3 ways to drive culture and strategy with HR leaders
In today’s dynamic work environment, human resources (HR) professionals often find themselves managing complaints and culture clashes rather than shaping company culture and strategy. But how can HR leaders get back to focusing their influence on both short- and long-term company goals effectively? The answer lies in data.
HR leaders might seem to have a limited set of data to gauge organizational culture, focusing on employee engagement surveys, employee net promoter score (eNPS), and exit interviews. However, if you have an employee recognition program in place, you possess a treasure trove of information that can drive strategic decisions and provide actionable insights for cultural transformation.
Here’s how you can be the hero at the head of the table with three crucial correlations to drive culture and strategy at your organization:
1. Identify patterns of recognition and turnover.
By analyzing the recognition history of employees who have voluntarily left the company, HR leaders can assess the effectiveness of their recognition strategies. This data often highlights areas where leadership may not be fully aligned with the recognition strategy.
According to the New Rules of Engagement® study conducted by BI WORLDWIDE Canada, employees are 6.6 times more likely to feel a sense of belonging when their manager acknowledges their good work. Using belonging as a metric for cultural success allows HR leaders to pinpoint where recognition strategies need improvement.
Additionally, recognition engagement data can be used as a predictor of leaving to help identify employees who may be positively impacted by a targeted recognition strategy for retention. This also supports the case for automated recognition programs aligned with company values and behaviours, as well as campaigns to boost recognition frequency.
2. Measure the culture of recognition with organic engagement growth.
One way to look at whether you have a recognition-rich culture is to review giving and receiving behaviour. This data reveals the time it takes for an employee to transition from receiving their first recognition to giving their first recognition.
Since most employees who give recognition have first experienced it themselves, tracking the time between these events can provide insights into the effectiveness of your recognition program. A shorter time span indicates a more robust culture of recognition, where employees feel encouraged and motivated to acknowledge their peers.
This metric can help HR leaders understand how well the recognition program fosters organic engagement growth and bring any ideas for improvement to the C-suite.
3. Evaluate the onboarding recognition experience to drive early.
Recognition in the first year of an employee’s tenure is a key measurement point for looking at onboarding consistency and effectiveness. Silos exist in almost every organization and building a consistent and equitable onboarding experience remains a challenge.
With a recognition and rewards strategy aligned to your employee value proposition (EVP) and values, you can easily combine turnover and recognition data to identify inflection points where a targeted recognition strategy can impact early engagement for every new hire.
From there, it’s easy to calculate a return on investment (ROI) of a targeted onboarding engagement strategy and provide leadership with consistent measurement of how the targeted program has improved retention in the first year of employment.
With the right data, HR can be the C-suite hero, moving from being caretakers to what they were meant to be: strategic leaders.