Managing Employee Retention

Through Recognition
Wireless Communications Company

Indiana University – Bloomington

Instructional Technology Foundations, R511

Jessica Lee
Jenifer Neidig
Isaac Stickney

Dr. Marjorie Treff

23 July, 2017
 HPT CASE ANALYSIS

Table of Contents

Introduction ......................................................................................................................................3

HPT Analysis ...................................................................................................................................4

Take a Systemic View: Standard 2 ......................................................................................4

Work in Partnership with Clients and Stakeholders: Standard 4 .........................................5

Determine Need or Opportunity: Standard 5 .......................................................................6

Design Solutions: Standard 7 ...............................................................................................8

Implement Solutions: Standard 9 .........................................................................................9

Evaluate Results and Impact: Standard 10.........................................................................10

Conclusion .....................................................................................................................................11

References ......................................................................................................................................13

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Introduction
A Fortune 500 company, Wireless Communications has been included on “Fortune magazines
‘100 Best Companies to Work for in America’” (Jimenez, p. 18, 2002) for three consecutive
years. Additionally, it also earned recognition on the magazine’s “100 Fastest Growing
Companies” list during the same time period (Jimenez, p. 18, 2002). With its rapid growth,
internal business transactions, and changes in external market conditions, Communications
Wireless decided to take a proactive approach to the challenge of employee retention. Although
their less than 6% voluntary turnover rate is below industry average, HR management is well
aware of the shortage of skilled technical workers and high costs owed to employee turnover.
Driven by their labor market knowledge, external market changes and their own growth;
attracting and retaining top talent is a major goal of the HR department.

While their Fortune magazine accolades suggest that there is not an immediate employee
retention problem, HR “established an initiative to gauge and address potential retention
challenges (Jimenez, p. 18, 2002). Rick Jimenez, who joined the company in 1997, led the
corporate retention initiative. Our objective is to analyze the case in the context of Human
Performance Technology (HPT) gaining insight into the issues presented and solutions the HR
department at Wireless Communications developed. We chose to use the International Society
for Performance Improvement’s (ISPI) 10 HPT standards as our framework focusing on the six
we feel are most relevant to this case. As a goal based initiative, we believe the Wireless
Communication case calls us to treat it as a CPT Application and to focus on the following
standards:

 Take a Systemic View: Standard 2

 Work in Partnership with Clients and Stakeholders: Standard 4
 Determine Need or Opportunity: Standard 5
 Design Solutions: Standard 7
 Implement Solutions: Standard 9
 Evaluate Results and Impact: Standard 10

Writing from the perspective of Certified Performance Technologists, we focused on standards 2,

4, 5, 7, 9, and 10. While reviewing the work of Wireless Communications efforts, our team
focused on the strengths and opportunities of each standard.

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HPT Analysis
Hired by Wireless Communications to evaluate their employee retention through recognition
program, JIJ has been contracted to provide HPT feedback of the new program. JIJ is comprised
of three HPT professionals certified by the International Society of Performance Improvement
(ISPI). What follows is our assessment.

Take a Systemic View: Standard 2

Typically, a goal begins with input suggesting a problem (Morrison, Ross, & Kemp, 2007). This
is not the case with Wireless Communications. They took proactive steps to ensure employee
retention remains below the industry average by initiating a corporate-wide employee
recognition program. Believing recognition is a powerful tool to retain employees as it increases
motivation, productivity and commitment, HR analyzed the data obtained from Fortune
magazine’s “100 Best Companies to Work for in America” employee workplace surveys
(Jimenez, 2002). The randomly distributed, 54-question survey revealed an opportunity to
improve employee recognition.

Analysis reveals that HR is acting in a vacuum within Wireless Communications with little input
from other business units. An incentive system, the recognition initiative is designed to benefit
the entire organization by retaining top talent (Brethower, 1999). Considering it is intended to
impact the entire organization by controlling costs associated with hiring and training employees,
the initiative is Systemic. However, it is unclear how this new recognition system will affect
other systems within the organization. The initiative “was developed to provide a streamlined
process for recognition and to encourage employees and management to recognize individual
and team performance” (Jimenez, p. 23, 2002) by HR. There is no evidence other business units
were involved. Where is the input by sales, marketing, production, etc.? All business units
agree, higher profitability is a goal, were they asked anything about employee recognition? Is it
possible that some units were already recognizing employees and teams effectively and HR
could have benefited?

The lack of input from other business units may have unintended impacts on the greater
environment. Managers could feel they are being forced to “do another thing” even though the
program is designed to be “highly accessible and easy to use” (Jimenez, 23, 2002). The feeling
of having an additional duty added to current responsibilities may have a negative impact. This
could be avoided by involving the other business units from the beginning (Morrison, Ross, &
Kemp, 2007).

Strengths Opportunities for Improvement

 HR is working hard to increase
awareness of program by providing
support for the initiative.
 HR developed the company’s core
culture values. These core values set
the criteria and were the guide to in
determining the appropriate
recognition tool.
 The HR department at Wireless
Communications failed to involve
other business units in the initiative.
 Failing to involve the other business
units, HR failed to model a systemic
view

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 The HR department at Wireless

Communications aligned the new
recognition initiative with existing
dimensions of recognition: low
monetary and non-monetary

Work in Partnership with Clients and Stakeholders: Standard 4

Wireless Communications exceled in working with specialists. Completing the surveys with the
Gallup Organization, the HR department obtained data from past employees and candidates who
declined offers using Gallup’s expertise in gathering information. This allowed those individuals
to speak more candidly since they were not talking directly to a Wireless Communications
employee. However, it will not be sustainable to contract with the Gallup Organization each
time a candidate declines employment or a current employee leaves. To continually track
turnover or declined employment, another method should be developed. Perhaps some sort of
anonymous survey.

As mentioned in the analysis of Standard 2, the HR department should have sought input from
all the vested stakeholders. Sales, Marketing, Production, etc. may feel that this initiative is
being forced on them and that their opinions were not valued. This lack of involvement may
hamper open communications between the Wireless Communications departments and have the
opposite effect, decreased motivation.

There is no evidence that HR has developed a champion of the recognition initiative. At

minimum HR should find a manager, or better yet an executive, outside of HR to champion the
employee recognition initiative, the higher the better. “A key concern for the HR department
was to convey the value of recognition to managers throughout the company” (Jimenez, p 23,
2002). Don’t be concerned about it, find a “believer” and give that individual the tools, let him
model the behavior, and give him credit.

Strengths Opportunities for Improvement

 Using the Gallup Organization,
Wireless Communication worked with
polling experts to obtain reasons
candidates declined employments and
employees left the company.
 Use of the Gallup Organization
allowed Wireless Communications to
gather candid information.
 Wireless Communications used the
Gallup Organization to do a one-time
survey. They need to develop a
sustainable method for tracking
reasons employees leave or candidates
decline offer
 Instead of an HR lead initiative,
Wireless should develop a champion
of the program to promote and model
the recognition program.
 HR could promote open
communication by including all
departments in developing the
initiative.

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Determine Need or Opportunity: Standard 5

As mentioned in Standard 2, Wireless Communications took a proactive approach in ensuring
their employee retention remained lower than others within the wireless communications
industry. The need to address employee retention in this case can be described as an anticipated
or future need. These types of needs can be described as a process of "identifying changes that
will occur in the future" (Morrison, Ross, & Kemp, p. 36, 2007). As stated by Jimenez (2002),
"a shortage of skilled technical workers and the high costs associated with employee turnover
have made attracting and retaining employees a challenging HR issue" (p. 18). This rational
directly addresses the marketplace climate in which Wireless Communications exists.

While Wireless Communication's voluntary turnover rate was well below the 6 percent industry
standard, the company's HR senior management wanted to ensure that this trend continued.
With this said, HR senior management failed to establish a specific goal to achieve. Their
rationale to maintain minimal levels of attrition is well-explained, but the nature in which their
goals where described were relatively vague in nature. Determining a goal level of voluntary
attrition will better allow HR personnel to measure if goals are achieved in future years.

Wireless Communications conducted their analysis of recognition within the company with a
multi-layered approach. Partnering with the Gallup Organization, Wireless Communications
analyzed data from employees who voluntarily terminated their employment and those who
declined an offer of employment during the 2000 calendar year. Survey questions were crafted
by internal HR representatives within Wireless Communications before being disseminated by
the Gallup Organization via phone interviews. Both the Declined Offer and Exit Interview
surveys yielded response rates >50%. Current employee recognition data was compiled via
responses previously collected from Fortune magazine's "100 Best Companies to Work for in
America" survey from 1998, 1999, and 2000 calendar years. This 54-question Employee
Workplace Survey was "randomly distributed to a small percentage of active employees"
(Jimenez, p. 20, 2002).

Survey results were positive in nature, supporting Wireless Communication's record of below-
average attrition compared to industry standards. Over half those who responded to the Declined
Offer survey indicated they would be open to future employment opportunities with the
company. The Exit Interview survey revealed that approximately 40 percent of those who
voluntarily terminated their employment did so due to an opportunity outside of the organization.
Nearly 60 percent of those surveyed in the Exit Interview Survey indicated that they would
recommend working at Wireless Communications to their peers (Jimenez, 2002).

The lone blemish in comparison to industry standards can be found in the Employee Workplace
Survey in analyzing the question everyone has an opportunity to get special recognition. In this
section, 70 percent of Wireless Communication employees agreed in comparison to the industry
benchmark of 76 percent in agreement with the question (Jimenez, 2002). As a result, HR
personnel looked to address this shortcoming in bolstering their employee recognition program.

Additionally, the Exit Survey indicated that 20 percent of respondents strongly agreed that they
received recognition for doing quality work on a weekly basis (Jimenez, 2002). However, unlike
the Employee Workplace Survey, it is not indicated if this outcome was above or below the

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industry standard. For future iterations of the Declined Offer and Exit Interview surveys, it
would benefit Wireless Communications to have benchmarks of comparison to determine how
they are addressing employee recognition in comparison with other similar organizations in their
marketplace when surveying those that declined an offer or voluntarily terminated their
employment.

In future editions of survey implementation, an alternative approach for current employees may
be considered. Rather than utilizing data already collected from Fortune magazine's “100 Best
Companies to Work for in America” which used a small sample size, HR representatives may
want to consider redistributing out the survey to all current employees. This will mitigate the
possibility of a small sample size skewing the actual perception of recognition as it exists within
Wireless Communications. Beyond the collection of survey data, HR representatives should
consider the use of focus groups in collecting qualitative data from current employees. This
approach would give HR personnel tangible reasoning as voiced by current employees in how
any shortcomings in recognition programs can be addressed. Below is a breakdown of both
strengths and opportunities of improvement pertaining to Standard 5.

Strengths Opportunities for Improvement

 Wireless Communications was
proactive in identifying an anticipated
need of employee retention in light of
the current labor market.
 Thorough in analyzing and comparing
data from three populations associated
with Wireless Communications:
current employees, employees who
voluntarily terminated employment,
employees who declined an offer of
employment.
 Utilization of the Gallup Organization,
a third-party vendor, to collect
Declined Offer and Exit Interview
survey data. Allowed for more
objective responses than would likely
be shared if asked directly by Wireless
Communications HR representatives.
 The Employee Workplace Survey
utilized industry benchmarks of
comparison when analyzing data
specific to Wireless Communication.
This uncovered that the organization
scored below industry standards in the
question of everyone has an
opportunity to get special recognition.
 Establish specific goals for voluntary
turnover rates (i.e. an exact percentage
to meet in future years)
 Distribute the Employee Workplace
Survey to all current employees, not
just the small samples utilized from
Fortune magazine’s “100 Best
Companies to Work for in America”
 Create focus groups comprised of
current employees to compile
qualitative data related to perceptions
of employee recognition within
Wireless Communications.
 Compile benchmarks of comparison
for Exit Interview and Declined Offer
surveys for future delivery in
successive years.

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Design Solutions: Standard 7

Stemming from data collected in the Declined Offer, Employee Workplace, and Exit Interview
surveys, the HR team at Wireless Communications sought to improve their employee recognition
program with a multi-layered approach. These levels of recognition include (Jimenez, 2002):

1. Monetary – Stock options, bonuses, merit increases

2. Low-monetary – Non-cash award for exemplary performance (i.e. tickets to event, etc.)
3. Non-monetary – Electronic greeting cards, recognition on website, employee
appreciation days

The HR department sought to achieve recognition through both direct and indirect channels of
employee interaction. For example, establishing a wall of fame on the recognition website
allowed for all constituents of the organization to see the achievements of their peers without
having a hand in directly recognizing them. Conversely, employee appreciation days present the
opportunity for management to "demonstrate their personal appreciation to employees" (Jimenez,
p. 25, 2002).

It is important to understand that these actions of recognition as established in this newly-formed

program are merely surrogates for employee satisfaction. While there may be high levels of
recognition taking place, it is fully possible that the survey results don't reveal an actual
improvement in employee perception of being recognized. In these instances HR personnel will
need to reevaluate their approach in addressing recognition within the organization. Below is a
breakdown of both strengths and opportunities of improvement pertaining to Standard 7.

Strengths Opportunities for Improvement

 The features, attributes, and elements
of the recognition program were
thoughtfully described and clearly
outlined. This included different levels
of recognition for different situations,
and very specific levels.
 The identified need of recognizing
employees is satisfied by a creation of
a program which encourages the
recognition process in a formalized
manner.
 The plan changes management
practices by incorporating recognition
into their role, as well as allowing
managers to review recognition
submitted by one employee to another.
 The recognition program easily allows
participants to comprehend the
implications of the program by the
immediate gratification of the formal
recognition.
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 There is an opportunity for a more in-
depth feasibility assessment in regard
to exactly how employees would go
about submitting awards. If the
process is too cumbersome the
program may not be utilized to its full
potential.
 Although a solution to lack of
recognition has been identified, there
is not a projected outcome specifically
outlined and therefore it is difficult to
measure the success of the program.
 A timeline could be created to monitor
improvements, beginning with goal
percentages of program utilization,
and ending with the annual survey
results.
 Recommendations on how to sustain
improvements are lacking. With any
new program, participation is highest
immediately following rollout and
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dwindles over time unless a

sustainment plan is in place.

Implement Solutions: Standard 9

To implement the Employee Recognition Initiative, the HR department had to employ a multi-
faceted approach to allow for measurement of the initiative’s success, deliverance of the rewards,
and also account for any discrepancies that may arise during implementation. The Recognition
Initiative consists of six programs to address employee engagement: non-cash awards, electronic
greeting cards, wall of fame, recognition website, employee appreciation days, and management
education. One aspect of a successful implementation is that the program must be accessible to
associates and provide them with feedback so they can monitor their own performance (ISPI,
2013). Wireless Communications developed the recognition website “which allowed managers
and employees to access a variety of recognition tools and resources offered by the Employee
Recognition Program (Jimenez, 2002).” This website both provided access to the tools for
recognition as well as the ability for management to receive data on employees’ levels of
engagement and determine trends for retention.

Through the website, employees can be nominated for non-cash awards depending on the level
of their performance by supervisors or fellow employees. Since this program is delivered through
the website, HR associates can monitor the level of use of the program and measure the amount
of awards against a set budget for the rewards for each department. Because this program is
expedited through the use of the website, it promotes the adoption of the new initiative by
Wireless’ employees by making it easier for them to recognize their peers. The website also
allows employees to send greeting cards to one another recognizing the for good performances
which is also forwarded to the employee’s supervisor. Employees can also nominate fellow
associates for the Employee Wall of Fame. Each of these programs is monitored by the HR
department for usage and improvements can be made to the program based upon levels of
engagement.

Management education is a very important program to implementing the Recognition Initiative

because it also provides the opportunity for high-level employees to have access to resources that
will assist in promoting employee retention. Through the continuing education offered by this
program, management will be able to manage any changes they need to make to the program
over time as well as provide guidance for any new initiatives they may want to implement in the
future. This will enable the company to sustain the higher level of retention over time that they
have gained through the Retention Program (ISPI, 2013).

One area that is not addressed by Wireless is if there has been a training program set up to
communicate how to use the new program to associates outside of the HR department. The can
often be issues getting employee’s onboard with accepting new policies or new ways to
recognize one another. For many employees, it is important to explain what is in it for them and
emphasizing ways to adopt its use into their current routine for them to be willing to adopt the
new initiative to be able to use it to its full advantage (Knight, 2015). It could also be beneficial
for the company to have an area for employees to submit feedback for what they like about the
new program and process changes associates may think will be helpful in the future.

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It could also be beneficial to have a champion for the program that will assist in motivating
employees who are reluctant to accept new technology. As Knight (2015) states, it can be
invaluable to have “a network of champions fully invested in the new technology, so they can
coach others on how to use the tools to their benefit”. This can be crucial to getting support for a
new initiative that employees may not be familiar with and that they may not understand why it
is being introduced and therefore may be unlikely to participate in the program.

Strengths Opportunities for Improvement

 Website enables the company to
monitor usage and to retrieve data
about levels of engagement
 Website is accessible and allows
employees to monitor their progress in
real time
 Through management education
provides the opportunity for further
education to ensure Wireless is able to
sustain their retention gains and
manage any changes they may make
to the program
 Develop a training program for all
employees to explain how to use the
new initiative
 Appoint a champion for the program
to help encourage associates to use the
recognition program
 Develop a communications program
to be delivered before rollout for
employees to show the benefits of the
program to get the interested in the
initiative
 Have a system for employees to be
able to submit suggestions for
improvement and provide feedback
for what is successful

Evaluate Results and Impact: Standard 10

The purpose of evaluation is two-fold: to “help you identify areas for improvement and
ultimately help you realize your goals more efficiently and enables you to demonstrate your
program’s success or progress (Medina, 2004).” By evaluating the long-term results of the
program through analyzing the data created from employee engagement, Wireless
Communications is able to see to what extent the initiative has been successful in reducing
employee retention. By using the analytics programmed into the website the company is able to
see areas that are seeing higher levels of participation as well as by viewing analysis of the
employee retention levels over time to identify trends and room for improvement.

One example of how Wireless Communications is using the data obtained from the Recognition
Initiative is through the development of the online Retention Life Cycle Model which provides
the resources needed for management to evaluate the results. The Life Cycle Model helps to
summarize the data compiled by the Retention Program by separating the measurements into
four separate areas based upon stages in the employee life cycle: pre-hire, first six months,
tenure, and CPR: recovery efforts (Jimenez, 2002). By providing tools that allow management to
interpret the importance of engagement during these specific time periods, Wireless is able to see
the level of success of the program and improve employee retention over time.

An area in which Wireless Communications struggled was in obtained a large enough sample
section in the beginning of their research into how to address their retention problem. By not
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being able to obtain data from their outside vendors, they did not allow themselves to have a
standard to benchmark against to see how the progress that was made from implementing the
recognition program. For future sampling to determine where they stand in relation to their
competitors, they should continue to try to obtain outside data from other sources if at all
possible. They should also collect data from a larger internal sample set to get a stronger picture
of the effectiveness of the program over time. They should also have a plan in place for
collecting information from focus groups at set points in time to get direct feedback from
employees about the program and if they feel it is meeting their needs.

Wireless also stated that before beginning the recognition program they had a voluntary turnover
rate of less than six percent, however they did not state what their ideal turnover rate would be,
just that they thought it could be better. One way that they can better accomplish this is by
setting tangible goals that they can measure results against will give them the ability to see areas
that of the program that are not meeting employee needs and may need improvement.

Strengths Opportunities for Improvement

 Emphasis was placed on ensuring that
the timing of the survey was optimal
to obtaining accurate results
 Development of Retention Life Cycle
Model enables management to
pinpoint specific time periods to
measure employee engagement
 Website provides tools to help educate
how to use data obtained from future
samples to continue to meet retention
goals
 Take future data from a larger sample
to get a better idea of level of
engagement, also draw from outside
sources, if possible, for comparison
 Focus groups should continue to meet
over time to identify areas in which
improvements to the program can
better meet employee's needs
 Establish tangible goals for employee
retention levels to compare results for
necessary adjustments
 Consultants should create a model
evaluating the results of their
improvements to provide an example
of how evaluation of data should be
accomplished in the future

Conclusion
Human Performance Technology is essential for organizations to provide a thorough analysis of
what factors are causing their company to not run at the optimal level they desire. As defined by
the International Society for Performance Improvement (2013), HPT is "a process of selection,
analysis, design, development, implementation, and evaluation of programs to most cost-
effectively influence human behavior and accomplishment." In this case, Wireless
Communications used HPT to provide a deeper understanding of what factors were contributing
to their employees wanting to leave their company. Through data analysis Wireless determined
that one of the major factors influencing their retention issues was a lack of recognition programs
and in response developed and implemented the Recognition Initiative.

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We evaluated the effectiveness of Wireless Communications performance in relation to CTE

Performance Standards and identified several strengths and weaknesses in their process. There
are several areas in which they could take additional initiatives in relation to what they have
completed that could add to their level of success including adding additional performance
standards to their design. Overall, we believe that Wireless Communications was compliant with
many of the performance standards and should see an increase in their level of employee
retention based upon their implementation of the Recognition Initiative, however there are areas
that they could improve upon to achieve stronger results.

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References
Brethower, D. M. (1999). General systems theory and behavioral psychology. In H. D.
Stolovitch & E. J. Keeps (Eds.), Handbook of Human Performance Technology (2nd ed.)
(pp. 67-81). San Francisco: Jossey-Bass Pfeiffer.

International Society for Performance Improvement (2013). CTE Performance Standards. Silver
Springs, MA: International Society for Performance Improvement.

Jimenez, R. (2002). Managing employee retention through recognition: wireless communications

company. In J. J. Phillips & P. P. Phillips (Eds.), Retaining your best employees (pp. 17-
28). United States: American Society for Training & Development.

Knight, R. (2015) Convincing skeptical employees to adopt new technology. Harvard Business
Review. Retrieved from https://hbr.org/2015/03/convincing-skeptical-employees-to-
adopt-new-technology

Medina, G. (2004). Evaluation: What is it and why do it? My Environmental Education

Evaluation Resource Assistant. Retrieved from http://meera.snre.umich.edu/evaluation-
what-it-and-why-do-it

Morrison, G. R., Ross, S. M., & Kemp, J. E. (2007). Designing effective instruction (5th ed.).
Danvers, MA: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

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