foresee makes measuring the employee experience palatable for

CASE STUDY
| SUR LA TABLE
FORESEE MAKES MEASURING
THE EMPLOYEE EXPERIENCE
PALATABLE FOR
“In terms of the information
we received and the level of
support they gave us, I would
give ForeSee really, really
high marks.”
MORE WORKFORCE INSIGHT, LESS EFFORT
Mary Jensen
Vice President of Human Resources
Sur La Table
Hungry to understand how engaged their employees were with Sur La Table and how their
employees’ relationship with their work was impacting productivity, the company’s Human
Resources team wanted to embark on an initiative to measure the employee experience.
Sur La Table offers serious cooks an unsurpassed selection of culinary tools from around the
world, including exclusive and hard-to-find items, as well as a highly regarded cooking class
program. Based in Seattle since 1972, today this retailer has more than 100 stores across
America, and its website and catalog are viewed by millions of people each year.
“I was reluctant, though,” admits Sur La Table Vice President of Human Resources Mary
Jensen, “mostly because of bandwidth issues. I was concerned about overloading my staff.”
Sur La Table moved forward, however, partnering with ForeSee. “I’m glad we did it. In terms of
the information we received and the level of support they gave us, I would give ForeSee really,
really high marks.”
WWW.FORESEE.COM
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EMPLOYEE EXPERIENCE ANALYTICS
CASE STUDY | FORESEE MAKES MEASURING THE EMPLOYEE EXPERIENCE PALATABLE FOR SUR LA TABLE
PARTNERSHIP—
A RECIPE FOR SUCCESS
“Some surveys give you data that is very vague or very broad …. But
the information our ForeSee Analyst prepared for us is very actionable.”
ForeSee worked with the retailer to measure
the engagement of the company’s 175
corporate office employees. Using ForeSee,
Sur La Table benefitted not only from relying
on a proven measurement methodology, but
also from having access to a dedicated, expert
Employee Experience Analyst who worked
as an extension of their team—from survey
development and deployment to results
interpretation and reporting.
Todd Bralczyk
Director of Talent Management
Sur La Table
“The experience went extremely smooth,”
reports Sur La Table Director of Talent
Management Todd Bralczyk. “Everything was
planned out. ForeSee had a project plan and a
time line and sent the survey questions fairly
early so that we could adjust them as needed.
We knew week to week what was going to
happen and who was going to do what.”
Bralczyk feels that the survey instrument itself
was helpful in gaining employee participation.
“We’ve looked at companies whose number of
survey questions ranged into the hundreds,”
he says. “To launch a survey like that would
have potentially worked against us.”
Continues Bralczyk, “Our ForeSee study was
compact—fewer than 30 questions. But
the questions focused on the critical areas
we wanted to learn about, and they were
broad enough that people felt comfortable
responding to them. I think that feature
increased the participation rate and helped
us get the information we needed.”
should focus on to drive future engagement.
It was extremely helpful for me.”
“I was pleasantly surprised that we could pull
priorities out of the data,” agrees Jensen. “We
feel we can turn them into initiatives that will
help us move the needle.” She adds, “To also
understand where we can put our efforts to
gain a higher rate of return instead of trying
to do everything or just looking at those areas
people always seem to focus on—benefits
and compensation—is really worthwhile.”
“I was pleasantly surprised
that we could pull priorities
out of the data. We feel we can
turn them into initiatives that
will help us move the needle.”
EASILY DIGESTIBLE AND
ACTIONABLE RESULTS
As part of the measurement solution, their
ForeSee Employee Experience Analyst
interpreted the data and presented findings
and strategic business recommendations
to the Sur La Table team. He also packaged
the employee engagement insights into
reports and materials to help them effectively
communicate findings with others, including
their new CEO who took office just as
employee initiatives were being planned.
“Some surveys give you data that is very
vague or very broad, and it’s hard to turn it
into actionable items,” says Bralczyk. “But
the information our ForeSee Analyst prepared
for us is very actionable. The Priority Map he
gave us showed which three key areas we
Mary Jensen
Vice President of Human Resources
Sur La Table
A big priority area uncovered by ForeSee’s
Employee Experience Measurement at Sur La
Table involves workload. Says Jensen, “One
of our first projects is to better understand
what the issues are in the departments
reporting low satisfaction in that area and to
understand the root causes of the problems.”
She continues, “I’m really glad we did this
study. ForeSee is a great partner for us.”
ABOUT FORESEE
C O N TA C T F O R E S E E
ForeSee is the pioneer and leader in Voice of Customer (VOC) solutions. We focus our rigorous analytics expertise
on helping our clients engage with customers at every interaction point, drive investment decisions using
predictive customer insights and deliver content that powers the customer experience. Our innovative SaaS
solutions from our ForeSee, Webcollage and ResellerRatings product families are used by over 650 customers in a
wide range of industries such as retail, financial services, healthcare, consumer packaged goods and government.
To learn how we can help you gain
comprehensive insights into the
employee experience, contact us at
employee.experience@answers.com.
FS-1337-1015
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EMPLOYEE EXPERIENCE ANALYTICS