Over the last 18 months, Swyftx Head of People and Culture Colin Steenvoort has built the Swyftx HR, people, and culture function from the ground up while the company was growing fast. “Crypto took a big leap last year, and we acquired another business, so we had exponential growth. At the same time, we found ourselves in a fight for talent with other tech companies.
“We have a really fun, engaging culture,” Steenvoort continues. “But trying to bring people on at pace and still maintain that culture was a massive challenge. We needed to know if people were really happy and, if not, why not—and we needed to give our leaders that data.”
We’ve already used the first eight months of Workday Peakon Employee Voice data to make significant changes to the business.
Head of People and Culture
Improving retention by changing reward and recognition.
Swyftx deployed Workday Peakon Employee Voice so it could continuously listen to its employees and take action before small issues turned into big problems. “Two of the first pillars that came up were reward and recognition,” recalls Steenvoort. “A lot of people had questions about how pay was determined. So we overhauled our salary structure and deliberately made it extremely visible, while making sure we were in a high percentile in the market.
“We looked at our bands and reviewed literally everyone in the business,” Steenvoort continues. Turned out some people were on par, but some were not—so we fixed it. We also offered an employee stock ownership plan to align people with our long-term vision. These actions, catalyzed by Workday Peakon Employee Voice, have made a big difference. The scores of those two pillars are now where we want them to be.”
Now we can listen when problems are in the early stages and act before things get out of control.
Head of People and Culture
Creating a comfortable environment where people can speak up.
According to Steenvoort, all employees—even those who are new or hesitant—are happy to voice their concerns using Workday Peakon Employee Voice. “If you don’t feel comfortable talking to your leader or you’re new to the business, this platform gives you a safe and confidential space where you will be heard.”
Steenvoort says that Swyftx has seen a behavior change, especially in its large cohort of new hires, in that people are now confident to speak up early. “It used to be that we didn’t hear about problems until people were through their probation period. With Workday Peakon Employee Voice, we actually get feedback from people within their first three months. Also now everyone knows that when they voice a concern, things get changed so more people are speaking up.”
Swyftx finds great value in being able to hear the employee voice, especially in times of economic uncertainty. Steenvoort says, “During difficult times, it’s been important for us to have a platform where people can continue to voice themselves.”
We have regular catch-ups with managers to talk about the data and help them be better leaders.
Head of People and Culture
Benchmarking to stay in the top 10% of global peers.
As Swyftx explores global expansion, Steenvoort believes that Workday Peakon Employee Voice will become increasingly important. “We want to make sure the culture is similar but adaptable to cultural differences. Workday Peakon Employee Voice will tell us what we need to change or do to make the business work in a different country.”
Steenvoort is a big fan of the benchmarking capability in Workday Peakon Employee Voice, which compares a company’s engagement levels to other businesses within the same sector. “Workday Peakon Employee Voice shows us how we do compared to similar businesses across the world. We’re already very close to that top 10. Workday Peakon will tell us what we need to do to get there and stay there, and continue to be an employer of choice.”