Why firms need to move beyond employee engagement surveys
Employee engagement surveys can be a mixed bag. On one hand, they are a relatively simple and quick way to gauge employee satisfaction. On the other, they can be inaccurate if people feel they cannot speak freely, or if they feel the process is a tick-box exercise. Annual surveys can also be left to gather dust after completion, with firms failing to act on them or create long-term change. Karina Brown, co-founder at GroHappy, reflects on why firms need to move beyond employee engagement surveys.
Taking action on surveys is imperative – such surveys are increasingly becoming a hygiene factor, and many organisations have realised the need to overhaul their employee engagement. Some are moving towards more frequent ‘pulse’ surveys which are shorter and more frequent. Yet, the value of surveying teams still lies in drawing insights from it and taking effective action.
This is something that FinTech investor and venture builder firm Anthemis uncovered when it recently carried out an employee engagement survey. Results were mostly positive; however, it found a gap between colleague expectations for career development and learning opportunities, and what the firm was providing.
“We created a heat map from the results of our eNPS engagement survey,” explained Briana van Strijp, COO at Anthemis, “and the results were pretty black-and-white." Anthemis was doing well in engaging its team, with a clear opportunity: to establish a robust and compelling career development and growth framework to further boost eNPS results.
Development and employee engagement
This closely corresponds with the finding that learning and development is the top driver for employee engagement. It has consistently held the top spot since 2011. For most firms, the traditional vertical career path has largely meant this drive to learn new skills and develop careers has been simple to fulfil. Employees could often expect challenging projects to learn on and have a clear pre-determined career path to follow.
Now, however, career development has become more complicated. Vertical progression is not the only option available. The norm used to be for employees to be promoted every couple of years and climb up the ladder towards making Partner. But technology and the drive for flexible working has changed this. Individuals expect to craft careers that suit them and their strengths. Enabling them to do this is a critical part of the modern-day employee experience.
Office perks used to be a gym membership and healthy snacks. Now it’s engaging employees with development opportunities aligned with their career goals.
A flatter structure emerging
This rings especially true at Anthemis, which is moving towards a flatter organisational structure compared to other firms. Since they employ investors, along with designers, technologists, specialists and traditional consultants, Anthemis has had to consider different career paths and how its people progress in different areas.
Indeed, one of the areas that Anthemis are exploring now is how skills development can inform how people progress in the firm to visibly demonstrate the value placed to learning and growth. Again, this echoes a wider industry change. Most professional services firms are grappling with the fact that they need new skills, including data science, blockchain advisory and digital transformation. This presents both recruitment and re-skilling challenges, since simply hiring for these skills isn’t possible. After all, the digital skills gap is growing, with almost 3 million jobs potentially unfilled by 2030.
A mindset shift is needed
For those still rooted in the old ways, emerging divisions and roles can come as a culture shock. There is always a risk of ‘overchoice’ – where someone becomes stuck analysing all their different career options. “We were very aware that working at Anthemis offers a myriad of choices, so we wanted to craft a framework that centres around the growth of an individual, and supports them in the kind of career that they want to develop,” states van Strijp. "This was evidenced by the desire for more development and learning support uncovered in Anthemis’ employee survey and aligned to our intention to develop a robust, flexible and inclusive team.”
The company looked to improve individual ownership of learning and development and empower its employees to grow their careers. This took the form of technology-enabled coaching and peer-to-peer mentoring sessions.
“It was what we did after the employee engagement surveys that really improved the bottom-line for the firm.”
– Briana van Strijp, COO at Anthemis
How to achieve this
Technology to boost learning and development
Anthemis used technology to help its employees identify and work towards their career goals in bite-sized activities. It broke career development down into a series of simple steps that was not as time-intensive as traditional training and away days. Apps and cloud-based systems helped employees complete tasks when travelling between client meetings or on their commute. These were then supplemented by in-person career coaching and mentor sessions.
We also saw this approach used by one of the Big Four firms, to improve employee engagement scores amongst a group of junior employees who had declining scores. Low engagement hit retention, with many in the group leaving after gaining their qualifications. The firm used a technology-based approach to help the group understand what fulfilling careers were offered by the company and to better support them at this critical career juncture. As a result, 84% of employees in the programme felt clearer on their career goals and 52% were more likely to remain with the firm for another year or more.
The power of peers
Peer-to-peer coaching can also be beneficial in facilitating career conversations in firms. As long as people have been trained in asking the right questions and staying impartial. It can provide a ‘safe space’ for employees to explore their career goals without the pressure of engaging with a Leader or Partner. Peer coaching can also assist in shifting the cultural mindset of a firm to consider other opportunities beyond making Partner.
Anthemis realised this opportunity during its development programme. “What we found with peer-to-peer coaching was that it offered everyone the chance to develop the quality of a coach and to support each other. It became a vital outlet for our employees and a way for people to explore their career growth in a different way,” van Strijp adds.
Rotating assignments
Another way for professional services firms to engage their employees with alternative career pathways is to offer stretch assignments or rotations in other areas of the business. A Service Performance Insight (SPI) report found that leading professional services firms dedicated more time to learning and development, often offering rotational assignments. Within Deloitte Digital, employees are encouraged to speak up about their interests and offered projects that align with those when they become available.
Still a place for engagement surveys
Ultimately, employee engagement surveys still have an important role to play in the toolkit for improving retention and employee experience. But alone, they are not enough. There is a lot more that firms can do to keep their employees happy and working effectively.
As Anthemis discovered, “The survey was really a starting point for us to begin working on a whole lot more and the insights informed where we needed to invest, based on what our team cared about most. Without it, we wouldn’t have identified areas for improvement. But had we left it, and not addressed employee feedback by implementing more career development tools and support, the survey would have been pointless. It was what we did after that really improved the bottom-line for the firm.”
