New Tech

Benchmark Report 2016

www.cultureamp.com
Whats New in 2016

Since our first report in 2013, the annual New Tech Benchmark Report has
become an important resource for people geeks within and outside the
New Tech industry. Our 2016 report presents insights taken from our
research with over 60,000 New Tech employees from over 150 companies
Some of the primary questions we sought to address in the report are:
Has engagement changed in the last year?

How does engagement in New Tech companies compare with

New Tech
companies are
employee engagement in professional services companies?
in 2015.
disruptive. They
What separates the most engaged companies from the
Our ongoing work with many of the worlds fastest-growing disruptive
least engaged? are internet-
technology companies and some of the worlds most talented employees
uniquely places us to provide quality data and insights. What is driving engagement across New Tech companies? based or focused
How does role, gender, age and tenure affect engagement?
on creating New
Technologies.
What are people in New Tech companies talking about?

This New Tech Benchmark Report 2016 is the first in a series of reports which
will be released this year. Upcoming reports will explore links between
employee feedback (including text analytics) and other business metrics
together with further analyses of role, gender, tenure and age diversity in
New Tech companies. Well also be releasing, for the first time, Benchmark
Reports for Hospitality & Retail; and Professional Services. Were proud to be
working more and more with industries outside New Tech and excited about
helping people geeks in these industries to improve employee engagement.

www.cultureamp.com People Analytics from New Tech companies 2016 | New Tech Benchmark Report 2
Whether youre a New Tech company or from another industry, the
New Tech Benchmark Report 2016 is relevant reading. Understanding trends
across the board can help organizations understand how their data scores
compare with other companies in their industry. A finding we see confirmed
over and over again in individual client work is that the factors influencing
engagement and retention can differ greatly from workplace to workplace,
however aggregated and anonymized data can reveal some interesting
trends, as youll see in this years report.
We hope the report is of use to you and your company. If our team at
Culture Amp can be of assistance, please get in touch.
Jason McPherson Buddhi Jayatilleke
Chief People Geek Scientist Lead Data Scientist
Culture Amp Culture Amp
www.cultureamp.com
people geek /pi:pel gi:k/
(noun)
A People Person typically found in People Operations,
Recruitment or Leadership who gets excited about how
data and insights can drive a better place to work in.
At Culture Amp weve been using the term people geek
for many years. To us, people geeks are people who spend
their days enabling others. People geeks use technology
to do this. Since we started Culture Amp, more and more
sources, data and analytics have become available to help
people geeks help people. Were here to help you source
data, analyze it, and measure the impact of your actions.
People Analytics from New Tech companies 2016 | New Tech Benchmark Report 3
Anatomy of a New Tech company

At Culture Amp were lucky to work with some of the worlds leading New number of employees
Tech companies. Many of these companies are experiencing rapid growth.
Its fantastic to see them put the same focus on constantly improving their Average no. of employees Weve witnessed

400 75% 100

approach to culture and people that they do on other areas of their business.
have how powerful data
Weve witnessed how powerful data can be in enabling some of the worlds
best thinkers to understand what makes their employees engaged. Using
more can be in enabling
than
this data, companies can make adjustments and measure the impact of their some of the worlds
initiatives constantly improving or correcting their course. employee headcount growth best thinkers
Many other technology benchmarks are based on results from large to understand

35%
Average 6 monthly employee growth The top 10% are growing
established technology manufacturers and some are even based on panel what makes their
samples of people who indicate they work at a technology company.
Culture Amps benchmark data is based on real company data collected
with samples that have an average participation rate of 87%.
55%
every 6 months
employees engaged.

The top 5% are growing

70%
Participation in our benchmarks is completely confidential with only
aggregated and de-identified data used for benchmarking. You can see the
types of customers we work with on our website: www.cultureamp.com. every 6 months

survey response rates

87% 90%
Average 30% of surveys had a

response rate or higher

www.cultureamp.com People Analytics from New Tech companies 2016 | New Tech Benchmark Report 4
Anatomy of a New Tech company

total funding other external ratings

$115M 1.5M 8B+

Average

* #
Average Glassdoor
Overall Rating 3.9
to Average Mattermark
Growth Score* 927
*This is a trimmed average to remove the
influence of extreme outliers
#Based only on companies with known funding
and not including unfunded companies Average Mattermark Mindshare Score*
312
years since founded and stage (N.B. Glassdoor average is 3.3)

Average age Younger than 6 years Younger than 10 years

8.5 25% 70%

30% STAGE A, B C are
at or

20% IPO
Data is sourced from a subset of Culture Amp clients who fit the New Tech description. All
Late Stage companies provided consent for data to be used anonymously and in return have access to Culture

30%
have Amp benchmark data. All data was collected in 2015 and only includes companies with 25 or more
exited employees. Growth and Total Funding information has been sourced from Mattermark.
via *Visit www.support.mattermark.com/13622-Scores/growth-score and www.mattermark.com/
or acquisition
mattermark-score/ for more details on these metrics.

www.cultureamp.com People Analytics from New Tech companies 2016 | New Tech Benchmark Report 5
What's Changed

ENGAGEMENT ENGAGEMENT SCORES Engagement score

Engagement (as an outcome metric) encapsulates some of the key There are a few different ways that
75%
positive psychological outcomes most companies want for their people. 71% 71% Engagement and other survey scores are
Engagement Score
What company leader doesnt want employees to recommend them, feel commonly calculated and presented. This
2013 2014 2015
motivated and proud, and be focused on staying with the company? can cause a great deal of confusion when
recommend we are making comparisons between
Taking a look at the overall trends in New Tech company engagement 86%
83% 83% results from different sources.
scores allows us to see what motivates employees to become engaged or Would recommend Hooli*
as a great place to work
disengaged. It can also flag when there is an overall shift in the employment At Culture Amp we recommend using
market or employee expectations. simple and transparent methods so
motivation 73% scores can be readily understood and
From 2013 to 2014 we noted a 4% drop in overall Engagement scores, which 70% 69%
Motivated to go beyond replicated. We ask questions using a five
was primarily due to a significant drop of 12% in employees who could see what they would elsewhere
point scale and the top two responses
themselves with their company for a further two years. However, things
represent agreement and strong
appear to have stabilized over the last 12 months we found the largest
pride 89% agreement. The scores simply represent
drop was only 2% and the overall Engagement benchmark was essentially 87% 88%
Proud to work for Hooli the percentage of people who have
unchanged. Of course these averages hide the fact that some companies
agreed or strongly agreed.
did much better than this and some far worse, which well explore later in
this report. present commitment
58% 58% 56%
Not thinking about looking
for a job elsewhere

70%
future commitment
Can see themselves still at
Hooli in two years time 58% 57%

*Note on Hooli. Hooli is a fictional New Tech company made famous in the HBO TV parody Silicon
Valley. www.hbo.com/silicon-valley/about

Hooli isnt just another high-tech company. Hooli isnt just about software. Hooli Hooli is about
people. Hooli is about innovative technology that makes a difference. Transforming the world as we
know it, making the world a better place through minimal message-oriented transport layers. I firmly
believe we can only achieve greatness if first we achieve goodness. Gavin Belson, CEO, Hooli

www.cultureamp.com People Analytics from New Tech companies 2016 | New Tech Benchmark Report 6
NEGATIVE SCORE CHANGES POSITIVE SCORE CHANGES

There were only two standout score drops in the year-on-year data. The
largest drop was for perceptions of whether resources were being directed
effectively or not. More and more this question is proving to have an impact
on engagement scores and it is also often found to be a lead indicator of
company performance. These types of questions are designed as a form of
crowd-sourcing or on-the-ground people intelligence. Working to improve
these scores can also improve company performance.
The next largest drop related to beliefs in the genuineness of companys
social responsibility initiatives. Walking the talk when it comes to your
social responsibility commitments is essential. It may be worth revisiting
your communications strategy to ensure that your people are aware of your
companys actions to meet its social responsibilities.
There were two questions with a change of +3% or more. The first indicated
that people were 5% more likely to feel they were supported in the use of
flexible working arrangements. This question moved up from an already
fairly high level of 75% to 80% approval. Similarly, the second question,
relating to improved ratings for managers keeping people informed, moved
up from 74% to 77%. Interestingly we often find these questions are not
flagged as high-impact questions in terms of increasing engagement levels.
One interpretation is that support for flexible working arrangements and
being kept informed is becoming normal in New Tech companies so
performing well in this area is not considered an advantage.

Largest negative score changes Largest positive score changes

-6% -3% +5% 80%

+3%
77%
75%
74%
61% 61%

58%
55%

2014 2015 2014 2015 2014 2015 2014 2015

Believe Hooli effectively directs Believe Hoolis commitment to Feel they are genuinely supported Manager keeps them informed
resources towards company goals social responsibility (e.g. community if they make use of flexible working about what is happening
(funding, people and effort) support, sustainability, etc.) arrangements

www.cultureamp.com People Analytics from New Tech companies 2016 | New Tech Benchmark Report 7
Key Drivers of Engagement

We encourage people geeks to view the strongest drivers of engagement in KEY DRIVERS OF ENGAGEMENT IN NEW TECH
their companies as a group rather than focusing exclusively on the top drivers.
This is because, regardless of ranking, any of these factors can drastically position question
increase or decrease engagement levels in a company. With our relative Believe that Hooli is a great company for
dataset we were able to apply statistical techniques to identify the commonly 1 their development
found themes of Learning and Development, Leadership and a third factor,
Believe there are good career
which we have recently started exploring, termed Impact and Honesty. 2 opportunities for them at Hooli
3 Have confidence in the leaders at Hooli
See the leaders at Hooli demonstrate
4 that people are important to the
companys success
Believe that Hooli allows them to make a
5 positive difference
Driver analysis is a family of statistical
techniques used to determine how
factor strongly variables are related to each
learning and other. In the Culture Amp platform, every
development individuals responses (to every question)
are statistically compared with how they
learning and
development
respond to the engagement questions
to determine which questions are most
leadership strongly related to overall engagement.
Importantly, the things a company
does very well, or not very well, are not
leadership
necessarily the things that determine how
engaged employees are.
impact and
honesty

Feel happy with their current role relative learning and

6 to what was described to them development

Hoolis leaders have communicated a

7 vision that motivates them
leadership

See day-to-day decisions demonstrating

impact and
8 that quality and improvement are top
honesty
priorities

Believe Hooli is in a position to really

9 succeed over the next three years
leadership

Experience open and honest two-way impact and

10 communication at Hooli honesty

www.cultureamp.com People Analytics from New Tech companies 2016 | New Tech Benchmark Report 8
Key Drivers of Engagement

To further understand what makes people feel this way about their Learning And Development
companies we need to analyze the factors that impact or drive engagement.
Learning and Development opportunities remain a high priority for
To understand what makes people more or less engaged in New Tech
employees. This is regularly reflected in the data we prepare for clients.
companies we analyzed data for 48 separate benchmarked driver questions
Importantly, although one of the questions refers to career opportunities
(across over 150 New Tech companies and 60,000 people) to find the most
within the company (position 2), the other two questions (1 and 6) dont
consistent drivers of engagement. We then factor analyzed the top ten
necessarily simply involve promotion. Providing an environment where
drivers to determine the primary factors or themes driving engagement.
people can develop their skills and managing expectations of job scopes can
help increase employee satisfaction in these areas.

Leadership

Whilst its often reported in media that an employees direct manager has
significant impact on their job satisfaction, our analysis consistently reflects
that other drivers have more influence. How high-level leaders perform
in shaping and guiding a companys vision and mission is often more
important than the performance of the leaders people report to. Employees
in New Tech companies want leaders they trust and have confidence in (3)
and who can provide a vision that people believe in and are motivated by
(7). However, in doing these things leaders must also make sure they take
people with them and understand their importance and role in achieving
success (4).

Impact and Honesty

New Tech attracts some of the most talented and driven employees in the
world. The three Impact and Honesty factors which feature strongly in the
2015 data illustrate that satisfying the needs of employees to feel that they
are having an impact (5 and 8) and being communicated with honestly (10)
are likely to be a top priority for employees and employers going forward.

www.cultureamp.com People Analytics from New Tech companies 2016 | New Tech Benchmark Report 9
New Tech vs. Professional Services

New Tech companies continue to perform better than other companies

in having positive workplace cultures. The largest gaps in engagement New Tech 71%
Overall Engagement Score
were seen in the motivation component, with New Tech employees Professional Services 64%
substantially more likely to feel theyd go beyond for their companies (a
full 14% more than professional services employees). In line with previous
recommend
findings, the smallest gaps were seen in future commitment indicators. New New Tech 83%
Would recommend Hooli*
Tech employees scored slightly lower on this than professional services as a great place to work Professional Services 74%

employees. Once again, the data reinforces that despite the higher levels
of motivation, recommendation and pride, New Tech employees dont
necessarily intend to stay with their employers. New Tech companies will motivation
69%
have to compete and remain vigilant to retain people. Motivated to go beyond
what they would elsewhere 55%

pride 88%
Proud to work for Hooli 79%

present commitment
56%
Not thinking about looking
for a job elsewhere 52%

future commitment
57%
Can see themselves still at
58%
Hooli in two years time

In previous years we have compared New Tech companies with all other industries combined. To
mitigate the risk of comparing different types of workplaces we focused this year on comparing with
Professional Services companies. We think this contrast is interesting because we are comparing with
other types of specialists and knowledge workers with similar numbers of full-time employees.

www.cultureamp.com People Analytics from New Tech companies 2016 | New Tech Benchmark Report 10
Demographic Trends in Engagement Levels

Do role, age, gender and tenure impact engagement levels? There certainly Further research also shows that the biggest gaps for these groups QUICKTIP Some companies focus on
appear to be trends in how engaged different types of people are with the are usually on more specific topics. For example, we see engineers a single measure, such as an employee
company they work for. We shouldnt necessarily accept lower engagement are more critical of their own companies products and services and Net Promoter Score (eNPS) or employee
scores simply because they follow demographic benchmark data, but action on innovative ideas - issues that may particularly affect them. satisfaction score to ascertain their
companys performance in engaging its
context is useful. People Operations teams in contrast are far less happy with the level of
people. As you can see from our results,
communication and understanding how their work contributes to the
As youll see, marketers were the least engaged people when classified even if a good engagement score is
companys goals.
by role. This is fairly common in companies where people performing reported, there can be significant areas
these functions can be isolated, but as these groups are often small and Tenure is where we see some of the largest variations across engagement for improvement which dont present in
autonomous, results tend to vary widely and they can often have very high scores - beginning with a honeymoon period in the first three months and limited measurement.
levels of engagement too just not on average. The highest engagement then steadily declining until reaching a bottom somewhere between two Its a good idea to not rely on a single
was found amongst people in People Operations which is understandable and six years, with a slight recovery at around 10+years. What this means eNPS or satisfaction outcome question,
considering their focus on engagement. is that age and indeed many other factors are intimately tied up with these but to complement this with other
tenure-based impacts. questions on topics such as pride,
Engagement by Function
motivation and commitment. As well as
People Operations 74% < 3 months 85% providing a broader outcome measure,
using more than one question also
Support 71% 3-6 months 79% increases statistical reliability.
Sales 70% 6-12 months 74%

68% 1-2 years 67%

Engineering
2-4 years 62%
Legal/Finance 68%
4-6 years 62%
Marketing 64%
6-10 years 63%
10+ years 66%

www.cultureamp.com People Analytics from New Tech companies 2016 | New Tech Benchmark Report 11
Demographic Trends in Engagement Levels

Engagement by Age Group Engagement by Gender

Despite reports in the media that millennials are much unhappier at work
than other generations* our data suggests that the situation is not really
that simple. 18-24 year olds are actually more engaged than 25-34 year olds
and neither of these groups is really that different from the 35-44 year old
group. There appears to be a slight increase in engagement levels once we
hit the 45 year old plus groups but all of these results are also somewhat
muddied by the affect of tenure.
Although there were only minimal gender differences in overall Engagement
levels, this can often mask the existence of substantive differences in other
areas. This is true for any overall group comparison. For example, looking
into the gender data we can identify areas where there are more substantive
differences in responses from males and females most noticeably in the
three questions in the graph relating to recognition, honest communication
and fair distribution of work.

18-24 70% Females to Male Gap difference

67%
-2
Female
25-34 67% Engagement Score
Male 69%
35-44 69%
45-54 73%
Generally, the right
55-64 73% people are rewarded and
Female
Male
46%
55%
-9
65+ recognized at Hooli
75%

At Hooli there is open

and honest two-way
57%
66%
-9
communication

Workloads are divided fairly

among people where I work
56%
64%
-8

* e.g. http://www.inc.com/peter-economy/why-are-millennials-so-unhappy-at-work.html

www.cultureamp.com People Analytics from New Tech companies 2016 | New Tech Benchmark Report 12
What Difference Does it Make?

We know that employee engagement impacts productivity and retention, The biggest gaps in their Culture Amp scores
and is often an indicator that the business is underperforming overall but
what is the real difference between the success of companies with the most
Effectively directing resources
towards company goals
Top 10%
Bottom 10% 32%
77%
+45
and least engaged employees?

+39
88%
We took a look at some trends and as you can see, companies with scores Leaders who inspire confidence
49%
in the top 10% of engagement scores significantly outperformed those with
the bottom 10% of engagement scores. Whether the engagement scores Leaders that demonstrate
are a result of underperformance, or underperformance a result of lack of people are important to the
companys success 49%
85%
+36
engagement remains to be seen, but in any case, its worth measuring your
companys performance and taking action to engage employees. Leaders that communicate a
motivating vision 50%
86%
+36
Top 10% vs Bottom 10% Companies

engagement score
People feel they can make a
positive difference 54%
89%
+35

91% 48% VS The smallest gaps in their Culture Amp scores

People feeling supported to

use flexible work practices
Top 10%
Bottom 10%
76%
71% +5
top 10% companies
People knowing what they
+5

80% 40%
83%
need to do to be successful in
more likely to higher 78%
their role
recommend Glassdoor
their company CEO
as a great approval
Being able to arrange time out
from work when necessary
83%
76%
+7
place to work rating

average mattermark average glassdoor

Managers that provide useful
performance feedback 62%
71%
+9
growth score satisfaction rating

1726 351 4.3 3.1

Managers that care about
VS VS peoples wellbeing 77%
88%
+11

www.cultureamp.com People Analytics from New Tech companies 2016 | New Tech Benchmark Report 13
What are New Tech Employees Saying?

The Culture Amp platform allows people to make
comments in response to specific survey questions and
respond to free text questions. In addition to survey
response data we also collect thousands of comments
every week from New Tech employees. Here are some of
the key trends we found across 500,000+ comments.
People are more likely to comment on
questions they are negative about
People who gave a negative response to a question were
around seven times more likely to provide a comment on
the question than those who were positive (11.3% versus
1.6%). The percentage of favorable scores among people
who made comments were, at an average, 57% less than
that of the population scores, across all questions.
People between two four years tenure
make the most comments
One in four people in this tenure group made at least
one comment. (The next most common frequent
commenters were people who had been at the company
for one two years with just under one in five making at
least one comment.) The most comments from people
who had been at the company for two four years were
on the question: Most people here make a good effort to
consult other staff where appropriate. They were more
negative than average in their response to this question.
Commenters in this group had the least negative scores for
the question I am proud to work for Hooli followed by
My manager genuinely cares about my wellbeing.
People comment more on tangible things
The top three questions most commented on were:
Our physical workspace is enjoyable to work in;
Most of the systems and processes here support us
getting our work done effectively; and
I believe my total compensation (base salary + any
bonuses + benefits + equity) is fair, relative to similar roles
at other companies.
Interestingly these things did not show up as key drivers of
Engagement. It seems these are more likely issues that a
certain group of people may be vocally negative about.
key trends across open comment questions

60% 2X
overall Negative comments are
The least contentious issue was pride in response
as long as
The most contentious issue was evaluation the company
rate to open
positive
comment
of job performance questions comments
The question with the smallest score difference compared
The question with the largest negative score difference to the overall benchmark score was: I am proud to work for
among commenters, compared to the overall benchmark Hooli with 19% less favorable answers than the average. Our two most commonly used open text questions
score was: My job performance is evaluated fairly with
Are there some Are there some
53% less favorable answers than the average. Female respondents are more likely things we are things we are not
to comment doing great here? doing so great here?
21% of the female respondents and 17% of the male
respondents made a comment on a question.

www.cultureamp.com People Analytics from New Tech companies 2016 | New Tech Benchmark Report 14
Understanding Trends in Comments

We use statistical clustering techniques to analyze and group open comments

into common themes. However, to provide proper context for comments
we always link these to quantitative survey data so that we can more fully
understand the context of the group of people who are commenting this is

Love the culture,
love how much we Care
Energy
Hours

where text analytics becomes a powerful addition to your survey data. We can
care about working
Open
Feel
Meetings Goals
then more fully understand the likely sentiment and associated trends behind Friendly Flexibility

the comments. together well Activities Departments

Helps

Heres an example of what we found for our two most commonly used open - sample comment from the people, place Best
and culture cluster Happy
text questions. Helpful Personal

Team Valued

Proud Smart
Environment

Are there some things we are doing great here? Place Enjoy Atmosphere
Whole
Comments about people, place and culture made up the largest cluster Culture
Believe Balance

(20% of the responses) when people were asked what their company Fact

Important
was doing great. People who commented on this question also had more Family
Group

Leadership
Fun
positive responses to survey questions overall. Positive
Work
Easy
Helping Big
Genuinely

Nice
Informed
People Staff
Social

Together
Value
Home
Values Community
World

Awesome
Hard Office
Love
Fantastic High
Coworkers
Building Most frequent terms found
Mission in people, place and culture
Excited question comments cluster.
Everyone
Different Members

Amazing
Wonderful

Transparency Appreciate
www.cultureamp.com Events Truly
Life
New Tech Benchmark Report 15
Management
Understanding Trends in Comments

Respondents were particularly positive about things such as poor

performance being addressed and social accountability (see chart).
The other main comment clusters we identified related to business
direction, hiring processes, product, communication, benefits and training
opportunities. Clearly some companies are getting these things right for
many people.

People, Place And Culture Comment Cluster

When it is clear that someone is not

delivering in their role we do something
Cluster Score
Benchmark 48%
66%
+18
about it

Hooli's commitment to social responsibility 74% Place

(e.g. community support, sustainability,
etc.) is genuine 58% +16 Culture

73%
+16
I see myself still working at Hooli in two
years' time 57%

We are genuinely supported if we

choose to make use of flexible working
93%
+13 People
arrangements 80%

I am happy with my current role relative to

what was described to me 72%
84%
+12
Areas where people who made comments on the 'people, place
and culture' cluster were most positive relative to people who
didn't comment on questions in this cluster.

www.cultureamp.com People Analytics from New Tech companies 2016 | New Tech Benchmark Report 16
Understanding Trends in Comments

Are there some things we are not doing so great here?

The largest comment cluster for this question was centered around
management and leadership (21% of the responses). Importantly, the

We are not data
focused enough Experience
Processes
Sales

use of the term management was more often, but not always, referring to Talent

higher management or leadership at a broader level than referring to the and decisions are Level Leaders
respondent's immediate manager.
based more on Members Staff
Process

what management Find

thinks
Growth Important
Getting Difficult
Less

Bad
Believe Trust
- sample comment from the management Best
Manager
Told
and leadership cluster Top
Right
Clear
Positions
Structure Project
Number
Leads

Management Knowledge
Feels
Feedback
Goals
Times Last Leadership
Communication
Help

Senior Example Certain

Little
QUICKTIP We recommend allowing respondents the opportunity to
Current

Enough
add comments to the quantitative survey questions as well as asking Place Resources Hire
Team
open-ended questions. This ensures that people can provide targeted
Understand
thoughts prompted by quantitative questions (which are then linked to
these responses) and that they can provide further comments and or Culture
Poor
Role
Focus
tackle additional topics at the end of the survey. With these open-ended Years
Meetings
comment questions we recommend asking people something open but Position
Most frequent terms found in
specific to get the best response rates and richer comments. For example, Given Support management and leadership
youll get a richer data if you ask Is there one thing we could do to Decision Hiring Lead
comment cluster

improve? versus asking if they have any additional comments. Doesnt

Business
Direction

Different Everyone
Move Lack Issues

www.cultureamp.com Organisation New Tech Benchmark Report 17

Department
Arent Hard
Understanding Trends in Comments

People who commented on questions in the 'management and leadership'

cluster were more likely to give lower scores for leadership questions as
opposed to immediate manager questions (see chart below).

The other main clusters identified related to product, culture and office,
compensation, communication, goals and vision, career development and
training opportunities.

Management and Leadership Comment Cluster

-13
I would recommend Hooli as a great place Cluster Score 70%
to work Benchmark 83%

At Hooli there is open and honest two-

-12
56%
way communication 68%

-11
The leaders at Hooli have communicated 58%
a vision that motivates me 69% Management
The leaders at Hooli demonstrate that Leadership
-9
64%
people are important to the company's
success 73%

I have confidence in the leaders at Hooli

67%
75%
-8
Areas where people who commented on questions in the
'management and leadership' cluster were most negative relative
to people who did not comment on questions in that cluster.

www.cultureamp.com People Analytics from New Tech companies 2016 | New Tech Benchmark Report 18
Trends for 2016
As New Tech companies evolve and understand the value of engaging
people, weve been thrilled to see how leaders use data in decision making.
Finally the overwhelming feeling of analysis paralysis is subsiding and were
seeing companies use surveys and data as part of a measured approach to
improvement across the board.
There are five major trends weve seen arise that we anticipate will continue
into 2016.
www.cultureamp.com
1. Companies are responding to results with a sense of urgency. They are taking
action to correct or improve results and re-measuring to understand whether
theyve hit their target.
2. Theyre designing better surveys and using the results. Theres less continuous
pulsing and single-question type surveys (e.g. single eNPS surveys) and more
surveys tailored to the task so that the feedback received is used. While getting
ongoing feedback can be useful and fun at times, we found in the past that some
organizations didnt have time to utilize the insights and that respondents could
tire of responding when they were unsure what was happening with the data.
3. Companies are using a mix of different surveys throughout the yearly cycle and
using their results to drive the content of the surveys. A common mix is an annual
engagement survey followed by pulse surveys focusing on questions set aside
for action and additional questions to understand the topic and feedback on
the actions chosen. Were also seeing these pulses coupled with topical survey
elements on other initiatives. These approaches help keep the survey programme
alive as part of an intelligent conversation with people.
4. We are also seeing a welcome rise in companies providing creative ways in which
their people can become part of providing input and ideas for responding to
the survey results. These companies view surveys as just a part of the way that
the organization uses feedback to learn. They see working and experimenting
together on how to utilise feedback is itself a meaningful and positive experience
for the organization.
5. The final trend, mentioned last year also, is companies looking to understand the
relationship between survey data and other workforce data such as retention,
performance ratings, training attendance, customer satisfaction and sales.
People Analytics from New Tech companies 2016 | New Tech Benchmark Report 19
Putting it all Together for Your Company
We hope our New Tech Benchmark Report 2016 has been informative. Weve
certainly enjoyed putting it together and reflecting on the lessons learned
from all of the data collected and analyzed in 2015.
Whilst many lessons can be taken from this data, its important to note that
we are constantly reminded that each company we work with has different
data what is very important to employees at one organization can often
be less important to employees at the next. The purpose of Culture Amp
is to give people geeks all of the information and insights they need to
understand where their company stands, where there are red flags and how
the impact of actions taken can be measured.
Benchmark data is important in understanding where your company sits
against its competitors but your unique company data will be most
important in informing your strategy. Culture Amp clients have access to
a range of finer grained benchmarks and data to help them contextualize
what is happening within their company in greater detail.
How do you compare?
www.cultureamp.com/benchmark2016
www.cultureamp.com
About the Authors
Dr Jason McPherson, B.Psych(Honors), PhD
Customers will Jason has been using, designing and analyzing surveys for over
15 years, and his research has been published in the American
never love a Psychological Associations key methodology journals. Previously
company until a founding member of the workplace survey team of Kenexa
Australia and APAC Research Consultant for Towers Watson,
the employees Jason has a PhD in Psychology and has experience in cognitive
love it first assessments as well as survey statistics and methodologies.
@simonsinek
Dr Buddhi Jayatilleke, PhD
Prior to Culture Amp, Buddhi was a Senior Research Fellow for
a government-funded big data project extracting information
from Twitter streams using advanced text analytics. Buddhi holds
a PhD in Computer Science and a Master of Software Systems
Engineering. Buddhi brings in over 10 years of experience in
applied research, having designed and developed software for
enterprise search, e-commerce and mobile applications. Buddhis
academic research has covered intelligent software agents, text
mining and predictive analytics.
People Analytics from New Tech companies 2016 | New Tech Benchmark Report 20