THE SITUATION: A merger between two public utility companies.

THE CHALLENGE: 

With any merger, employees on both sides are scared and anxious fearing change and possible loss of employment due to redundancy. There was a lack of trust that leadership communications were being transparent. Employees believed that expressing their concerns could make them a target of reductions.

THE SOLUTION:

Prompta was engaged to understand employee sentiment throughout the merger and assist the leadership team in communication strategies to address concerns. The metric for success of the program would be achieving the merged company’s employee retention targets.

To gain the trust of all employees early, Prompta began with communications that established us as a 3rd party company with robust information security governance standards in place to protect personal information. Team members were assured that no identifiable information would held in the Prompta AI tool.

The leadership team attributed employees’ anxiety and stress with job security. However, Prompta AI determined the lack of effective communication from both companies was the main factor of employee stress. Going a level deeper, Prompta AI was able to uncover that the employees at both companies were concerned about losing their company culture. Social events and a friendly atmosphere were both important aspects that many employees cherished and didn’t want to lose.

The insights from the employee sentiment work were used to create programs and shape decisions surrounding the company culture of the future.

THE RESULTS

The open and transparent process resulted in an attrition rate that was lower than the anticipated pre-merger target.