Page 6 - CCCA Magazine Winter 2014

{ PerForMaNCe iN tHe laW dePartMeNt } employee engagement the canary In the coal mIne oF perFormance By Richard Stock law departments are part of a company’s intellectual capital, are typically no open-ended questions. but they typically represent a very small percentage of the Twenty to 30 statements, with multiple choice responses to capture the extent of positions in any organization. progressive organizations invest agreement and disagreement, are all that the time and resources to improve the contribution of their are required. I have had the opportunity to com- “human” resources. at the same time, lawyers and other pare a handful of surveys and customize members of legal departments value their professional freedom. several for law departments over the last 10 years. Statements are grouped into six they work fairly independently from each other and, like many categories. professionals, respond to what is put before them. 1. engagement drivers The frst six statements in this category have three subgroups: say, stay and strive. ut working long and hard is not ■ Up to 30% greater customer satisfac- enough in the face of a fast-changing tion levels. Say: Bbusiness environment. Internal cli- ■ A 65% greater share price increase. ■ I would, without hesitation, recom- ents and business units are pushed to the ■ 100% more unsolicited employee mend this organization to a friend limit and, by association, so are their inter- applications. seeking employment. nal counsel. Corporate leadership is fully However, in reality, most organizations ■ Given the opportunity, I tell others aware of the pressure these changes have do not conduct formal employee engage- great things about working here. on their people. ment surveys. Also, for those that do, con- Some organizations therefore conduct fdentiality requirements usually mean Stay: employee engagement surveys. Such sur- that departments with fewer than 15 em- ■ It would take a lot to get me to leave veys occur every two or three years, and are ployees are not given their own engage- this organization. typically coordinated by HR and carried ment scores. Instead, they are aggregated ■ I rarely think about leaving this organi- out by independent third-party consultan- with the results of one or more corporate zation to work somewhere else. cies. This has the advantages of being cost- support departments. effective and allowing fndings to be com- So how does the GC set priorities for Strive: pared to a national database of employers. greater engagement if the company does ■ This organization inspires me to do my Engagement surveys are more than a not conduct a formal survey or if the law best work every day. useful diagnostic tool. According to the department is too small to have its own ■ This organization motivates me to Best Small and Medium Employers in Can- survey results? To begin, the GC can en- contribute more than is normally re- ada Study, conducted by Queen’s Univer- list the support of HR to customize and quired to complete my work. sity and Aon Hewitt, organizations with administer the survey. Using one of the the most engaged employees achieve: multiple online survey tools makes this a One Texas-based company added an ad- ■ 26% less employee turnover. simple task to design, conduct and com- ditional seven questions under this cat- ■ 20% less absenteeism. pile. No more than 15 minutes should be egory: three for accountability and four ■ 15% greater employee productivity. required to complete the survey, as there they referred to as culture questions. Most 6 CCCa Magazine | Winter 2014 Hiver