Executive Insight: Understanding the ‘Why’

With the help of her team, Transplace CHRO Adrianne Court gets to the bottom of why employees change positions

Editor’s Note: We asked some of our featured executives what they thought of the recent finding that 21 percent of full-time workers will be leaving their current position in 2014. Here is Adrianne Court’s response.

I’m not surprised by the CareerBuilder findings that 21 percent of full-time workers will be changing jobs, with more than half citing this is due to dissatisfaction with their job.  Why am I not surprised? First, and foremost, very few employers invest time and resources into ascertaining if or why their employees are dissatisfied; then, even fewer take actions on their findings.

At Transplace, while we are not perfect, we dedicate significant time to assessing our employees’ engagement and satisfaction through informal means and formal surveys, then cascading the results and taking action. We have worked and focused diligently on aligning our work, processes and culture to our core values (Respect the Individual, Thrill the Customer, Process & Technology Excellence, and Growth & Profitability).

By doing this we have built a culture of teamwork and people aligned to common goals and values, making an environment where we like to work and with people we like to like to work with. Further, we have invested a great deal in leadership development and accountability to our core values and our leadership principles (Lead by Example, Communicate Effectively, Build a Great Team and Deliver Results).

“Very few employers invest time and resources into ascertaining if or why their employees are dissatisfied; then, even fewer take actions on their findings.”Adrianne Court

We just completed our annual Employee Satisfaction Survey (ESat), in which 82 percent of our employees voluntarily participated. With respect to the ESat results, we continued to improve in all areas relevant to how we work and align our work to our mission and core values.

Many of our employees noted in the free-from comments that this is the first company they have worked for that actually lives its values. As one team member wrote, “It is impressive how much emphasis Transplace places on the values. I have never worked for a company that really lives the values in many ways.”

For 2014, we will continue to reinforce goals, programs and actions to align to the core values, including our emphasis in leadership development and accountability through efforts like our monthly leadership forum and new manager learning plans. It is clear through the continued improvement in results and the top ranking of the questions below that our leadership investment is creating a meaningful impact on our overall work environment:

• My manager treats me with dignity and respect and seems to care about me as a person.
• I have a clear understanding of my job responsibilities.
• My manager allows me to make decisions within reasonable guidelines.

And, we know through being named the No. 3 Best Private Companies for Leaders 2014 by Chief Executive magazine that this leadership investment also is being recognized from an external perspective.

So while we cannot necessarily address all of the reasons why employees may consider leaving, we know that our focus on creating an environment in which people like working and like the people they work with, we are tackling head-on the No. 1 reason why people want to stay with an employer—coupled with our investment in leadership accountability via “I have a good boss that cares about me.”

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Adrianne Court is Chief Human Resources Officer (CHRO) for Transplace. She will appear in an upcoming issue of Forefront magazine. Subscribe to be the first to read her story.