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 (although ratings that are too high meet less resistance). Yet given the diversity within workforces attempting to satisfy everyone poses a significant challenge.
An organization is considering freezing its defined benefit retirement program and adding a defined contribution program. If an employee attitudes survey indicates that 70% of employees view the change positively yet 30% 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. Perhaps the 30% 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 answered.
How negative are the views of the respondents??
If the dislike is unlikely to result in significant actions (e.g., lawsuit; union grievance; termination; early retirement) the survey results might not result in a reconsideration of the change. 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 their negative views are unlikely to result in any action that would have a significant impact on organizational performance, there would be less need to reconsider the change. This is not to say that the 30% should be ignored and if some refinements can be made to lessen their resistance without reducing the program’s effectiveness that should be considered.
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 good understanding of how it will impact participants, it is easier to decide how to deal with the reactions. But if people hold unwarranted fears due to misunderstanding and/or 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.?
Are the reactions attributable to the age, service or other characteristics 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. 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 may resent it because it seems to be changing the rules while the game is afoot.?
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. It would even be better to measure competence, since not everyone increases their competence over time at the same rate.
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 30% survey respondents, the change may not be possible. There also may be legal/regulatory constraints that preclude the change, which should be detected before change is even considered.
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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. If much of the resistance to vaccinations against the Covid virus was due to mistaken beliefs about how medically safe they the resistance by some might still not be altered through education, but the beliefs will certainly not change if 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.1? 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.?
The type of process used to determine what employee views are is important. Attempting to gain consensus can be even more challenging. Employee surveys can be useful, assuming they are well constructed and don’t for any reason threaten potential respondents (e.g., by identifying who holds which views). Anonymity can serve to gain more open and truthful responses. Yet to identify the characteristics of respondents it may be necessary to ask so much demographic information that respondents believe they will not remain anonymous even though they do not provide their name. Without the ability to analyze who holds which views the results may be limited in value, so response rates and who holds which views are both important.
Sometimes views can be converged by using multiple iterations of surveys. If employees are polled, then provided a summary of the first round of results, they can reflect on how their own views compare to others and be given the opportunity to provide a second round of input. Often termed the “Delphi” approach it is most useful when respondents are given a range of options and asked to rank or choose from among them. Viewing the responses of others can also stimulate additional thoughts and produce new information. One application is asking a team to come to consensus on an issue. For example, a team might be evaluating jobs or selecting a product from a number of options. Finally, the iterative approach can be used as a brainstorming process to generate new ideas.
Conclusion
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. Being provided an opportunity to provide opinions may convince employees management values their views and that an attempt is being made to arrive at decisions that will be influenced by the reactions of those affected.?
The bottom line is that organizations need to decide whose views are the most important and to make an effort 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.
references: ?1Rewarding Performance Globally, F. Trompenaars & R. Greene, Routledge