Want to really understand your employees? Time to ditch the surveys, says North Carolina’s Peoplelogic

Nearly every aspect of work and office life has changed over the course of the last 100 years. And yet one thing that hasn’t really changed much at all? The dreaded employee engagement survey. 

You’ve likely been asked to fill out some sort of survey either by your boss or your HR department. More than likely, the goal was to track workplace attitudes and see how that is impacting the overall business. 

But companies and their workforce look very different than they did when engagement surveys came into vogue in the 1920s, says Matthew Schmitt, founder and CEO of Peoplelogic. Employees have different work-life expectations. And employers can no longer afford to work without real-time employee data. 

“The challenge with the survey is that the more frequently you do them, the more work it takes to analyze them…and the more fatigued that the employees get taking them. So you get less and less data,” Scmitt told Hypepotamus.  

That’s where Schmitt and his team over at Peoplelogic, a Durham-based people intelligence platform, come into play. The platform is designed to give “real time and continuous understanding of the health of the organization.” The platform works by aggregating business information from already existing systems, platforms, and communication tools used by employees every day to get a holistic sense of an employee’s attitudes at work. 

Describing the platform as a “fitbit” for an organization, Peoplelogic looks to give companies the data they need to detect early warning signs that could lead to attrition down the road. 

This helps remove the recency bias associated with filling out a traditional survey. 

“We’re disrupting this 100 plus year old technology – the  engagement survey – and doing it in a way that’s positive to the employees,” he added. 

New Realities, New Anxieties

Peoplelogic’s current payroll is around a dozen people and the early-stage startup most recently landed a $1.9 million investment from North Carolina Venture Capital Fund, Triangle Tweener Fund, Underdog Labs, and several angels. Like most of the companies on their customer list, Peoplelogic has embraced the hybrid and remote work model.

Having launched in 2019, Peoplelogic is one of the new crop of early-stage companies in the Southeast looking to grow in the talent acquisition or talent retention space. And like many of these HR-focused startups, Peoplelogic now has to help its customers navigate a shifting employee-employer relationship.

The reality is that layoffs at the largest firms have rattled many in the tech world. If unchecked, even companies without downsizing plans might find themselves with a stressed out workforce. 

Schmitt said Peoplelogic was created to help organizations through all types of tricky business scenarios. 

“Last year, a lot of the focus was on retention and helping prevent a great resignation. This year, we’re seeing a lot of emphasis on change management, workforce planning, [and] capacity challenges,” he added. “Now, we’re talking about a different side of organizational health…but it’s more important than ever to retain your high performers and your top employees. And so we still see a lot of companies that want those early warning signs.”