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Critical Metrics for Established Companies: Case Study

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Case Study One: Refocusing on Internal Client Satisfaction

Oftentimes, a business can put so much energy into external customer focus that internal needs get left behind. That’s what happened recently to a multi-national organization that was struggling with a lack of internal customer focus from key support areas like human resources, finance and operations. The organization needed to get its internal mechanisms back on track and turned to Critical Metrics for assistance.

Critical Metrics’ first step was to develop an on-line survey that was administered to a sample of in-house managers. The survey results were analyzed at the divisional level, as well as at a broader level with the entire company in mind. Comments and results were then parsed from the survey to develop key themes and suggestions that the client could easily use to understand what was going on “under the hood” at the organization.

Having an ongoing program to track the organization's progress allowed the client to look at progress over time. Accountabilities were put in place to spur the right action at the right time. Key metrics were pulled from the survey and integrated into a larger goal-setting program for the organization.

Just like business itself, the survey has continued moving forward and evolving. After regular assessments of what is helping or hindering the process, the survey has continued to be tweaked over time. In this way, Critical Metrics has helped make the survey more customer-focused by streamlining it and simplifying reporting requirements. The end result?— response rates have improved year after year.

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Case Study Two: Is Your Internal Communication Working?

The communication department of a financial services firm considered the important question— is what we’re saying really getting through to our employees? Finding the answer to this question was as simple as contacting Critical Metrics. The company stepped in and helped the firm administer and analyze responses from a communication survey to get to the heart of their internal communications.

The focused nature of the survey allowed for a detailed and informative analysis of all aspects of communication within the firm. Since opinions can vary depending on an employee’s department, Critical Metrics presented overall findings along with findings broken down by organizational and demographic groups.

What did Critical Metrics find? The strengths and weaknesses within the firm’s internal communications were identified, and more importantly, it became clear that there were specific areas where employee’s lacked awareness or understanding of the resources they had at hand. 

As a result of the survey findings, the company was able to get a realistic picture of the manner and frequency with which its employees used the resources offered to them. It also received helpful feedback on how various new media initiatives would be received by employees, and which initiatives were more and less likely to succeed. The firm had the benefit of reducing resources that would have been wasted on initiatives that would only get a lukewarm reception. The benefits continued as the firm kept the survey in place for a second year and, as a result, was able to really track progress and see how effective the changes had been.

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Case Study Three: Keeping your Best Employees

Why do they go and why do they stay? Hiring and keeping good employees is a critical issue at any company. A financial services firm sought to better understand what was driving employees who were staying in-house and what was driving employees who had made the decision to leave. An important part of understanding this puzzle was getting a clear idea of the effectiveness of their managers.  Critical Metrics stepped in to help the firm answer these questions by assessing various surveys and analyzing additional data.

Turnover and Employee Engagement

To get a handle on turnover of employees, past employee surveys were compared against actual turnover data. Controlling for tenure, one thing became clear: people who were voluntarily leaving the firm felt less productive and less engaged in their roles and had exhibited less intention of staying before leaving.

On the other hand, the employees who were remaining in-house were primarily driven by the firm’s culture. These employees felt that they were respected and treated fairly, and that the firm encouraged an atmosphere of excellence. Employee engagement was shown to vary from job to job, suggesting that different approaches were needed to encourage engagement at different levels.



Managerial Effectiveness

Were managers affecting employee attitude and their decisions to leave or stay? After collecting and analyzing information on managers within the organization, Critical Metrics uncovered clear differences between average-performing managers and high-performing managers:

• Effective managers were more likely to receive higher ratings
• High-performing managers fostered an environment of productivity and growth amongst employees
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• High-performing managers were keeping more employees in their jobs

Good managers were keeping employees happy, in line with the firm’s culture, treating employees with fairness and respect while encouraging them to strive for excellence.


After compiling the results, Critical Metrics was able to make some key suggestions to the firm:

1. Reassess performance and compensation, employee perception of “fairness” in rewards, and the use of performance feedback.
2. Conduct focus groups or interviews with successful managers to figure out best practices that could be implemented across the firm.
3. Let the employees who are performing well know it by demonstrating a clear link between performance and compensation, praising them for their contribution and encouraging an atmosphere of fairness and reward for achievement.

Overall, Critical Metrics has helped the firm achieve two huge goals: creating a productive workforce and keeping those hardworking employees loyal and on the team.