Cozen O'Connor Elevates Engagement Insights with Energage
Location: Philadelphia, PA
Industry: Law
Employees: 1000-2499
Objective
To use one survey to gather engagement insights and employer recognition.
Solutions
Workplace Survey, Insights, Top Workplaces awards
Results
Improved engagement insights and results leads to new engagement specialist on the Cozen team.
Erin Bushnell, Chief Human Resources Officer at Cozen O’Connor, knows the significance of employee engagement. “One of the reasons engagement is really important to me is that it’s what makes our culture special,” Erin said. “If we don’t maintain it, we’re not going to be able to keep the best people, and we’re not going to be able to attract the best people.”
In 2019, Erin noticed an opportunity to introduce an engagement survey to the Cozen team, so they could get an accurate measurement of employee engagement and sentiment. Immediately, the Energage Platform came to mind.
Erin explains that Energage was an easy choice for two reasons. First, she had a great experience with the platform at another organization. Second, Erin knew its Workplace Survey would also qualify Cozen O’Connor for Top Workplaces employer recognition.
“I know that we are automatically eligible for Top Workplaces lists using the same survey. We didn’t have to worry about running multiple surveys to get on multiple lists.”
Erin Bushnell,
Chief Human Resources Officer at Cozen O’Connor
Cozen O’Connor executives agree, Energage Insights are tangible – and valuable
“We ran the Workplace Survey with half the organization as a pilot to be able to demonstrate that it was going to be valuable,” said Erin. “After that first year, we went back to our executive team and said, ‘This is the information that we got. We think it would be really helpful to have this for the entire organization.’ They agreed. We were able to get that buy-in because what we were getting was so valuable.”
Now, after surveying for a few years, Cozen O’ Connor’s executive team has access to year-over-year trends and impact reports. They know exactly how things are going. They know where Cozen’s culture thrives and where there are opportunities for improvement.
Survey data makes it easy to prioritize, implement, and celebrate
The Workplace Survey enables Cozen to focus its engagement efforts, showing Erin and her team what’s working best. “We are able to spend our money in a more thoughtful way because we can tailor our programming and efforts to the right people and to the right causes,” Erin remarked.
Recently, the survey insights uncovered a few specific focus areas:
- Communication: “We had one department that seemed to be really struggling and their scores were low,” Erin commented. “We worked with that manager to focus on practical things they could do to make a difference. The manager was really receptive to it.” The following year, that department scored higher than any other department.”
- Appreciation: Cozen’s survey results showed a drop in employee appreciation. That dip motivated Erin to implement a new Cozen Kudos initiative, which has been wildly popular among Cozen employees — and another good reminder of how much appreciation impacts engagement. “They’re actually more interested in giving kudos than getting kudos, which is nice to see,” Erin said. “We saw our Appreciation scores go up the following year.”
- Benefits: This year, Erin noticed that their Benefits scores were lower than they hoped. To address this focus area, they are doing a benefit survey to drill down and find out what is driving those scores.
Finally, Erin explained that the Energage Platform has transformed how she presents data and results to employees and members of the Cozen executive team. According to Erin, Insights makes communicating results easier and more effective.
Now, everyone, from her fellow executives to entry-level employees, knows about the Workplace Survey and Cozen’s engagement efforts. As CHRO, Erin says that effective delivery is essential for everyone, especially with a topic as important as employee engagement.
Busy employees appreciate the quick and easy survey
Erin appreciates that the Platform is easy to use and the Workplace Survey is not a huge distraction for employees. “It doesn’t take a whole lot of time. As our folks are very sensitive to billable hours, asking them to take any time out of their day for something that they’re not getting credit for can be a challenge. Being able to say, ‘This will take you 5 to 10 minutes, legitimately 5 to 10 minutes’ has been great because it really is quick enough that people can do it, give their thoughts, and move on with the rest of their day.”
This is just the beginning …
Because Erin, her employees, and her executive team see immense value in the Energage Platform, they plan on using it for years to come. In fact, Cozen O’Connor is even creating a new position on its team: Manager of Employee Engagement and Professional Development — a sign of their long-term commitment to employee engagement insights and development. Erin commented that it’s important for Cozen to take full advantage of the information that employees provide. That’s why her team is so excited to have someone dedicate more time to communicating survey feedback.
“This is one of the programs that I’m really happy to have brought to Cozen and glad that we continue it year over year,” she said.
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