From Insight to Action: How Gorilla Glue Harnesses Employee Feedback to Make Data-Driven Decisions
Objective
Employee listening and connection, data-driven decision making
Solutions
Workplace Survey, Insights, DEI Insights, Pulse, Employer Branding
Results
Culture growth, employee connection, clear recruitment and retention improvement
A leader in the consumer goods industry, The Gorilla Glue Company stands on four pillars: brand strength, community, customers, and its people. A proud recipient of the Top Workplaces USA award and others, The Gorilla Glue Company relies on employee feedback insights for data-driven decision making and employer branding.
“Top Workplaces improves our ability to recruit talent because the employer recognition validates and reinforces our culture and credibility. We want to make sure our people have the right insights, and we’re listening to their concerns. Energage gives us a platform to see what our people are saying in a very factual, non-emotional way. We like to lead with data, giving us more facts and figures to attract talent.”
Ashley Terrell
Director, HR Business Partner at The Gorilla Glue Company
Employer recognition attracts talent and excites employees
At Gorilla Glue, employees get excited about Top Workplaces. They are eager to participate in the survey, share feedback, and take pride in our wins. Gorilla’s participation has spun into many great culture improvements. The awards celebrations have morphed into ‘Gorilla Week’, where we celebrate the organization and its culture, discuss our company values, and offer opportunities for congeniality and connection.
Many job applications come from word of mouth. Top Workplaces awards improve the company’s ability to recruit talent because the recognition validates and reinforces credibility. Employees say, ‘Come to Gorilla – it’s a great place to work, and if you don’t believe me, we have the Top Workplaces awards to prove it.’
Survey insights identify employee engagement issues and opportunities for growth
Energage Insights allows Gorilla leaders to see the real story rather than just looking at the aggregate. Those insights identify common themes, determine what to ask next, and fix the issues that matter most to employees. Getting granular with the data enables the company to be specific with remediation efforts. For example, Ashley can filter the data between plant and office employees. This view shows her that the employees hired less than six months ago had some of the lowest engagement scores among plant employees. Energage Insights led her to figure out why.
Awareness is half the battle. It’s hard to know where you’re going if you don’t know where you stand now. Insights offers a lot of information, and the DE&I Insights have been extremely helpful for Gorilla’s HR team to get data and re-map plans. For example, it enabled the team to implement an unconscious bias workshop last year. It turned into a Barriers Project, where leaders reassess all policies and procedures with more bias awareness.
Gorilla Glue leaders use employee feedback to spark change and celebrate strengths
At Gorilla, listening and understanding employee feedback is key to building recommendations and reviewing them with stakeholders. This enables Gorilla to make data-driven decisions based on employee feedback and then share with the organization the changes they made based on that information.
The Workplace Survey enables leaders to keep a pulse on what’s really happening within the culture. They can see what to celebrate and pinpoint larger issues bubbling up.
“The Gorilla team reads all the employee comments, and then use Insights to pinpoint and share overall themes such as DE&I and belonging. For example, the survey helped them bring back “Orange Table Lunches,” where C-suite members sit down and break bread with employees throughout the company. Until revealed in the survey feedback, the team had no idea employees were missing that connection. Insights helped connect the dots. Now, employees have more time to share what’s on their minds, including opportunities for improvement.” — Ashley Terrell, HR Business Partner at Gorilla Glue
Employee feedback enables Gorilla to recruit and retain top talent
Gorilla Glue recently launched a global employee value proposition program and used Energage’s Employer Branding tools to amplify their strengths. Gorilla Glue is in the 99th percentile for the Workplace Survey question about fair pay. Ashely and her team wanted to shout that from the rooftops, and Employer Branding helps them do that.
The Gorilla team find immense value in keeping a pulse on people. They use Energage’s Pulse Surveys to ask employees about specific initiatives, such as company benefits. This feedback helps improve our offerings quickly, which allows them to recruit and retain high performers. It also provides valuable insights about the market and our competitors, which is key for attracting and retaining a higher caliber of talent.
Ashley Terrell
Director, HR Business Partner and The Gorilla Glue Company
