Keeping our grass green to reduce employee turnover and improve retention
Is the grass really “greener on the other side” at another company? You have probably heard about the Great Resignation or been part of it. Coined by management Professor Anthony Klotz in May 2021, the term refers to an “ongoing economic trend in which employees have voluntarily resigned from their jobs en masse, beginning in early 2021.” There are many possible causes, including “wage stagnation amid rising cost of living, long-lasting job dissatisfaction, safety concerns of the COVID-19 pandemic, and the desire to work for companies with better remote-working policies”.
Our Digital Strategy & Product (DS&P) department at CBC has certainly seen the impact of this new reality and has adjusted accordingly. We’ve introduced some new measures to keep pace with benefits offered by other employers and to be proactive in employee engagement to improve retention. Although it may be more challenging to hire CBC Lifers, we still have this lofty goal in mind!
Onboarding
A good onboarding experience for new employees really helps them in their journey to be “high performers and for them to feel a sense of belonging and learn what defines success”. So we continue to iterate on our onboarding process for new DS&P employees. Most recently, we recorded our quarterly orientation event so that anyone new who joins can view the orientation any time without having to wait for the next quarterly department virtual event.
Flexible remote work schedules
Our DS&P department has continued to work remotely (from the start of the pandemic) with the added flexibility for our people and teams to work in our Toronto office when required or desired by individual employees. We have also hired people from all parts of Canada; this has vastly increased our candidate pool plus has the added benefit of reduced living costs for current and future employees as their place of work can now be outside of the Greater Toronto Area.
Work/life balance in our department has been acknowledged as one of the main things that makes our people happy and feel good at work. CBC therefore offers a Leave Purchase Plan and Deferred Salary Leave Plan:
- The Leave Purchase Plan allows an eligible employee to purchase extra vacation leave days (up to 10 days) through regular payroll deductions, in addition to the vacation annual leave entitlement outlined in their employment contract.
- The Deferred Salary Leave Plan allows an eligible permanent employee to defer a portion of their gross salary on each pay for the purpose of financing a planned period of leave. Employees have used this leave in the past to take a learning/teaching sabbatical or extended period of travel.
Benefits education
Pensions are hard to find in today’s job market, and we’re fortunate to offer not only a pension, but a defined benefit pension, which is the most coveted option available. Our HR department therefore hosted a Pension 101 information session earlier in the year to educate our people about the benefits of the CBC Pension Plan. This provided answers to some key questions:
- What is a defined benefit pension? How does it differ from a group RRSP?
- Why is the pension valuable if I am far from retirement or don’t intend to have a long tenure?
Employee engagement
At the CBC, the voices of the employees matter. There are many opportunities to connect with leadership and share thoughts and ideas. One way is the annual CBC employee engagement survey that uses the Gallup Q12. Our department also uses Officevibe to conduct quick weekly employee pulse surveys. These survey results enable managers to create an action plan to improve engagement. For example, this year, our department focused its actions on the first Q12 question: I know what is expected of me at work. Actions have included providing more clear and frequent feedback and recognition that can also be done during team retrospectives.
Managers have ongoing Performance Dialogue meetings with their employees (usually once a month). This involves a strengths based approach to identifying skills to develop with annual objectives and longer term development goals for learning and growth. General career progression guides are also being developed so that DS&P employees of all levels of experience have the support, guidance and resources to be successful in their technical career development and progression goals.
Collaboration and learning
Innovation is the cornerstone of meaningful digital work. But we know that it can be a challenge to carve out time to be truly innovative. That’s why our department has a policy for 20% work that has enabled people to have independent learning time or work on projects across teams. This was how more work was done on the new CBC Lite product (low bandwidth service available at CBC.ca/lite) to get it to Production after the Innovation Sprint.
Our Learning and Development department has a National Course Offering of various professional and leadership courses to support people in achieving their development goals. There is also a budget for people to attend work related conferences to stay on top of the latest industry trends.
Diversity, Equity and Inclusion
Our strength as an organization lies in the diversity of our employees. Not only does this ensure we can reflect the diversity of our audience in the products we build, but the diversity of thought, perspectives and lived experiences of our employees allows our department to be smarter, richer and more caring. Ensuring that we have an inclusive working environment for everyone who works at CBC has been a huge focus for the past few years, and this work continues at pace. This is one of the reasons why CBC/Radio-Canada is recognized among Canada’s Top 100 Employers.
“The company offers an annual $300,000 diversity and inclusion fund to help managers create internships and development opportunities for racialized people, persons with disabilities, Indigenous peoples and women”. This has funded the CBC Abilicrew Placements for Excellence Program (CAPE) that resulted in Sarah Wang being hired for our Accessibility team. CAPE is a 12-week program aimed to kick-start the careers of persons with disabilities and eliminate barriers to employment.
Our department also has a Diversity and Inclusion Strategy Lead, Ratsamy Pathammavong who helps us maintain a “safe workspace where our employees are able to share their authentic selves with one another and to push each other to challenge conventions”.
The Women In Tech Employee Resource Group (WIT ERG) Mentorship Program pilot has been a great success and a new cohort will start in the winter. “The purpose of the program is to increase confidence, community and visibility for women in technology at CBC/Radio-Canada by sharing perspectives on work, and supporting personal growth as they explore career development”.
So if you are looking for greener grass, join our teams at CBC ⛳ You can check out our current openings here.
