How to measure employee relations

Two models for precise description of employee relations

Felix Horner is a Pathway Architect at echonovum. He drives the development of the ECHONOVUM pathway and measurement models for various stakeholder groups. Among other things, these models allow organizations to collect information on employee satisfaction and use these findings to tap into unused potential. We talked to Felix about how they work.

Felix, which models help to capture the employee relations?

"The pathway model is a snapshot that helps a company to recognize where the important interactions between employees and the companies are located. From recruitment all the way to the employee resignation and beyond. The employee pathway helps us to ask the right questions at the right time by optimally locating the questions. It tells a company when and during which interaction or situation it needs to ask its employees questions. Thanks to our measurement model, we know the most important questions to ask along the pathway, because we know what employees care about in these situations."

Can you tell us more about the measurement model?

"Basically, it’s about hiring someone whose personal qualities are a good fit for a company. This is precisely where the measurement model begins: Does this person have the qualities we’re looking for? Do they fit with the corporate culture? Are they motivated enough? These are things that we can determine during the recruiting process. When we see that the person is a good fit, we hire them. At this point, their qualities now have to work with the organizational framework. These are the relevant factors: How is the workplace organized? What are the other coworkers and the boss like? How high is the salary? What kind of working time models are there?

These factors have an impact on the employee’s dedication to the company. The measurement model doesn’t just look at the individual requirements that are needed to fulfill a role, but also the relevant factors. These are evaluated with specific questions.

The third thing that we look at with the measurement model and the corresponding questions is how an employee is feeling. We use just a few precise questions to determine an employee’s dedication. These questions tell us how the employee feels about their workplace and how they behave."

What advantages do the pathway and measurement models offer a company?

"Both models overlap perfectly with one another. By evaluating our proven questions, managers can get a multi-dimensional insight into their organization in real time. That enables quick decisions on tapping potential and shortens organizational learning cycles. Furthermore, employees see that their opinions matter. This strengthens their bond with the company. The speed with which ECHONOVUM conducts surveys and delivers real-time results gives companies the chance to introduce optimization measures quickly and to resolve any issues as effectively as possible."

Where are organizations heading in the future? What paradigm shifts can we expect to see?

"We are already in the middle of a major change. When I started out at my first job, the boss said something to one person, this person told another person, and so and so forth – and eventually some people would do what the boss had said. This is no longer the case, and we can no longer afford for this to be the case. Today there are megatrends that are impacting not only our society but also the way we work together in a company. Technology is creating entirely new forms of work that are influencing how our society develops. In this environment, companies can no longer act conventionally. They need to find new paths and new approaches in order to keep up with this change.

Getting feedback in real time helps to establish shorter learning cycles within a company. For me, this is the fuel of the future that will allow us to master these changes."