Fred Barstein CEO/Founder TPSU with Delia, HR Representative – Des Moines
In today’s workplace, fostering an environment where employees feel heard is just as crucial as promoting efficiency. One significant way to achieve this is by implementing a robust feedback program that allows employees to express their thoughts and concerns. This emphasis on feedback is paramount, as evidenced by a Gallup poll which revealed that 41% of employees have left a job because they felt their voices weren’t heard.
In the realm of retirement planning within the workplace, soliciting employee feedback becomes even more critical. Retirement planning is a deeply personal matter, and employees often have unique preferences, goals, and concerns regarding their financial futures. By providing avenues for employees to share their feedback, employers gain valuable insights into the specific needs and challenges faced by their workforce in relation to retirement planning.
However, it’s not enough to simply gather feedback; employers must also prioritize effective communication regarding retirement plans. Many employees may feel overwhelmed by the complexities of retirement planning, leading to confusion and disengagement. Clear and transparent communication about retirement options, investment strategies, and available resources is essential to ensuring that employees feel informed and empowered to make meaningful decisions about their financial well-being.
In a recent discussion at a TPSU program in Des Moines, IA, at Rice University Fred Barstein, CEO & Founder of TPSU/TRAU/401K TV interviewed Delia, an HR representative from an organization with approximately 250 benefited employees. Delia and Fred discussed the challenges of communication within the organization and emphasized the importance of feedback from employees in improving communication and understanding their needs. She highlighted the reluctance of some employees to admit when they don’t understand something and suggests that group settings can help alleviate this by creating a supportive environment where individuals feel comfortable asking questions. Most importantly, Delia expressed the value of gathering feedback from employees and implementing changes based on their input, as well as utilizing technology to improve communication efforts.
Read the Full Transcript Here:
Fred Barstein:
This is Fred Barstein with 401K TV in Houston, where we just completed a TPSU program at Rice University. Beautiful Rice University. And I’m here with Delia.
Delia:
Yes, that’s right.
Fred Barstein:
Welcome. Okay, if we ask you a few questions?
Delia:
Sure.
Fred Barstein:
Very good. Before I do, just a little bit about the size of your organization and your role there.
Delia:
I’m in HR. The organization that I’m with has approximately 250 benefited employees.
Fred Barstein:
Very good. So there are two things we wanted to ask you about today. One was you talked about there’s a lot of resources and meetings, but if we don’t communicate them, we don’t know. So how did that come up and what do you do to alleviate that problem?
Delia:
We were discussing the fact that everybody has meetings, but we don’t always meet about the meetings. So the information doesn’t always come together the way that it should, much less the fact that it’s not always communicated to the employee the way that it should be. So we definitely need more meetings, scheduled meetings, where we know that we’re going to talk about certain things at a certain time. And whether it’s quarterly or annually, have a program, know what we want to cover, and then more importantly, go back and communicate those things to employees. Because they’re the ones that don’t know.
Fred Barstein:
Right. And you had said the importance of feedback.
Delia:
Well, one of the most important things that we could take into the meetings that we don’t, is the feedback of employees. How do we know what they want unless they tell us? So if when we do communicate to employees, we ask them for their feedback, what are their needs, then when we meet, we’re better equipped to know what it was we’re looking for.
Fred Barstein:
One of the things you talked about that I thought was great about how people generally, they don’t want to admit they don’t understand.
Delia:
Absolutely.
Fred Barstein:
But in a group meeting, it’s different. So how does that work?
Delia:
Well, just the same way that everybody learns different, you have different levels of understanding. And the people who feel like they have a high knowledge of understanding don’t feel comfortable admitting that they don’t understand something at all, they’re not familiar with something. Somebody
Fred Barstein:
Somebody who’s well-educated, may not be in financial.
Delia:
Yes, exactly. So some people want their hand held a little more than others. When we point people out individually sometimes, that doesn’t work the same. But when you have them in a group, those people who didn’t want to feel like they don’t know, then they feel like they know more when everybody else in the room has questions. And they’re more apt to ask.
Fred Barstein:
Right. They realize they’re not the only one.
Delia:
Yes.
Fred Barstein:
Like when we asked them the beginning, who here has no other job you realize-
Delia:
Absolutely.
Fred Barstein:
… Oh, okay. I’m not the only one.
Delia:
Absolutely.
Fred Barstein:
And who here has formal training?
Delia:
Absolutely.
Fred Barstein:
Yeah. So final question, a couple of things that you learned that you may want to try to take back and implement.
Delia:
Well, from everybody that I spoke to, what I gathered is we all suffer from the same thing as far as maybe not being completely organized in our communication attempts with our employees. Maybe not paying attention and listening to employees, gathering that feedback. So I think in this time around, that’s one of the things that I’m going to pay more close attention to, is getting as much feedback as I can from employees, to better equip us so that how can we retain people if we don’t know what they want and meet their needs in the future?
Fred Barstein:
We had actually, I think, someone at a previous program here, said they actually did a survey and then they implemented the changes. But then most importantly, or not as importantly, is they then communicated to everybody based on your feedback, these are the changes you wanted. This is what we made, so at least you knew how to do it [inaudible 00:04:25].
Delia:
And in the communication attempts, especially when you have people spread out, you can’t always have everybody in one place, make ourselves more available to people. With technology today, there’s so much there to help us with that. There’s really no excuse for us not to do that.
Fred Barstein:
Very good. Well, thank you for your time. Thanks for attending our program.
Delia:
Thank you for bringing me here today.
Fred Barstein:
Very good. And thank you for watching 4O1K TV. Please stay tuned.
