Developing an index for belonging

Sector: HR

Team: Owain, Edward, Eugene, Sechele, Sidney

Partner: Connectr

Literature review

Developing an index for belonging

We partnered with Connectr to help them develop an evidence based framework for measuring belonging, which they could use to improve the experience of employees.

The Challenge

Connectr is an online mentoring platform that helps companies to recruit and retain diverse talent through mentoring, training and employee engagement. A core aim of Connectr is to increase the sense of belonging employees feel towards their organisation. We partnered with them to help them develop a rigorous methodology for measuring ‘belonging’. The aim was to turn this into a ‘Belonging Index’, that could be used to track and compare rates of belonging over time and across companies.

The Approach

We worked with Connectr to develop a psychological scale that could be used to tangibly and accurately measure belonging. We began by conducting a literature review that looked at the current scales on belonging and different definitions of the term. We then distilled this research into a long list of survey questions and selected the most relevant ones that we wanted to include in our index.

After selecting the final survey questions, we piloted them with a small number of Connectr users, using the feedback we received to make some final adjustements. Once the survey questions had been finalised, we were able to launch the survey with a group of individuals from different organisations who had accepted a role but had not yet started working. Asking the same questions of people pre- and during employment would enable Connectr to understand the changes in Belonging over a person’s career within a particular firm.

The Result

All employees of organisations using the Connectr platform are now asked the belonging index questions on a regular basis. In the future, this will enable Connectr to show firms how well they are performing against comparable organisations, as well as demonstrating what elements within the Connectr platform are most effective at turning the dial on belonging (Figure 1). Over time, this will also enable organisations to show how the sense of belonging changes over time, and the relationship between belonging and company outcomes.

Figure 1: Connectr's use of mentors to increase employee engagement and belonging

(C) Connectr

“The CogCo team are the best in the business at what they do. They helped us create and validate our Belonging Index, which provides us with a gold standard way of measuring employee engagement. They are also a pleasure to work with!”

–Will Akerman, Founder and MD, Connectr

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