level. In following this approach, they demonstrated a commitment to employee voice and ensured that the updated EVP was a genuine reflection of employee preferences and not based on assumptions.
Well-being
Employees have become more vocal about their well-being needs, and the organizations we work with are genuinely concerned with giving wellbeing the attention it deserves. They acknowledge that fostering the wellbeing of employees not only contributes to stronger overall engagement but also boosts productivity and retention. The challenge, however, lies in navigating the vast landscape of wellbeing initiatives and pinpointing where to initiate meaningful changes. It is typically not enough to learn from employees on the annual engagement survey that wellbeing is an issue and immediately jump into action. There’s a need to go deeper to identify the most effective initiatives that will resonate with each organization’s needs and develop a clear, holistic roadmap. Our clients have mined rich information using focus groups, traditional surveys, and the experience optimizer to make data-informed decisions.
Client Spotlight – Using Qualitative Data to Double Click on Wellbeing
A manufacturing client felt it was time to address a disconnect between leadership and staff when it came to wellbeing. Over time, their annual engagement survey had revealed that employees did not feel like senior leaders cared about their wellbeing. The executive team felt discouraged because they didn’t know what this truly meant or where to even begin addressing it.
So, they decided to learn more by utilizing a 10-question wellbeing survey so they could implement an informed plan of action. Several of the survey items were open-ended, giving employees the opportunity to get descriptive in a confidential environment. Rather than reading thousands of survey comments and coding them manually, we set up TextiQ (Qualtrics’ AI driven qualitative analysis tool) to categorize collected comments into meaningful themes. This revealed a prevailing sentiment among employees that leaders were prioritizing the bottom line and productivity over the safety and wellbeing of staff. Equipped with this insight, the executive team had the information needed to personalize initiatives and act, emphasizing the genuine care for health and wellbeing of employees beyond the numbers.
From Aggregate Data to Pointed Interventions
The four client spotlights above highlighted ways that listening teams are expanding their impact by using methods that complement an annual engagement survey. Our final spotlight illustrates how to use the data you’ve already captured to delve deeper into issues.
A particularly effective use of survey data is applying data analysis tools to better understand groups that may have significantly different experiences compared with the overall organization’s results. Utilizing data visualizations like key drivers and leveraging filters to extract group results from the data can shed light on what matters most to disengaged employees. By identifying the employee factions with low engagement and examining the key drivers correlated with this result, organizations can tailor interventions to reignite enthusiasm, bring disengaged employees back into the fold, and restore their sense of purpose and commitment.
Client Spotlight: Recognition Was the Key to Reigniting Disengaged High Performers
One of our clients decided to take a deep dive to better understand the experience of their star performers who were “flight risks.” This was a group of employees who were highly productive and willing to go above and beyond, but both their stay intentions and engagement levels were low. In helping their HR Business Partners identify key drivers of engagement and retention for this group, recognition emerged as a key theme. This group of employees felt overworked and underappreciated. Using this information, the HRBPs were able to focus their attention to better listen to this group, recognize their efforts, an determine what else they needed to feel like the valued contributors they are.
Madison Hanscom, Ph.D.
Director of People Science
Madison uses her experience in organizational science to diagnose problems and build solutions. With years of experience in applied research, Madison leverages her knowledge in research methods, design, and statistics to develop and administer assessments. She enjoys translating data for practical use and partnering with clients to create better workplaces. Connect with Madison at Linkedin.