Case Study - Employee Engagement: Biotechnology

Situation

This Biotech Company is an industry leader in the field of antibody discovery and development. Over the past 30 years the company has built strong intellectual property, technology platforms, and capabilities to engineer cutting-edge therapeutic antibodies that have the potential to transform medicine and reshape people’s lives.

To capitalize on a significant market opportunity that would have a major impact on the company’s future, the company launched a strategic initiative to develop its Leaders, Managers, and Management Systems. Shortly thereafter, the poor economic conditions affected the company, requiring a workforce reduction and increased workloads for the remaining employees.

The leaders wanted to quantitatively assess the level and breadth of commitment and engagement in the organization. Specific objectives included:

Measure the level of engagement and commitment employees have to the company and strategy.
Assess the effectiveness of investments in key Human Resource initiatives.
Determine how effectively the company is managing areas that are most important to employees.
Identify specific areas where leaders can take informed action to increase employee engagement.
Benchmark employee engagement to assess the effectiveness of future Human Resource initiatives.

Complications

The biotech company recognized the importance of maintaining a strong, focused team during this critical time. They were especially concerned about:

Increasing employees’ level of alignment and commitment to the company’s vision and mission-critical strategies
Losing key talent
Improving the effectiveness of the current leadership practices and management systems vis-à-vis an environment that fosters commitment
Understanding key actions that leaders could take to maximize commitment and minimize risk

Approach

We used a best practices employee engagement survey that was initially developed in a landmark study to identify the key relationship between management practices and employee retention. Based upon ongoing engagement research, the employee engagement survey tool has continued to evolve and improve over the last 10 years.

Additional aspects of the approach included:

Customizing the Employee Engagement Survey to provide feedback specific to the company’s culture, strategic objectives, business practices, and organizational systems
Piloting the Employee Engagement Survey with a Test Group to ensure cultural fit and technical functionality
Marketing the Employee Engagement Survey to the organization to encourage participation
Assisting the company to analyze the results and identify key next steps
Providing online and just-in-time reporting capabilities so the company can provide specific Engagement Feedback to its managers when needed
Initiating action around “quick hit” items

Results

The feedback from the engagement survey confirmed that the organization is well aligned to achieve its key strategic objectives and that people are highly committed to the success of the organization. It also highlighted issues that could undermine the company’s pursuit of its objectives – especially if there was a shift in the economic conditions.

Key Drivers of Success:

High survey response rate signifies a high trust environment where employees’ voices are heard
Commitment to the company’s success was the most important survey item for 93% of employees
85% of employees were clear on how their specific goals contributed to the company’s success
82% of employees were engaged in “challenging and interesting” work
Data also signified that the workforce is:
- Charged up about the opportunities that lie head
- Strongly bonded with their manager, team, and coworkers
- Satisfied that they have learned and grown during their tenure at the company

Engagement Opportunities:

While the results of the survey showed a solid foundation for achieving company strategic objectives, there were areas that could impact engagement and retention if not addressed:

Career paths, opportunities to progress, and support are not clearly visible to employees
Visibility to career opportunities at the company is low
Requirements for advancement in the company are unclear
Employees do not feel that their managers know how they would like to be personally rewarded
A lack of understanding of the business strategy impacts employee confidence in the company’s future
There is a segment of employees who feel challenged to manage their workload

Taking Action:

The company wanted to show their commitment to employees with an immediate response to the key problem areas followed by more systemic approaches.

Quick Response:

A career self-management class is being rolled out to enable employees to take greater responsibility for their career development and management within the existing system
A workshop on managing pressure and workload is being rolled out for employees who are experiencing high workloads and levels of stress in their work

Systemic Response:

The leadership is in the process of developing more systematic approaches that provide greater focus on career management, communications, and personal rewards.

Human Capital Index

This is the first year that the company has a done an employee engagement survey. It achieved engagement scores that are extraordinarily high compared to a decade of LSA benchmark scores.

The survey results can be clearly attributed to the company’s significant investment in developing its managers, leaders, and individual contributors over the last 10 years.

The survey also highlighted areas where the company has under-invested. Moving forward, the company now has visibility to manage its human capital investments with greater precision and with the ability to measure the effectiveness of their efforts.

Related Information

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President & CEO

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Vice President, Human Resources

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