Our expertise and experience
We use qualitative and ethnographic research to gather authentic employee perspectives on a range of important topics. These are all examples of services where real chats with people unearthed a lot more than the surveys ever could, and having a trained researcher facilitate active conversation got people to open up about what they really think, feel and do.
Employee value proposition
Our research was foundational to creating an award-winning employee value proposition for one of Scotland’s biggest whisky companies. We spent time on-site with front-line workers to get their opinions on what it meant to work at the company, why they chose to work there and what made it a special place to work. That in-depth, qualitative research fed into an award-winning EVP narrative that became a cornerstone of the company’s culture and people strategy.
Internal communications audits and insights
We’ve cut our teeth on conducting qualitative research for internal communications audits for a wide range of organisations of all shapes and sizes.
We’ve designed, conducted and analysed IC sights for Russell Group universities to FTSE100 bulwarks in sectors ranging from consultancy and accounting to pharmaceuticals and health-tech.
While we follow an established framework and structure, every IC audit we do is tailored to your organisation, your audiences and your needs, whether we’re working with multiple audiences (as in a university) or we’re working with front-line, offline employees.
We’ll help you understand how people really use, perceive and interact with your internal communications beyond the typical engagement survey data.
Values development and testing
Authentic company values start with listening to your people, not just having your leaders choose them among themselves without any other input. We’ve participated in dozens of focus groups and interviews to develop and then test values for a global gaming giant, a FTSE100 leader and one of Scotland’s leading whisky companies.
DEI Insights
What does it feel like to work at a company, especially as someone from an underrepresented background?
That’s a question best answered in a conversation, not a line on a survey. But that’s exactly the conversation we had with dozens of employees in a global financial company, where we explored and unpacked what DEI looked and felt like to different employees across different regions.
We’ll never forget one of the most powerful moments we’ve experienced when an Asian-American man said in one of our sessions: “This conversation is the first time in my career I’ve felt seen and heard and that I can share how it really feels to work here as an Asian man.”
Organisational culture
Culture is a tricky topic to engage and articulate at any time, but it’s even more urgent when you have new leaders or in an M&A situation where you’re merging two distinct organisations. We’ve done qualitative research to explore strengths, weaknesses and variations in these types of situations for companies in financial services and technology.
Team dynamics
One of the projects we’re proudest of involved doing on-site team ethnography, where we got to know and spend time with an internal communications team at a leading bank.
Although the team was initially suspicious of our presence, everything changed within the first hour after we chatted to one of the team and she stood up and exclaimed: “Guys! He’s not here to spy on us! He’s here to be our therapist!”
We spent that time getting an up-close and hands-on look at how the team worked with each other, their stakeholders and others in their organisation.
They showed us their pain points, their barriers to great work, and even when and where they might clash or overlap with other team members.
Combined with the views of their stakeholders and leaders at the bank, we helped the IC team reimagine, reinvent and reposition itself to do its best work, removing barriers, optimising processes and managing duplication and friction among and beyond the team.