Strategy at Work A strong connection DIRECTV raises the bar on employee engagement
Carlos Botero, vice president of human resources, DIRECTV 2 willistowerswatson.com
A strong connection DIRECTV raises the bar on employee engagement By Lucie P. Lawrence It s close, and it s personal, explains Carlos Botero, vice president of human resources for Home Services at DIRECTV. Our technicians enter our customers homes, and work within their bedrooms and family rooms. This demands an enormous amount of dignity and respect on the part of each technician. He adds, Our technicians also are ambassadors for DIRECTV. Their visits are the only face-to-face contact customers have with our company and are the last mile in customer care. The technicians have one opportunity to impress the customer. This impression is invaluable, and we take it very seriously. Moreover, we know that technicians face a wide range of customer needs and unforeseen challenges. The mission of each technician to represent DIRECTV, own the customer experience and fulfill our promise of superior service is just as important as our procedures and standards. To ensure DIRECTV s customers and employees have the best possible experience, leaders of the company s Home Services division believed it was vital to take the pulse of the workforce. We wanted to know what s in employees hearts and minds, says Botero. What s important to them? Are they engaged? Are they happy? With our company maturing, we needed to understand what was crucial to employees at that moment and for their future. Where should we spend our money and improve our efforts? No more guessing By 2008, DIRECTV had acquired five third-party contractor companies over a three-year period and established its Home Services division. With our technicians working offsite for most of each workday, the question was: How do we unite them somehow to create a cohesive, committed workforce? says Anthony Martini, manager of employee communications for Home Services. This was important because we believe in treating every employee as an integral part of the company. Our workforce is not just a line item in our income statement, but rather a true asset and competitive advantage that directly affects the top line. Since its creation, Home Services has become the company s largest division, growing to 7,000 employees. But successfully blending numerous organizations and cultures into one, while keeping engagement and productivity strong, is about more than just adding head count. Once the acquisitions were completed, it was time for the company to concentrate on its newly constructed employee base. We grew the Home Services division very quickly, and we needed to turn our focus back on our employees, says Botero. About DIRECTV One of the world s leading providers of digital video entertainment services More than 30 million subscribers in the United States and Latin America Headquartered in El Segundo, California Founded in 1990 Three divisions: Enterprise, Home Services and Customer Care More than 16,000 employees This article was originally published by Towers Watson. Towers Watson 2011. 3 Strategy at Work
Springing into action The results were quite telling, Botero says of survey findings for the Home Services division. The 2009 results which served as our baseline were good, but we knew Home Services was still in a honeymoon phase since it was only its first year. In 2010, we saw a significant decline because, though employees were hitting their operational targets, they didn t feel valued. A great deal of change can create fear and uncertainty, and techs didn t feel like they were part of the company. We realized we needed to show them they count, and their work really matters. To foster spirit within the division, we needed to make some significant changes. Towers Watson consultant Bogdan Nita (left) with Anthony Martini, manager of employee communications, Home Services, DIRECTV Home Services joined forces with DIRECTV s other business units Enterprise and Customer Care to conduct an employee survey that would examine the company s organizational health. The goal: Eliminate the guesswork, and hear directly from employees. Additionally, HR hoped to learn where DIRECTV stood as an employer and to compare itself with other high-performing organizations. Says Botero, Not only do surveys supply us with an important benchmark, but they also help us understand employee sentiment, which allows us to adapt accordingly. Partnering with Towers Watson to design a customized survey tool, DIRECTV conducted its first employee survey in 2009, a second comprehensive one the following year and a pulse survey in 2011 garnering valuable year-over-year benchmarking data. Unlike other divisions within the company that use online surveys, Home Services administers surveys on paper because most technicians in the field aren t able to get online during their working hours. Technicians complete the surveys at the facility at which they re based, with HR staff members acting as proctors to safeguard confidentiality. These changes came in the form of specific action plans at the site level. With 100 sites, this action planning proved to be an extremely complex process. To help leaders truly understand the 2010 survey results and effect change, we walked them through the results and the meaning of key responses, says Bogdan Nita, Towers Watson consultant. We explained the results down to the supervisor level and identified the factors that play an important role in boosting engagement. We helped supervisors understand which actions would be most effective not only in correcting deficiencies, but also making the best of and building on the positive behaviors and attitudes. The next step in the action-planning process was creating Home Services performance goals for 2011 and cascading these goals down to the site level. We don t really think of ourselves as one division of 7,000 employees. Instead, we re more like 4 willistowerswatson.com
100 little companies of 70 people each, because each site is unique, says Martini. So we made action planning a site manager activity because pushing the responsibility down to the line level empowers managers. As site managers created action plans, engagement quickly became part of the Home Services vocabulary. Company leaders gave site managers specific, actionable results in an easyto-digest format, which managers used to build their action plans on Towers Watson s online Insight Action Platform. The plans focused on developing people practices, dignity and respect, and a superior level of employee care. The level of care is about supporting technicians in the field as well as making proactive changes that help the company remain competitive in the marketplace. Actions to support people practices have included holding weekly one-on-one meetings with direct reports and publicly recognizing top performers. To support the planning process, the HR team provided a library of best practices from other companies. They also distributed information about specific people practices and actions that had proven highly successful at some of DIRECTV s sites. Words of wisdom How do you get an honest, in-depth assessment from employees? Ask them for it with questions designed to inform your strategies. By conducting a survey each year to explore employee attitudes and uncover areas of concern and opportunity, you ll develop valuable year-over-year benchmarking data. DIRECTV s HR team, which has been surveying its workforce annually since 2009, offers the following advice for companies that want to conduct a successful employee survey: Establish trust with managers and their teams by clearly explaining how they will benefit from the survey and how the survey results will be used. Provide line managers with clear data they can understand and use easily. Give them survey results that are actionable. Coach the line leaders through the action-planning process; don t try to control it. Help employees at all levels understand what engagement means and how it affects the company s success. Choose the right partner to advise you through the process. Be transparent with your advisors, and work together as a team. Communicate frequently with employees via written and oral channels. Explain the purpose and importance of employee surveys. Don t be guided by numbers alone. This is about people. Don t assume you know what s important to employees. Listen to what they re saying. Make your employees the heroes. The challenge at that point, recalls senior Towers Watson consultant Darryl Roberts, was guiding each site manager to concentrate on two or three actions that would have the greatest positive impact at their site. It was important for the local managers rather than HR to own the planning process. So we gave them survey data that were concrete, actionable and specific to their teams. 5 Strategy at Work
A defining spirit The efforts have definitely paid off. The 2011 survey found a 13-point gain in engagement over 2010. Also, since the 2010 survey, employee turnover has decreased 27%, and customer satisfaction has improved by 5%. And DIRECTV earned a spot in Towers Watson s rigorous U.S. High- Performance Companies Norm of 2011. The norm comprises organizations that achieve above-average financial performance compared with their industry peers, and whose employees view the organizational culture and practices favorably. These are monumental results, says Nita. Any improvement from year to year is good, and we tend to see a three- to five-point gain with most clients that implement successful action plans. However, having a 13-point improvement from year to year is quite remarkable and is not something we often see. Adds Mark Rothman, Home Services senior human resources business analyst: We live in a culture of measurement and metrics. Putting a number to engagement has enabled us to measure and track our progress, and we ve been able to focus more sharply on making improvements. Our recent scores are an excellent indicator that employees attitudes about the company and their work experience are improving. Engagement has become an integral part of the Home Services culture and consciousness, and Botero and his colleagues in senior management understand how critical it is to success. Rising levels of employee engagement lead to greater customer satisfaction, which in turn increases top-line referrals. And high employee engagement levels make it easier for DIRECTV to retain both employees Understand employee engagement and its drivers Engagement reflects the level of connection employees feel with their employer. It s demonstrated by workers ongoing willingness to help the company succeed. Leaders and managers throughout an organization can influence engagement levels. Towers Watson research has found that organizational factors such as career advancement opportunities and senior leaders who are sincerely interested in employees well-being can greatly influence employee engagement. Research also shows that senior leaders are able to positively affect employee engagement by communicating openly and honestly, and by providing clear, equitable performance evaluations and career advancement opportunities. Leaders can create a culture of engagement, while managers can play a crucial supporting role in bringing the culture to life and serving as day-to-day distribution mechanisms for engagement programs. The list below illustrates how leaders and managers influence the top 10 engagement drivers: Engagement drivers influenced at the executive leadership level Senior management s interest in employee well-being Improvement of employees skills and capabilities Organization s reputation for social responsibility Speed of addressing customers concerns Career advancement opportunities Challenging work assignments that broaden skills Encouragement of innovative thinking Engagement drivers influenced at the middle management level Manager s involvement in decision making affecting the department Manager s relationship with supervisor Managers setting and meeting high personal standards 6 willistowerswatson.com
and customers, adapt in a competitive environment and execute company strategy. We know engagement requires an investment on the part of employees, so we gave technicians the shoes up front and asked them to walk with us. Apparently it has paid off, Botero says. I think everyone now understands that we all need to own the workplace jointly. There s a greater sense of obligation on all levels about the culture and the people practices. The workplace has become a genuine and respectful place, and our techs have become proud of their jobs and their company. The shift has been unmistakable, and the effort will continue. Botero says DIRECTV began administering employee surveys with three goals in mind: Make the company a great place to work for current employees; make the employee experience so great that people would want to join the company and stay, and raise the company s performance standard so high that employees have to be great in order to stay. I believe we re way down the road of this effort, but to maintain greatness, we must continuously work on improving engagement, he says. The results of our last survey clearly tell the story of spirit and why it matters so much. At DIRECTV, our spirit defines everything we do. It s truly transformative at the human level. (Left to right) Towers Watson consultant Darryl Roberts; Mark Rothman, senior human resources business analyst, Home Services, DIRECTV; Towers Watson consultant Bogdan Nita; Anthony Martini, manager of employee communications, Home Services, DIRECTV 7 Strategy at Work
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