Achieving Workforce Consensus On Critical Issues
Workforce management strategies and programs are intended to increase the effectiveness of an organization’s people. For them to work well there needs to be a consensus among employees that they are acceptable. If someone does not believe their pay is competitive, equitable and appropriately administered they will be dissatisfied and less motivated to extend their best efforts on behalf of the organization. If they think their performance evaluation is not accurate, they will believe their contribution is not being valued as it should be. Yet given the diversity within workforces attempting to satisfy everyone poses a significant challenge.
An organization is considering replacing its defined benefit retirement program with a defined contribution program. It does an employee attitudes survey and discovers that 60% of employees view the change positively yet 40% do not. What does the survey suggest should be done?
“You cannot please all of the people all of the time”
is a widely accepted premise, which is even more likely to be true when the people differ in their beliefs, values, needs and priorities. Perhaps the 40% of survey respondents don’t like change of any kind, prompting their negative reaction. Before the organization can decide on the significance of the survey results a number of questions need to be asked.
How negative are the feelings of those disliking/liking the change??
If the dislike is unlikely to result in significant actions (lawsuit; termination; early retirement) the survey results might not result in a reconsideration of the change. The strength of the approval by the 60% should also be considered, since the change is likely to have a positive impact on their satisfaction. Limiting responses in the survey to a “yes” or “no” option would not provide the insight into the intensity of the feelings.
How critical are the employees responding negatively to organizational performance?
?If the dissenters are employees with critical skills that are in short supply in the labor market their reaction might be viewed as requiring a reconsideration. If those with negative views are unlikely to engage in any action that would have a significant impact on organizational performance, there would be less need to reconsider the change.
Are the reactions based on an accurate understanding of the implications?
Retirement programs, particularly defined benefit pension programs, are complex and difficult to understand. It is even more difficult to evaluate the likely impact on one’s retirement income level that would result from a change in plan type. If reactions are based on a sound economic assessment of the two plan types, it is easier to decide how to deal with the reactions. But if people view the change as a management ploy to save money in a way that will harm them economically it will be difficult to lessen the negative opinions unless the misconceptions being corrected would change those views.?
Are the reactions attributable to the age and service of the employees?
It is necessary to understand the characteristics of both supporters and dissenters. Younger employees are often supportive of this type of change because their accrued plan benefits are transportable across employers in defined contribution plans. If they expect to work for a number of organizations, as the last several generational cohorts do, mobility of the funds is a very attractive characteristic. Longer service employees are likely to be suspicious of the impact of the change, since understanding how having two plans in effect will impact one’s income stream in retirement is challenging. The change may also be resented because it seems to be changing the rules while the game is afoot.?
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Are the differences due to the occupations of the employees?
Different employment patterns are common across occupations. IT professionals tend to be mobile, since their knowledge and skills are useful across industries. This reality would be expected to lessen concerns about the benefits associated with a full career in one organization. Other occupations often have a different pattern. When incumbents use equipment and processes that are specific to the organization the value of those who understand them is high. Since that knowledge requires longer learning periods within the organization, longevity can make someone more valuable. This is often reflected in their career and pay progression systems, that may reward long service as well as performance.?
Are the differences due to the legal status of the employees?
Employees who belong to a collective bargaining unit have the right to reject changes to the employment contract. If a majority of them fall in the negative 40% survey respondents, it is not likely that the change will be possible. There also may be legal/regulatory constraints that preclude the change, which should be detected before change is even considered.
The same set of questions should be asked when changes to other programs are being considered. For example, if an organization wishes to replace a pay system that awards automatic pay rate progressions based solely on time with a merit system the reactions of employees are likely to vary. It may be advisable to invest in communicating details about how the new program would work and its advantages, to overcome reluctance caused by a lack of knowledge.
Achieving Consensus
To gain acceptance of a policy or program that impacts employees the first step towards consensus is to ensure everyone has the same facts. The individual opinions may still vary, but if employee opinions are based on misunderstandings those need to be corrected. The current resistance to vaccinations is often due to mistaken beliefs about how medically safe they are. Views might not be altered through education, but the beliefs will certainly not change if mistaken beliefs are not corrected.?
Personal preferences differ in diverse workforces. People whose cultural orientation is collectivist are more likely to reject linking pay to individual performance than people whose perspective is more individualistic.? Long service employees who have established their retirement plans are more likely to resist a change to a defined contribution plan, unless they can be shown that it will have a positive or neutral impact on their plans.?
If all people cannot be pleased by all things all of the time organizations need to decide what the implications of different strategies and programs will be. The conversion from an automatic pay progression system to a merit pay system will be likely to benefit high performers and penalize those who perform at lower levels. Since satisfying the best performers would be likely to enable their attraction and retention, the dissatisfaction of lesser performers may be acceptable when the choice of how to allocate limited budgets is made.?
Complete and open communication of the reasons why workforce management decisions are made can increase employee understanding. It is likely that some employees will support a decision and others oppose it. The bottom line is that organizations need to decide whose views are the most important and to maximize their acceptance of decisions. ?
About the Author:?
Robert Greene, PhD, is CEO at Reward $ystems, Inc., a Consulting Principal at Pontifex and a faculty member for DePaul University in their MSHR and MBA programs. Greene?speaks and teaches globally?on human resource management. His consulting practice is focused on helping organizations succeed through people. Greene has written 4 books and hundreds of articles about human resource management throughout his career.