Thriving employees in a global organisation

In 2021, De Heus conducted its first global employee survey, involving De Heus global head office and 18 business units/countries. “This extensive scope allowed us to identify where things are going well and indicated where there’s room for improvement, down to team level in every country.” All employees within De Heus were asked to fill in a questionnaire related to commitment, engagement, satisfaction, employership, customer focus, leadership & efficiency. “From factory workers, farm specialists and feed formulators to purchasers, finance managers and senior directors.”

The survey was anonymous, to remove possible barriers for any feedback employees might have and included open-ended questions. Effectory, a Dutch agency specialised in employee surveys, developed the survey. “By working together with a third party, data was collected using an objective scientific measuring method and weighted against external international benchmarks.”

All themes score very well at De Heus level, however, there are differences between countries and teams. “The feedback we received reflects the challenges of our growing organisation,” Eleveld says.

“We notice that the culture of a country can influence the scoring within certain topics, such as leadership, management, cooperation and communication. That’s very understandable and provides relevant insights on improvement areas.” This global approach delivered employee feedback from all levels within the company and valuable information for global management, but even more so for the business units and teams. “This factual data shows managers opportunities for empowering their employees, in their current positions and in achieving their future ambitions within the company,” says Eleveld. But also employee feedback for improving work processes, communication and leadership styles. “Valuable input for implementing relevant interventions to improve employee experiences, processes and collaboration. Which ultimately enables us to help our customers even better.” By taking this feedback into account, together with cultural aspects and developments within their businesses, managers can create tailormade and practical approaches that tune into employees’ personal needs. “An intervention to improve team communication or work-life balance might be needed in some teams, whereas other departments want to focus on implementing tools to improve their processes and become more efficient.”

In the coming months, the survey results will be shared with all De Heus business units down to team level. “The next step is for each team to create its own action plans, set priorities and implement interventions,” Eleveld says. “By repeating this employee survey regularly, we can measure whether these action plans have had an effect.”