Post on 21-Jul-2018
Willis Towers Watson Webcast: The Latest In Employee Listening
© 2016 Willis Towers Watson. All rights reserved.
Key contacts
2© 2016 Willis Towers Watson. All rights reserved. Proprietary and Confidential. For Willis Towers Watson and Willis Towers Watson client use only.
Adam Zuckerman
Employee Engagement
Practice Leader
Adam.zuckerman@willistowerswatson.com
https://www.linkedin.com/in/adam-
zuckerman-50263220
Chris Pinc
Director, HR Software
Product Management
Chris.pinc@willistowerswatson.com
https://www.linkedin.com/in/chris-pinc-
a6521914
Agenda
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Willis Towers Watson HR Software
Background: The changing landscape
Matching purpose with approach
Four parts to an effective listening strategy
A strong foundation - Demonstration
Strategic pulse surveys - Demonstration
Automated lifecycle “check-ins” - Demonstration
An “always on” open funnel
The employee listening strategy: Putting it all together
Willis Towers Watson HR Software: Overview
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Upcoming Events
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Event Dates Location Details
HR Technology Conference and
Exposition October 4-7 Chicago, IL Booth #622
HR Tech World Congress October 25-26 Paris Booth #219
Background
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The changing landscape
How do we decide which combination of tools to use, and when?
It’s never been
easier to do a
bad survey
Traditional Approach
Annual surveys that systematically
gather employee input
What Critics Are Saying
Content is too long, process is too
slow, value is uneven
New Technology Options
• Targeted pulse surveys
• “Always on” surveys and daily polls
• Social media scans, online chats/jams
• And much more
Matching the purpose to the approach
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Different goals align with different methods
Reason Key Considerations Ideal Method
Improve culture Relatively stable, need data for thorough understanding Periodic event
Increase engagement Relatively stable, need data for modelling drivers Periodic event
Tailor company programsImpractical to take frequent action, need broad and deep
perspectivesPeriodic event
Show we care Must be as inclusive as possible Periodic event
Monitor sentiment /
improve team well-being /
effectiveness
Highly variable, timeliness is critical
Pulse survey (ad hoc)
or separated event
(cyclical)
Support specific change Highly variable, timeliness is critical Pulse survey (ad hoc)
Monitor morale/sentiment Highly variable, timeliness is critical Pulse survey (cyclical)
Measure progress on key
issues since last event
Critical to guide course correction, distance from event needed
for initial actions to have an impactPulse survey (periodic)
Improve on-boarding Tied to specific event Action triggered
Reduce turnover Tied to specific event Action triggered
Coalmine canary Ideal for an “open funnel” Always on
Suggestion box Ideal for an “open funnel” Always on
How to create an effective listening strategy
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Establish a strong foundation
Large-scale “events” enable predictive modeling, deep understanding, momentum for change
Must allow one to quickly understand findings, identify priorities, and take action / track progress
Supplement with strategic pulse surveys
Focused pulse surveys provide a timely picture of key issues and actions needed
Technology must serve purpose: What are we asking, why, and what will we do with it?
Emerging practice: Separate high-level versus local reporting and action planning
Automate life-cycle “check ins”
Targeted surveys tied to milestones (e.g., exit, entry, anniversary) generate unique insight
Ideally these are “always on” processes triggered by routine activity
Set-up a background “always on” mechanism
Gather suggestions for improvement and surface problems with a digital suggestion box
Findings must be frequently reviewed, but little effort needed to design and manage process
Four key components
Establish a strong foundation
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Large-scale surveys remain a cornerstone
A tailored survey of roughly 50
questions annually
Enables managers to:
Benchmark work experience,
culture and state of engagement for
their part of the business
Find strengths/opportunities based
on engagement drivers, norms, and
historical trend
Identify and record actions for
improvement
Enables senior leadership to:
Address culture/strategy alignment
Act on systemic engagement
drivers
Inform re-design of companywide
programs
Create companywide momentum
for change
Establish a strong foundation
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Reasons why event surveys fail – and how good software helps avoid them
Issue How to Avoid
Managers have no time/interest
to read complicated reports
Software must be highly intuitive with
engaging, mobile-enabled experience
Managers don’t know
what actions to take
Software should include specific
action suggestions
Company re-organizes and
results become irrelevant
Software should make it easy to revise
findings after organizational changes
Cannot track who’s doing what, hold
people accountable or share learnings
Software must enable monitoring of action
across company with diagnostic reports
Managers have difficulty
identifying issues
Software should automatically identify
strengths & opportunities for each manager
Too long to analyze results
& distribute reports
Software must allow for fast turnaround of
results AND speed up “time to action”
Open-ended comments can yield great
insights, but it’s too hard to analyze them
Software must be able to analyze free text
responses automatically
Supplement with strategic pulse surveys
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Clarifying measurement objectives before deploying
Pulse surveys are less comprehensive but more timely
Agile assessment of issues as they unfold
Specific feedback on particular issues
Ability to identify cyclical trends over time
Team Sentiment Check
Measure mood/sentiment at regular intervals
Understand cyclical issues
Progress Check
Measure progress since prior survey on priority issues
Inform actions and course-correct
Initiative Check
Gauge understanding and support of major changes
Inform communication and change activities
Relationship Between Census Surveys and Pulse Surveys
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Emerging approach: Separating high-level vs. local reporting and action planning
Two factors that make an “event” survey such an “event”:
Specifying reporting needs at all levels of a large complex hierarchy
Level-by-level results cascade / roll out
Most meaningful action is often taken by:
Senior leadership on systemic engagement drivers, culture issues, or companywide programs OR
Immediate managers on local drivers of engagement, enablement, and well being
Therefore, focus where the most value is and report:
Global roll-ups to the top 2-3 levels of leadership, AND
Immediate team reports to managers at all level, BUT NOT
Mid-level roll-ups to mid-level managers
Relationship Between Census Surveys and Pulse Surveys
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Executing a “separation” approach: A quarterly census
Global Roll-Ups to
Senior Leadership
Q1
Team Reports to
All Managers
Team Focus: Content geared to sentiment and local drivers of engagement, enablement,
and well being, e.g., empowerment, working relationships, work/life balance, etc.
Organizational Focus: Content geared to culture, systemic drivers of engagement, and
companywide programs
Q2 Q3 Q4 Q1 Q2
Team Reports to
All Managers
Team Reports to
All Managers
Team Reports to
All Managers
Team Reports to
All Managers
Team Reports to
All Managers
Global Roll-Ups to
Senior Leadership
Automate life-cycle “check-ins”
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Example Exit Survey Quarterly Executive Summary
Career development/advancement 35%
Management/leadership 29%
Working culture 24%
Respect and inclusion 6%
Job security 6%
Efficiency/bureaucracy in my role/company 35%
The location (e.g., journey to work) 12%
My manager 0%
Base pay and discretionary bonus/incentive 12%
Most
selected
2nd-most
selected
3rd-most
selected
4th-most
selected
5th-most
selected
I was not achieving my career
aspirations83%
I was not being developed to my
full potential67%
There were insufficient
opportunities to increase my
eligibility for a better job50%
XYZ did not take steps to improve
efficiency quickly enough83%
My operating unit/department was
inefficient 50%
Too many approvals were needed
for routine decisions33%
Priorities were changed so
frequently I had trouble getting my
work done33%
Respondents were asked to answer at least one follow up question, and not more than three, for each macro reason given.
Set-up a background “always on” mechanism
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Create an open funnel to surface problems early and gather improvement ideas
It can be valuable for employees to have
place to go at any time to submit:
Suggestions for improvement
Concerns / problem areas
This would be an application appropriate for
an “always on” survey
Data capture should be tied to a company
portal or intranet site
Example questions include:
What suggestions do you have for how we can improve this company?
What concerns do you have about our ability to succeed, and how can we address them?
Regular monitoring and routing of input is necessary
Instructions should clarify that serious ethical concerns should be submitted to an ethics hotline
The employee listening strategy
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Putting it all together: An Example
16
Exit/Entry Surveys Running Continuously
Lifecycle
Surveys
January 2016Cornerstone “Event”
January 2017Cornerstone “Event”
April 2016Team Survey
July 2016Team Survey
October 2016Team Survey
June 2016Progress Check
September 2016Initiative check
Upcoming Events
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Event Dates Location Details
World at Work Total Rewards
Conference June 6 – 8 San Diego, CA Booth #507
SHRM Annual Conference June 19-22 Washington, D.C. Booth #3017
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Discussion and Questions
https://twitter.com/WTWhr
https://www.linkedin.com/company/willis-towers-watson
Why listen to employees?
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“Why are we gathering employee input in the first place?”
Improve culture Support change
Increase engagement Monitor morale/sentiment
Show we care Improve a leader’s effectiveness
Tailor companywide programs Surface problems (coalmine canary)
Reduce turnover Gather improvement ideas (suggestion box)
Improve on-boarding Improve a team’s well-being / effectiveness
Automate life-cycle “check-ins”
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Why survey joiners and leavers?
Why survey joiners?
Understand what attracts employees and identify actions to improve attraction proposition
Assess joining ‘experience’ and match with employer brand and promises made to joiners, identify
where it can be improved to ensure joiners’ expectations are met
Poor onboarding is a considerable productivity cost and puts at risk substantial investments in
attraction and hiring top talent
Identify trouble spots early before they lead to performance issues or turnover risks
Improve time it takes for new recruits to begin adding value to business
Why survey leavers?
Identify reasons for leaving in different parts of the business to target specific interventions
Reduce employee turnover, thus recruitment spend and costs to business
Identify potential targets for re-recruitment (alumni network)
Tie in with existing employee survey research to help improve employee engagement levels and
provide a deeper understanding of disengagement
Automate life-cycle “check-ins”
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Example on-boarding and exit survey process map
Employee
Employee joins
or resigns
Manager/HR
HR or manager
updates HRIS
HRIS
HRIS
automatically
transfers key
data to WTW
On a regular, scheduled
basis, (eg daily) WTW
sends survey invites and
demographics
Survey Invitation
WTW merges survey
responses and
demographics
Database
Report Tool
Reporting tool
populated and
available for
review/analysis
WTW Entry/Exit Intelligence Key Survey Features:
Concise. Quick and easy technology for employees, HR and
leaders
Focused. Only asks questions meaningful to a particular
employee, with questions branching and probing deeply into
critical areas
Deep. Solicits employee comments to bring meaning to survey
responses
WTW Entry/Exit Intelligence Key Reporting and Action
Features:
Real Time. Results roll into an interactive tool that gives you
power to segment and report
Rich. Statistics are connected to an interactive comments tool
that reveals information about specific areas
Smart. Links to other employee life-cycle data (eg
engagement), provide full understanding and the right focus
for action
Capture Report and Act