Talking About Employee Experience Enough?

Employee Retention: Why It’s More Than Just Pay

No matter what’s depleting your CX progress—we've seen it (and solved it!) before.

The Cost of Employee Turnover

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The cost of employee turnover isn’t limited to just hiring and training—a CAP study found that losing a highly trained employee can cost up to 213% of their annual salary. But it’s not just about the money. Today’s workforce, especially millennials, who, according to Gallup, make up the largest generation in the labor force, value culture, growth, and accountability just as much as, if not more than, salary.  

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What We've Learned Through Interviews

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After talking with employees for over ten years, we’ve learned a lot about the tensions that stifle a workplace. We distilled thousands of conversations into ninety employee pain points that, left unchecked, can erode any progress client experience innovations aim to make. From a lack of trust and accountability to stifling processes and practices, each theme represents a common thread in the tapestry of employee disengagement and, ultimately, turnover. It’s through this extensive research and analysis that themes, such as the impact of unclear roles and authority, have emerged as pivotal factors in nurturing or negating a healthy company culture.  

Trust and Accountability

It’s essential for employees to know who is responsible for what and to have confidence that when they pass the baton, their colleagues will run with it. Does your firm have a clear system of accountability? Accountability goes beyond performance—it’s about creating a culture where honesty and candid feedback are the norms and where employees at all levels are trusted to take ownership. According to Harvard Business Review, Compared with people at low-trust companies, people at high-trust companies report:  

• 74% less stress
• 106% more energy at work
• 50% higher productivity
• 13% fewer sick days
• 76% more engagement
• 29% more satisfaction with their lives
• 40% less burnout

In firms where this trust exists, employee engagement skyrockets. Start to evaluate your firm’s trust and accountability systems through these questions: How are mistakes handled? With punishment or as a learning opportunity? Is there a clear process for employees to take ownership of tasks? Consider if employees who may have minimal interactions with leadership feel they can trust leadership decisions.

Culture

A firm’s culture can be its heartbeat or its Achilles' heel. Culture is about the shared values and practices that shape the work environment. Research by Deloitte indicates that 94% of executives and 88% of employees believe a distinct workplace culture is important to business success. Does your firm celebrate risk-taking and learning from failure, or does it play it safe? A stifling culture can prompt even the most loyal employees to leave in search of workplaces that align more closely with their values. Look at whether your firm values individual contributions over seniority. Check for alignment between the value of collaboration and internal politics, as well as employee perception with company brand.  

Priorities

When firm priorities are misaligned with daily activities, employees can feel their work is pointless. Are your firm’s priorities merely aspirational, or are they woven into the fabric of everyday tasks? According to Adam Grant, misalignment can not only cause confusion but also inhibit motivation and productivity, which are vital for retention. Employees shared their frustration regarding misalignment between strategy and structure. Beyond creating frustration, McKinsey & Company reports companies that actively align their strategy and structure can improve their operational performance by up to 15%. Employees also shared the firms waste time on the wrong things. A survey by the Project Management Institute (PMI) found that 44% of strategic initiatives are unsuccessful due to misalignment of goals. Unclear priorities are often a symptom of a deeper strategic ambiguity. Priorities need to be communicated clearly and frequently and reflected in the organization's structure and processes.

Did you know the word “priority” was not pluralized until the 1900s, 500 years after its emergence? In his book Essentialism, Greg McKeown suggests 90% of your results come from 10% of your efforts. A clear organizational purpose has been linked to a 73% increase in employee alignment with the company's core goals and strategy. It’s time to ask: Which projects and initiatives can we identify as the most crucial to our strategy, and how do we systematically focus our resources there?

Process and Practice

Processes should facilitate, not hinder, work. Yet, in many professional service firms, outdated and rigid procedures often prevail. A Cornell University study reports 95% of employees feel their organization discourages risk-taking. Too many layers, emails, and bureaucracy were frequently noted in our interviews, and they’re onto something: An overload of emails is reported to decrease productivity by as much as 40%. Bureaucracy can be the black hole where innovation disappears. Employees express their firms tend to plan and predict rather than test and learn, yet McKinsey reports companies that encourage "test and learn" practices report a 75% faster time to market for new products and services. Are your tech tools enablers or obstacles? Salesforce reports 60% of workers say outdated processes have a significant impact on their productivity. Take a hard look at your firm’s processes and practices with these starter questions:

• How can we make sure that innovative ideas are not just heard but acted upon?

• How can we shift from a rigid planning culture to one that values agile learning and quick iterations?
• Do our processes reflect current realities, or are we preparing for yesterday's problems?
• Are our communication channels open enough to ensure that critical information isn't siloed?

Leadership

Maybe you’re tired of hearing about the importance of leadership, but it can’t be overstated. The most repeated finding we heard in interviews was that top leadership operates with a command-and-control orientation. Forbes reports that what this style of leader gains in efficiency they lose in team member creativity and expertise. Deloitte reported companies with collaborative leadership styles are 34% more likely to be profitable than those with command-and-control hierarchies. Other sentiments from our interviews revealed the prevalence of a “like it or leave” mentality. While there are scale limitations in adjusting to each employee’s needs, these cultures have been shown to increase employee turnover rates by up to 48%, as employees feel their only option is to exit when faced with disagreement or dissatisfaction.  

It’s natural to connect more with some coworkers than others, but one common sentiment our interviews revealed is that too much effort goes into protecting and stroking toxic egos. Leadership's tolerance or encouragement of toxic behavior comes at a steep price, costing U.S. workplaces an estimated $359 billion in lost productivity annually due to conflict (CPP Global). If you are in a leadership role or have influence over your firm’s leadership, ask these questions. Your benefit will only go as far as your transparency:

• How can we improve the connection between partners and everyday operations to ensure leaders are in touch with employees' challenges and successes?
• Are our leaders unintentionally fostering a culture where toxic behavior is tolerated, perhaps even encouraged, by not addressing it directly?
• How can leadership structures be adjusted to ensure that all employees feel their ideas are welcomed and considered?

Meetings

“Meetings should be like salt - a spice sprinkled carefully to enhance a dish, not the main ingredient.” -Unknown

Think about your meetings—are they productive or do they feel like theater performances, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing? It may be time to give that weekly meeting on your calendar a hard look. When meetings become routine rather than results-driven, they can transform into performative acts rather than platforms for progress. We heard employees loud and clear when they shared that only the loudest or most frequent voices in meetings get heard. Adam Grant sheds light on the 'Babble Effect,' where those who talk most in groups tend to gain unwarranted influence, mistaking their confidence and talkativeness for skill and insight. Is your firm creating a space where everyone feels comfortable speaking up, or are we only hearing from the most vocal participants? Your whole workplace culture—and meetings especially—should be platforms where diverse voices are heard and respected, not where extroverts monopolize conversations.  Furthermore, A study out of University of North Carolina found that only around 50% of meeting time is effective, well-used, and engaging. If employees are multitasking during meetings, it’s a clear sign that these gatherings may not be engaging or necessary. According to a study by Atlassian, the average employee attends 62 meetings a month, with half of them considered a waste of time. This translates into 31 hours of unproductive time per month. What could your employees and therefore firm accomplish with 31 hours back in the month?

Efficient meetings that respect employees' time and contributions can enhance job satisfaction and retention. To combat the inefficiencies of meetings, it's important to critically assess their frequency, necessity, and outcomes. Engaging in a culture of concise, goal-oriented meetings can drastically improve productivity and ensure that every participant's time is valued and well-spent.

Decision Making

Effective decision-making hinges on a combination of quickness, quality, and the empowerment of the right people to make decisions aligned with the organization's strategy and values.

How does your firm make decisions? Is it a slow, painstaking process that frustrates employees, or is it streamlined and efficient? Employee trends in this theme show the detriment of bottlenecks, over-involvement, red tape, and the lack of data-driven responses. In decision-making, companies face significant challenges due to unclear roles, consensus-driven delays, and inefficient meeting cultures. Less than half of business leaders feel their organizations make timely decisions, and many report ineffective time spent in decision-making processes.  

The real impact comes from making high-quality decisions quickly, which correlates strongly with company performance. In an age where business moves fast, a firm that hesitates is often left behind. McKinsey’s research indicates a mere 57% of businesses make consistently high-quality decisions and even fewer, only 48%, do so swiftly. McKinsey suggests companies should focus decision-making authority where it belongs and streamline the layers of management to enhance the speed and quality of their decisions. The firm's analysis also reveals that organizations with flatter structures—having fewer reporting layers—see a stronger correlation with high-quality and speedy decision-making. In practice, this means making decisions at the right level and focusing on creating value for the entire enterprise. Organizations that empower employees to make decisions tend to have faster and better outcomes, enhancing engagement and accountability.  

People

Friction found in this theme point to the need for a closer look at how companies handle talent development and management. They're hiring too quickly and letting go too slowly, leaving gaps in skills and team dynamics. Career paths aren't clear, causing uncertainty and underutilization of the workforce. Gartner found that only one in four employees is confident in their career path at their current organization, and less than a third know how to progress their career. Bain & Company explains that well-defined career paths are especially crucial for retaining diverse and underrepresented workers who may feel more isolated and uncertain compared to their peers.

Siloed work and outdated roles prevent collaboration and growth, and there’s a disconnect in how to effectively nurture and utilize talent within the organization. A staggering 63% of respondents in a Pew Research survey who left jobs in 2021 cited a lack of advancement opportunities as a reason for their departure.

Are you training and leveraging talent effectively? Is your firm a place where employees can grow and develop, or are they stunted by a lack of opportunity? What data do you have on your firm’s ability to attract and retain top talent?

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Improving Employee Engagement & Culture with CX Pilots

Addressing these cultural tensions is not a quick fix. It requires commitment and continual reassessment to ensure that your firm's culture aligns with the values of the people who drive its success. It's an investment in the future—the return is a dedicated, motivated workforce that not only stays with the company but also drives its growth and innovation.

No matter which theme area or specific tension is depleting your CX progress—we've seen it (and solved it!) before. We apply proven strategies that raise engagement levels, pinpoint what motivates your employees, and tackle the issues that might be holding them back. Companies that invest in EXM can create not just a happier workforce but also gain a competitive advantage. This strategic investment can shape a workplace where employee satisfaction and commitment are the norm, attracting more top talent which exponentially impacts a firm’s success.

We’d love to help your firm attract your ideal candidates and retain your best employees. Interested in hearing more? Let’s connect.