CASE STUDY: A Global Consulting Firm’s Wellbeing Forum

A global consulting firm used Plaetos to find out why 30% of their consultants in a practice division were leaving, and how to best support them. They saved millions.

THE CHALLENGE

A global consulting firm had:

• 30% churn rate in a major revenue-earning practice

• Overworked and unhappy consultants (based on survey results)

The firm also had new generations of employees who saw job loyalty very differently from their partner bosses from a different time and generation. The firm needed to:

• Cut the 2.5x salary cost of losing and recruiting new consultants

• Hear from consultants directly about what would make them stay

• Roll out an appropriate wellbeing program (that wouldn’t cause a riot!)

THE APPROACH

All practice employees below partner level were invited in to speak on Plaetos, and were assured that management would act on what they heard. A private, anonymous forum was set up with the discussion spread across three topics:

The anonymous, independently moderated design gave the firm’s employees a safe place to speak up without fear of repercussions. It let them:

• Nominate the issues important to them

• Speak among themselves

• Respond to questions from the moderator

• Discuss problems, and

• Propose solutions.

THE RESULTS

The anonymized Plaetos data was structured based on a demographic screening survey that participants completed as they registered. Plaetos’ data analysis was able to show management which groups felt strongly about which topics and sub-topics, and how strongly they felt about them compared to other groups (based on mood analysis). The story told in the data was:

• Fairness of compensation - not money - made them speak up

• Some partners needed to up their game (Plaetos analysis can tell a “squeaky wheel” complaint from widespread experience)

• The major issues behind workplace unhappiness and churn were fair recognition of effort and connection with the team and company

• Technology tools to improve productivity needed to bend to employees' time-poor needs, not the other way round.

Management was able to confirm or refute their key hypotheses about why people were leaving, and what wellness initiatives would be most effective in supporting them. It meant they understood far better where - and where not - to allocate their wellbeing resources; which groups needed priority; and in which locations.

LEADERSHIP RESPONSE

The firm's leadership responded to the insights quickly by:

• Revising – in consultation with practice team members – how overtime work was recognised and rewarded
  

• Drawing up a mutual compact that reflected agreed commitments between partners and their team about how they would work together
  

• Reallocating resources and priorities for the practice’s Wellbeing Program to take up some of the solutions offered, and
  

• Revising how they rolled out productivity tools, and allocated funding to the tools found most useful to the teams.

PLAETOS “SAVED US MILLIONS”

The firm says the feedback through Plaetos saved them “millions”, because they were about to roll out wellbeing and digital initiatives that would not have been taken up. It was tough-love for some on the leadership team, but as they said:

“It’s far more than the data. They’re telling you what they think, not what they think you want to hear.” —Global Consulting Firm Client

Leaders who use Plaetos have already defined themselves as inclusive leaders. They know that the employee-leader relationship is two-way, and that they need to go well beyond surveys to be effective listeners.