Using employee listening to guide them through growth

The Challenge

Growing your organisation is always a positive, especially when it’s during a crisis period – like a global pandemic. But success doesn’t mean you can sit back and relax; it’s actually a critical time for you to listen even more carefully to what your employees are saying.

Thommessen knows that all too well. One of the largest law firms in Norway, they’ve welcomed more than a 100 new lawyers in the past four years – opening new offices in Stavanger, moving to new premises in Oslo, and navigating those changes during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Employee contentment wasn’t a problem at Thommessen. Their engagement score has historically been over 80%. However, more recent results highlighted an increasing retention risk and Thommessen needed to understand what drove this risk and how to mitigate it.

“The Qlearsite team has been really amazing. We get all the help we need, results come back quickly, and it’s easy to get hold of everyone – we’re really happy with everything.“

Anne Therese Bogen | Head of HR

The Solution

Working with Qlearsite, Thommessen used employee feedback to make their growth sustainable by proactively improving their employee experience to motivate staff and reduce retention risk.

Their survey results indicated that the two lowest-scoring areas were ‘leadership’ and ‘communication’ – partly due to remote working during and post the pandemic. These insights triggered new initiatives to create a more connected culture.

Thommessen prioritised ‘leadership’ and ‘communication’ by introducing the concept of mini-teams. Led by partners, this allowed employees to form closer bonds – and weekly catch-ups with partners allowed them a safe space to come with questions, concerns, and to chat generally about what was going on in their lives.

“What we find most useful is the level of insight: not only can we see the engagement score, but also what factors are driving this engagement – allowing us to focus on the areas that are most important to employees and drive meaningful change.“

Anne Therese Bogen | Head of HR

The Impact

Thommessen knows that when you get actionable insights – that is, data you can base practical changes on – you can really make a difference in your organisation. After sending their second engagement survey, Thommessen saw their ‘leadership’ score soar and retention risk reduce. That attention, dedication, and consideration from partners had made their employees truly back their leaders.

Qlearsite made it easy to create report breakdowns, and HR could share scores for each team. It wasn’t long before department heads became competitive – as these scores were linked to their OKRs – and they were motivated to take practical steps to improve them.

“Qlearsite’s platform is a really helpful tool to push through OKRs – it’s easier when you have statistics and concrete evidence to back up initiatives.“

Anne Therese Bogen | Head of HR