The Challenge
Sometimes when you have a problem, you have to talk to people on both sides. The Kentucky Chamber Foundation had a strong Employee Collaborative using the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation’s Talent Pipeline Management® (TPM) framework. Yet, the Kentucky Chamber Foundation and its partners in the equine industry still needed more information to understand the high turnover in entry-level positions.
Employers issued surveys that aggregated findings across the entire collaborative. Collaborative members worried, though, that employees would become disengaged if they kept sending surveys. Employers knew that longer-term interaction beyond surveys would be required to identify and solve problems. Aside from employers having conversations with their employees, it was unclear what additional activities or solutions were needed to solve turnover rates in the equine industry.
- 6.3%Decrease in Unemployment Rate ('09-'23)
The Solution
The Kentucky Chamber Foundation created Employee Collaboratives with lessons learned from its already successful employer model. Employers worked with the Chamber Foundation to form a group of employees who volunteered to represent their occupations. This group provided the long-term interaction needed for iterative problem-solving.
Laurie Mays, the talent pipeline project manager at the Chamber Foundation, stressed that success in this initiative required clear rules and proactive actions. The rules ensured that Employee Collaborative participants represented their professions, not their employers, providing a broader perspective. Participants remained anonymous at meetings to allow for open discussions without singling out employers or employees and focus on finding solutions.
Ensuring employee participation required employers to take action. Employees needed to feel validated, that they were not wasting their time after a long day at work. Those participating felt like they provided a much-needed collective voice for entry-level occupations that typically lack a professional group or network.
Creating the Employee Collaborative
The Employer Collaborative had identified high turnover amongst entry-level employees as a critical need. When they discussed possible solutions, it became clear that the group relied on anecdotes and needed more rigorous information. To solve this, the Foundation implemented an employee voice survey, which added data to the discussion and helped shape initial solutions to the problem.
As they thought about solutions, the collaborative acknowledged that it would need periodic feedback in the future. They worried, though, that employees would get tired of filling out surveys, which only create value when the surveys have high response rates and thoughtful responses.
The Employer Collaborative decided to identify employees representing entry-level occupations with high turnover. Each employer nominated three to four employees from their facility, usually from different occupations. The collaborative grouped volunteers by occupation instead of by employer during the discussions. The goal was to find the common issues in the industry and create the continuous feedback loop necessary to solve difficult problems.
How It Works
Mays began calling employees to explain the employee collaborative concept and reiterate that participation was completely voluntary. Individual participation, attendance, and feedback was not reported to their employer. She continually engaged both the employer and employee collaboratives. The only requirement for employees was to show up for a meeting and talk about issues they face in their occupation.
At Employee Collaborative meetings, which Mays organized at casual locations like breweries, she facilitated a conversation to learn valuable information. After the meetings, she summarized and anonymized the takeaways and then brought those to the Employer Collaborative. The two collaboratives went back and forth in an iterative process of understanding problems and then proposing, refining, implementing, evaluating, improving, and learning from solutions. Using this method, the two collaboratives solved problems related to supervisor training, working hours, and professional development.
If she had it to do over again, Mays says that she would add more documentation and structure. With a new activity like this, it is important to build confidence in participation and help participants understand how to achieve productivity. One major improvement would be a non-disclosure agreement or similar agreement committing that the Chamber Foundation would not identify participant activity to their employer. She would also have documents to set expectations for both employees and employers, accompanied by a clear explanation of the process.
A Tool to Address Long-Term Labor Shortages
The experience of Kentucky businesses with labor shortages is not unique. Historically low unemployment rates and fierce competition for employees have increased the importance of retaining employees by improving workplace satisfaction. “Ten to 15 years ago, if employees were unhappy with their jobs, employers might have been willing to let employees leave because they were confident in hiring a replacement,” Mays said. Now, labor shortages mean that high turnover rates can create big problems. Employers need mechanisms to learn from their employees and solve those problems.
HR consultants and professional organizations expect labor shortages to continue beyond the next 10 years. As issues like these persist, solutions like Employee Collaboratives will be critical to maintaining a productive and reliable workforce. The TPM framework excels at guiding employers to collectively work through strategies that identify and solve problems. The Employee Collaborative is a novel addition that creates a valuable additional feedback mechanism.
This case study is a follow-up to the March 2024 case study on the Kentucky Chamber Foundation, which identified employee collaboratives as one of the Chamber’s solutions.
To learn more about the Kentucky Chamber Foundation TPM-led initiatives, visit kychamber.com/tpm.
