100 Days of Holistic
100 days of Holistic
100 days ago, we started to work on Holistic.
At the time, all we really knew was that we wanted to build a company and a series of products that were focused on a world where data could be used to craft a more sustainable, more enjoyable, more diverse and inclusive employee experience.
So, now that we are 100 days along the process, here are some updates on what we have learned and where we are going.
Employees really ARE everything
We started with this idea that employees were more important than they’ve ever been, and that’s true, but we didn’t realize just how true it is. It turns out that the employee experience is much broader than what someone does while they are at a company. At Holistic, we start thinking about the employee experience before an employee even knows they are going to apply for the job -- with job descriptions, org charts, etc -- and continue with it until the person leaves the company and takes on alumni status.
Employee experience is broader than we thought
Employees and employers alike agree that improving things is paramount, even at good companies that are doing well. There’s a lot of will to make improvements to the employee experience and there are a lot of hard-working, thoughtful people that are spending their time working on improvements to different aspects of the employee experience. This is a great sign, and one that we hope continues.
Everybody is in search of a better dynamic
Every single company with whom we work agrees that employees are everything. Companies have a ton of data and have been very willing to deploy it to make the employee experience better. We have found some interesting things already, including that employee sentiment can change very rapidly, for better or worse. Meaning: employees want to be heard.
There are three key areas where we can help
There are three areas that we have identified as places where we can help at Holistic.
First, we believe we will be able to use data to improve the employee experience, by identifying areas of strength and weakness, by benchmarking, and by focusing on new and innovative ways to solve challenges facing companies.
Second, we can help create a more diverse, inclusive, and equitable environment. For us, any question about the employee experience is at its core a question of inclusion. That is really what we’re talking about here, how companies work to create a more equitable and fair environment.
Third, we help companies tell their side of story. The fact of the matter is there’s not a great mechanism out there right now for companies to explain what’s really going on. The vast majority of perceptions of companies come from anecdotal information, oftentimes conveyed by disgruntled people who are former employees. And yet, companies sit back and take it, because they have no mechanism to tell the truth about what’s really going on. We are solving that problem for companies and companies are excited about it.
A few last updates
So, that’s what we’ve learned. We are in the field with several pilot tests and they are going wonderfully. If you know of anybody who would benefit from a conversation about the employee experience at their company, please let us know.
We have produced a lot of content that we think will be really valuable and will further the discussion, which is a big part of our focus at Holistic: not just to work with companies but to actually move the needle on our collective thinking about these issues. This week,Technori released a podcast featuring Holistic. Please give it a listen and share. If you’re interested in other content, here’s a link to some other stuff that we have released recently:
Chicago Tribune -- 5 things you can do to improve diversity and inclusion at your company right now
Chicago Inno -- Holistic gives a 'credit score' for employee happiness
Medium -- Wanna make a difference? Hire someone who is unemployed
We are interested in partnerships and exploring other ways to bolster our offerings and expand our reach.
If you know of organizations that you think are a good fit for Holistic in any fashion, please do let us know about them we will reach out to them directly. Introductions are always appreciated, at this address: tom@holisticindex.com.
Thanks for reading. We will continue to update you on our progress and we hope that you will continue to follow along with the progress that we are making at Holistic.
Thanks,
The Holistic team