People’s voices
Surveys and 360 feedback reveal patterns. Interviews, workshops and open comments help explain the experiences and ideas behind them.
OUR METHODOLOGY / CONNECTED EVIDENCE
Understand your business.
Make sense of your culture.
We combine surveys, conversations and organisational data to understand what is happening, why it matters and where to act. Our researchers and consultants help you turn findings into decisions, development and follow-up.
Explore our methodology ↓
START WITH CONTEXT
Understand the world.
Understand the workplace.
Macro context. Economic pressures, social change, industry conditions and new technology shape what people expect from work. We consider the wider world your organisation operates in before deciding what to ask.
Micro context. Your strategy, history, leadership and everyday working conditions shape how people experience the business. Interviews, frontline workshops, observation and existing evidence help us understand that local picture.
CONNECT MORE OF THE PICTURE
Different sources.
A shared starting point.
We combine survey data with interviews, workshops and business measures. Comparing experiences across roles, locations and demographic groups helps explain the overall picture.
Workforce context
HR, finance and operational measures—including retention, absence, vacancies and recruitment costs—help connect people’s experiences with business decisions.
Business relationships
Explore relationships between leaders, managers and teams, and with customers, patients, suppliers and other stakeholders. Observed behaviour and operational measures add to the evidence.
Clear themes. Shared understanding. A shared starting point.
A QUESTION WORTH EXPLORING
Where trust is lower,
is turnover higher?
Compare team-level trust scores with retention, absence or recruitment measures. Interviews and comments help explore possible explanations and choose useful follow-up questions.
A correlation alone does not establish cause. Reported perceptions are considered separately from verified events.
FOUR PHASES. TWELVE STEPS.
A clear framework.
Applied with judgement.
A clear structure
Our research follows 12 steps across four connected phases. Explore what happens at each stage.
Judgement in context
Professional judgement and common sense keep the work relevant to your organisation and its decisions.
People involved throughout
Clear communication explains the purpose, encourages participation and shows people how their feedback will be used.
PHASE 01Discovery1 Review · 2 Workshops · 3 Strategy and plan
- Review
Review existing evidence, stakeholder perceptions, risks and priorities in their wider business and organisational context.
- Workshops
Hear from leaders and a cross-section of colleagues to explore everyday experiences and the questions behind them.
- Strategy and plan
Agree the scope, objectives, timeline, measures of success and communication approach.
PHASE 02Design4 Co-create questions · 5 Set up and test · 6 Communications
- Co-create questions
Shape the questions around your values, relationships, roles and demographic groups, with suitable benchmarks and room for open feedback.
- Set up and test
Configure the survey, reporting and access, then test the experience before launch.
- Communications
Plan clear communications around your workforce, using appropriate channels and language, leader briefings and guidance. Explain the purpose, confidentiality arrangements, how to take part and what will happen next.
PHASE 03Run7 Launch · 8 Close and validate · 9 Analyse and report
- Launch
Launch the research, monitor participation, share updates and support respondents across the agreed workforce.
- Close and validate
Check participation, validate the data and prepare comments for thematic and sentiment analysis.
- Analyse and report
Connect quantitative and qualitative findings, explore differences and deliver clear reports and dashboards.
PHASE 04Report & action10 Coach · 11 Plan · 12 Review
- Coaching and feedback
Discuss the findings with leaders and teams, using context and different perspectives to build shared understanding.
- Action plans
Agree team-level and organisation-wide priorities, with clear responsibilities and review points for each action.
- Continuous feedback
Use follow-up research and agreed measures to review change. Communicate progress, share strengths and clarify priorities and accountability for further development.
INTERNAL & EXTERNAL BENCHMARKING
Compare meaningfully.
Interpret thoughtfully.
Internal benchmarks help you compare experiences across teams, functions and locations, identify successful practices and review change over time.
External benchmarks provide a wider perspective, including relevant industry and organisational comparisons. We consider differences in questions, workforces and circumstances so those comparisons inform useful decisions.
Our researchers, academic partners and consultants bring the evidence together, challenge assumptions and help you choose priorities. Benchmarks guide interpretation alongside the context and quality of the available data.
Meet the people behind the researchOUTPUTS YOU CAN USE
Clear outputs.
Practical follow-through.
Easy-to-use dashboards
Power BI dashboards and visual reports help authorised users compare feedback across functions, locations, roles and demographic groups. Sentiment analysis helps organise open comments into themes for our researchers to interpret.
Access matched to responsibility
We agree reporting access and confidentiality safeguards with you. Where suitable data is available, findings can be considered alongside HR, finance, customer, patient or supplier data.
Conversations that support action
Feedback sessions, coaching and workshops help teams decide what to do next. Depending on the programme, learning resources and action tracking can support that work; we can also train your internal coaches and facilitators.
See how we supported Abellio’s internal coachesReview points, pulse surveys and agreed business measures help you see what is changing. Share what works, address remaining gaps and keep action owners accountable.
PLANNING THE WORK
Fit the work to your organisation.
Careful data management is part of the research design. We agree the information needed, access and reporting rules, and retention arrangements for each project.
Is it the right time to implement an insight programme?
Start when the findings can inform a decision or change. We consider wider pressures, recent events and everyday working conditions so the research reflects what your organisation is facing.
How do we scope work across a large organisation?
Agree the decisions to support, the business areas involved and the relevant roles, locations and reporting groups. Define language, access and communication requirements before the research is designed.
Can we use evidence we already have?
Yes. Discovery can include existing surveys, people information and relevant business measures. We check their suitability and quality before deciding what additional research is needed.
How do you protect data and confidentiality?
We agree access for each organisational level and role, minimum reporting-group sizes and the handling of open comments. These safeguards are particularly important when filtering results or connecting research with HR, finance and other business data.
Where appropriate, pseudonymisation replaces identifiers with codes and keeps the linking information separately protected. Pseudonymised data remains personal data where it can be linked back to someone. Anonymisation requires the risk of identifying a person to be sufficiently remote; removing a name alone is not enough.
Project scoping also considers your information-security requirements, including relevant controls informed by ISO/IEC 27001. Data handling, retention and delivery arrangements are agreed before work begins.
Can we start with part of the organisation?
Yes. Define the question and relevant leadership groups, business units or locations first. Agree the scope and sequence around the decision and the evidence needed.
YOUR QUESTION. OUR STARTING POINT.
What do you need
to understand?
Explore your priorities through a free, friendly 30-minute initial consultation.
Book a free consultation ↗