Scott Wilson, the international professional services consultancy, has cut its attrition rate by four per cent after collecting exit data via an anonymous questionnaire and running a global employee engagement survey.
The questionnaire and the survey were both online tools provided by employee retention specialist TalentDrain.
“We used to conduct face-to-face exit interviews but we couldn’t pinpoint exactly why people were leaving,” said David Walters, Resourcing and Development Director at Scott Wilson.
“We felt that key employees, including graduates, would be more likely to tell us the real reasons if we allowed them to do so anonymously. The results showed that the problem, in some parts of the business, related to reward and career progression.”
Following the feedback, Scott Wilson created a talent management strategy, launched a new talent management programme and introduced new performance-related pay and bonuses as well as internal networking events for its graduate population.
“We’ve introduced more consistent practice across our business and, through these initiatives, we’ve managed to cut staff turnover by four per cent,” said David Walters.
“Working with TalentDrain enabled us to raise the issue of employee retention up the corporate agenda. Now, line managers see it as a shared responsibility, not just an HR concern.”
TalentDrain also helped Scott Wilson to conduct an online survey of its 6,000 staff in 80 international offices. Employees were asked what they liked about working at Scott Wilson and where improvements could be made.
“We now have fantastic employee data which has given us a greater understanding of our staff needs,” said David Walters.
“TalentDrain’s survey looks at satisfaction levels in relation to importance ratings, so you can concentrate your efforts on the key issues that employees rate as important and not waste time and energy changing aspects that are not particularly significant for your staff.”
“We’re looking to join-up our functions much more, by pulling together practitioners from across the organisation into single teams. This should give us even better scope for cross-business career development.”
TalentDrain provided reports breaking the responses down by division, job grade, professional community, country and location.
It also provided useful comparative data which allowed Scott Wilson to benchmark its performance against similar organisations and professional service firms.
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“In a consulting business, your employees are the most critical factor that will impact on your reputation, your level of innovation and your ability to deliver business results,” said David Walters.
“We’re now developing action plans in response to the employee feedback. The data we have gathered will not only help us to manage our businesses better but it will also enhance our ability to recruit and retain staff in the future.”
