Employee Engagement Consulting

A DIY survey or a software platform gives you data and a dashboard. We give you the data, what it means for your organization, a plan for what to do next, and a leadership presentation that helps you get buy-in for the plan. The survey is one step in the work, not the whole engagement. Clients who’ve tried major survey platforms often tell us the same thing afterward: the results were interesting, but nothing changed because no one translated the numbers into specific actions for their team. That translation is the part we focus on.

The action plan ties your survey findings to specific recommendations for your team. We organize by engagement driver (leadership, recognition, communication, growth, and the other categories our framework measures), then prioritize by impact and effort. For each recommendation, we identify what your leadership team can act on directly, what needs a manager-level program, and what calls for a broader investment like training, a policy change, or a compensation review. You leave with a sequenced roadmap and clear ownership, not a list of suggestions sitting in a deck.

After the survey closes, we analyze results, prepare your findings document, present to your leadership team, and hand off the action plan. From there, many clients move into the next phase of work with us. The survey often points to a clear next step, whether that’s supervisor training (when leadership scores are the issue), fractional HR support (when policies, processes, or capacity are getting in the way), or compensation work (when fairness shows up as a driver). We stay connected through whatever comes next, so the work the survey kicked off doesn’t lose momentum.

Most engagements run 8 to 12 weeks from kickoff to leadership presentation. Survey design and setup take about two weeks, where we work with you on the questions, audience segments, and communication plan. Fielding runs two to three weeks depending on company size and how quickly your team responds. Analysis and reporting take three to four weeks. We adjust the timeline to fit your reporting cycle, board calendar, or merger close date when needed, and we can move faster when something urgent is driving the conversation.

A lot of clients come to us after a previous survey effort stalled. The most common reason is that the previous vendor delivered a report and ended the engagement. Sometimes the data was good, but no one translated it into specific actions, owners, or timelines. Other times the survey itself wasn’t designed around the questions leadership needed answered. We organize the work around what happens next. Leadership gets a plan with clear priorities, managers get something to do with their teams, and the survey becomes the start of the work rather than the end of it.

Yes. Our benchmark data draws from organizations across manufacturing, healthcare, nonprofits, and professional services. National benchmarks compare your scores to companies you’ll never lose talent to, which makes them interesting context but rarely a decision driver. Our benchmark compares you to the employers your people are weighing offers from across the street. For Northeast Ohio organizations, that’s a more useful read on where you stand, especially when retention or recruiting is part of the conversation.

The patterns we see most often are supervisor effectiveness, recognition, communication from senior leadership, and growth and development. Compensation surfaces less often than people expect, and when it does, the conversation usually centers on fairness and transparency rather than absolute pay levels. Industry shifts things at the edges. Manufacturing engagement scores tend to hinge on supervisor skill and front-line communication. Healthcare scores often track to workload and recognition. Nonprofits trend toward mission alignment and growth opportunities. Supervisor effectiveness sits at the top across nearly every Northeast Ohio organization we work with, which is why most of our action plans start there.