Informal Networks Drive Who Leaves Your Company – NOT Low Employee Engagement
Jeppe Hansgaard
CEO of Innovisor, a Boutique advisory in change, Advisor to leaders on change journeys, Author, Speaker, Henley MBA, Proud dad of 3, Organizer of King&Queen of Javelin, Triple Jump and 800m, Lifelong optimist
Low Engagement does NOT determine who leaves a company. Lack of Informal Networks do….
Case evidence from a so far 4-year long client engagement of Innovisor shows that employee engagement in a 750 people company is not a driver of employee retention, as many would expect. Promoters are just as likely to leave the company, as detractors are. We have observed the exact same in a multi-year engagement with a 1600 people media company.
17% Weaker Informal Networks
However, in the case with 750 people the ones that left had 17% weaker networks inside the organization. They were not included in the social chit chat as much as others – and they were not asked for help & advice as much as others. It is the same conclusion, we reached with a pharma company, where 79% of the people isolated from the informal networks left within a short period.
500% Rise in Probablity of Others Leaving
Or in another multi-year engagement with a pharma company, where we showed how quitting was contagious, if a person very connected in the informal networks decided to leave. Here we discovered a 500% rise in probability of others leaving within 6 months.
Networks Drive Performance, Accelerates Change and Safeguards Employee Retention
The Innovisor network data again confirms the incredible power of informal networks inside organization – and why working with them should be top priority for any leader.
Not only are the networks a performance enabler and a change accelerator, They are also key drivers of employee retention.?
Read and learn more here:
Organizational Network Analysis' (ONA) expert, and partner in 'Knowledge Production'
1 年Jeppe, our experience in the ONA studies in Israel shows that employees with high engagement buy themselves power among their friends and this is reflected in the informal network. We found that engaged employees are also the most connected. Is it different in Europe?
Organizational Network Analysis' (ONA) expert, and partner in 'Knowledge Production'
1 年?? Bridge Builder
1 年Just wondering out loud, here, Jeppe, and in no way meaning to detract from your findings: does this apply when breaking the data down by function as well? My thought is that some functions may appeal more to connection oriented people while some functions appeal more to introverts. And it could be that the job market dynamics are different between those different skill sets. This is just my bias talking, but I could see how this could apply to tech people. Particularly in companies where tech is not the core business.