This case study looks at our latest project with Mole Valley Farmers. Over the years, they have acquired many different brands, which has led to a need for more understanding of how all employees feel. They were keen to find out what their employees thought about working for them and their level of attractiveness as an employer. Part of this research was the development of an employee engagement survey.
Our Down-To-Earth Client
Cogito’s latest client, Mole Valley Farmers, was established in 1960 by a small group of farmers in South Molton, North Devon, who created an agricultural buying group. The success of this early enterprise has resulted in the Mole Valley Farmers family of companies becoming a leading agricultural supply business spanning the length of Britain.
Read more about Mole Valley Farmers here.
The Project Brief
Mole Valley Farmers approached Cogito to develop a unique, attractive and authentic Employer Value Proposition (EVP) through robust research. Having never rolled out an employee engagement survey before, Mole Valley Farmers were keen to obtain the thoughts of all employees, from those out in the mills or working in stores through to drivers and those working in head office. With such a diverse mix of skills across multiple locations, it was essential for Mole Valley Farmers to understand their perception of them as an employer.
Why Use Cogito?
Our client was keen to improve the overall engagement and employer brand offering. They wanted to allow their employees to feel heard and help the leadership team understand what drives engagement within the organisation. Cogito was enlisted to complete the employee engagement survey whilst simultaneously incorporating employer brand questions.
Having never participated in an employee engagement surveys before, Mole Valley Farmers benefited from Cogito’s consultative approach. The bespoke nature of our surveys gave them confidence in asking and identifying the truths behind the questions as opposed to a more generic format. We could also support them along the way with a complete communication plan and analysis upon completion. We continued providing feedback and recommendations while conducting employer brand research.
Cogito Plough Forward
With our client’s considerations in mind, Cogito conducted a comprehensive research programme, providing end-to-end support, surveying all 2000 employees with a bespoke employee engagement survey incorporating key employer branding questions.
We assigned Cogito’s Marketing and Communications Specialist to produce a robust online and offline communications plan. It was important to Mole Valley Farmers that the employees understood why they were being asked to complete the survey. Before the survey landed with them, its purpose was communicated. Emails were distributed to all employees with unique survey links, following employer brand guidelines, so it felt very much like it came from Mole Valley Farmers and not an external supplier. The idea was to engage employees to achieve maximum participation equally across all brands, stores and job roles. Regular emails were distributed, and posters were displayed around the office with unique QR codes for convenient survey completion.
To ensure maximum participation, the number of questions was limited, and it was specified that the survey would be running for two weeks. Emphasis was placed on how long the survey would take to complete and that their feedback was appreciated and would contribute towards the company’s strategy. Regular progress updates were communicated to Mole Valley Farmers, so that they could continue to encourage more people to complete it.
The Results Are In!
Once the survey results were available, it was time to digest and analyse the information. A full display via dynamic dashboards was presented to key stakeholders, which allowed data to be filtered by location / age / gender / tenure. At this stage, we presented the data and provided recommendations on how to take this data forward to make impactful changes within the organisation. The benefit of this employment engagement survey is that the research will also form part of the employer branding research from both an internal and external perspective of Mole Valley Farmers as an employer.
Cogito then presented key metrics from the data in PDF reports that were available to cascade to the wider management team, again agreed with Mole Valley Farmers. They used our consultative approach to understand the best metrics to take forward to enable a regular review for improvement.
The final step was to support Mole Valley Farmers in cascading the key outcomes to the wider team featuring bite-size chunks of the survey so that they could discover the results of the survey and the intentions of the business going forward.
We advised on the regular occurrence of employee engagement surveys to both improve engagement and contribute towards the effective communication between employees and the leadership team. We will continue to collaborate with Mole Valley Farmers to ensure this data remains current, with periodic listening groups and annual survey completion.
Give Your Employees A Voice! Let Us Help You To Get The Best Out Of Your Engagement Activity!
From measuring employee satisfaction to monitoring progress, we can provide you with research and insights to achieve your business goals. Find out more by visiting www.cogitotalent.com or contact us today.
