People First

As a leader, you know that your most important asset is your people. Do your people know that?

XpandThoughts: accelerating inclusive culture

“To understand how your employees’ feel, just ask!”

Companies care about their employees, right? We certainly think so. We also think that companies often fall short of truly understanding their employees and how they feel. We have a solution: just ask!

Companies work hard to secure immediate consumer feedback, yet companies do not seem to work as hard to secure this real-time feedback from their employees.

Why don’t companies regularly ask their employees how they feel? And, why don't companies ask their employees how the company is doing, or perhaps not doing, to live its core values? We believe that companies should ask these two simple questions to truly understand their employees the way they understand their customers.

Establishing the right culture will foster engagement in addition to attracting and retaining talent. The founder of Pardot, a Salesforce company, emphasizes the importance of culture for all companies, even start-ups: “corporate culture is the only sustainable competitive advantage that is completely within the control of the entrepreneur. Develop a strong corporate culture first and foremost.” A positve culture directly affects the retention of great employees—and hiring of new employees. When employees feel a sense of inclusion in the workplace, two things happen: they want to keep working there, and they share that feeling with their communities, which can attract more diverse talent.

Creating a culture of belonging takes intentional, long-term focus, and there isn’t a simple program that can be implemented or a box that can be checked. It requires investment; an investment that drives returns: happier employees, increased retention, improved talent acquisition, and more effective and successful business outcomes.

XpandCulture puts people first. By simply asking how the employees feel following an event, whether a team meeting, product launch, or tag-up, XpandCulture surfaces real-time sentiments. XpandCulture also invites employees to share whether the company is aligned with its core values. Understanding if employees feel the company is "walking the talk" is vital to develop a healthy culture. This not only drives greater connections and engagement, it results in brand development, greater sense of purpose, and greater retention of the company's greatest asset.