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What are your experiences with the post-merger employee satisfaction and the cultural integration? Do you try to measure it and track how it develops over time?
For a full integration, i believe measuring employees’ satisfaction is key for the overall success of the deal with the intention to improve satisfaction over time. unfortunately management seems to be focusing on other aspect of the integration and forgetting the human capital aspect in the integration.
this is a very interesting metric to measure that is usually overlooked. in our previous M&A deals, we have conducted a similar study but not entirely focused on the cultural integration side. I believe we should defiantly monitor such peramteters
Employee satisfaction is crucial as this will determine their engagement with customers and quality of work produced. Employee surveys to understand how they perceive the company and how to better improve the organisation would serve as “free” consultancy advice from people on the ground, who is closest person to understand what they are doing, the impediments in the roles and how to remove inefficiencies in the workflow.
Last but not least, unhappy employees may not voice their unhappiness out, they may instead sabotage work efforts in subtle manners to “prove” that M&A should not have been done in the first place.
Its a best practice for organizations to track/measure employee engagement at any time. Ideally if you already have a regular practice in this area you can implement supplemental “pulse” surveys to take a temperature as you progress through integration that can help provide information about the specific moves you are making. I think its important to remember a couple things though in terms of company culture – you want to make sure the measurements and messages around what the enduring company culture is are clear and widely communicated. Everyone should understand and be engaged in building that culture. While satisfaction is part of what you are looking for, its also important to accept, particularly if there is a shift in culture, that some people will opt out. Be careful to distinguish the negative comments into those where you have missed the mark but agree with the direction and those who are not happy with the entire direction. Rather than diluting the culture you are building by catering to those who are dissatisfied with the direction, help them evaluate if they are onboard with where you are going. Its extremely important to understand where you are trying to go and not get pulled in directions by the loudest voices complaining.
Yes! We developed short, simple survey’s during the integration timeframe and also follow ups after key change events. Pulse surveys are part of our culture broadly, so it’s part of our operational nature. Also, depending on the workstream (ex: Technology), there may be other surveys. We’ve found them to be informative and we’ve learned lessons that have informed our approaches in future integrations.
I believe measuring / tracking employee satisfaction post merger is important as it can bring values to the new company. It is not possible to bring to cultures in one environment and expect harmony from day 1. Genuine employee satisfaction can help and in some cases can drive cost reduction and revenue generation as well as enhance the company culture and environment.
I have been involved in a case whereby one of the companies had a quite solid employee engagement process and metrics. It was directly incorporated into the target and at least for the acquirer it allowed very easily at least to assess the impact compared to pre-deal figures. Not seem yet a specific a process to be set up just as a consequence of the deal.
I think this is an important activity that must be consider to ensure that the integration process is moving towards the desired results.
There is a confidential score sheets sent internally to employees to assess the employees satisfaction. Typically, employees are reluctant to answer honestly due to the fear of disclosure the personal data.
yes absolutely, most employees satisfaction tools allow to track at a detailed level for teams above a certain size, per geography, function and business even if confidential. Answers are not always truthful as employees can fear that the confidentiality is not real, but in general the trend if not the absolute results can be a useful indicator.
I believe it is important to track employee satisfaction through some company surveys for at least 1-2 years after integration.
Yes, we should certainly consider, measure and track employee satisfaction levels because employees form the backbone of an organisation and are one of the most important stakeholders to any organisation. Measuring and tracking employee satisfaction would allow for success in cultural integration and the overall success of an acquisition.
My company tracks annual employee satisfaction as a Balance Scorecard indicator. While not specifically measured post-integration, I suppose it does provide an early warning indicator to the integration/operations team of the acquired entity that they may need to provide early interventions to boost employee morale and satisfaction as part of stabilizing the workforce and retaining talent.
Mergers and acquisitions result in employee redundancy, and conducting a post-merger satisfaction survey would help track their gratification levels. A merger increases the available workforce, which explains why M&As resort to staff reduction to help mitigate costs. The termination of some staff creates fear and demotivation on the remaining lot, thus impacting operation efficiency. Moreover, staff turnover increases, creating gaps that require continuous training as new staff join. Cultural integration becomes challenging as workers possessing different traditions collaborate to perform similar jobs. Thus, tracking helps understand the level of satisfaction among employees after a merger and acquisition.
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