What Really Matters in the Employee Value Proposition

BY Francine Brevetti | November 24, 2023

Discover Financial Services explores the human needs of its 11,000 agents to ensure the workforce is engaged. One way to do so is through the use of data, says Traci Wicks, senior vice president of talent and human resources strategy at Discover Financial Services.

Wicks was interviewed by Lydia Dishman of Fast Company in a fireside chat during a From Day One virtual conference.

Wicks’ purview over employee retention tracks talent, mobility, talent management processes, talent acquisition, and employee engagement. Wicks calls hers an employee-centric approach, or data with a dialogue. “We’re breathing life into the number by walking the floor and talking with people to really understand what their core purpose is, which may be beyond work.”

Meaningful Work

But how can data be communicated, made accessible, and even exciting? “To make the data powerful, you have to ask, ‘What’s your purpose? What’s driving you and your craft? What’s inspiring?’” said Wicks. For example, when Discover posed such questions to its engineers, they revealed their interest in tech academies that exist at Discover internally and externally.

“If you want leaders to drive your technology transformation within the organization, you have them teach to make those connections outside of their work. Discovery is going through three core transformations right now and one is our tech.”

Compensation is no longer the main driver for employees, says Dishman. Instead, employers seek what excites them about going to work in the morning.

“Yes, you can see the social contract between employee and employer has really changed. The workforce is really looking for additional ways to find their purpose, volunteerism is an example of that,” said Wicks in agreement.

Core Pillars for Retention

Discover has created three core pillars to ensure retention. Employees may engage with one of them or all three.

First, is a focus on meaningful work from day one. The organization encourages volunteering and making a social impact. Next is growth. At Discover, Wicks is focusing on finding the opportunities for mobility and also ensuring they differentiate themselves from competitors in this regard. Lastly,  Discover wants the employee to feel at home in the company to create mental health and well-being. Thus, the third pillar focuses on belonging.

The financial services company measures these pillars every six months. Leaders regularly talk with employees about what their purpose is and how the company can help them within those pillars.

Discover uses an outside vendor to survey employees. The results help the company see “where we can win and also markets where we’re not going to win. We’re not going to change those pillars; it’s who we are," Wicks said.

Lydia Dishman of Fast Company interviewed Traci Wicks in the grand finale fireside chat (photo by From Day One)

Discover also conducts listening tours so that its agents can find areas of improvement for leaders. The listening tours survey live tapes of agents speaking with customers, whether about credit, fraud, or collection.

Connecting Virtually

Since the onset of Covid, Discover has been working to build connections and other initiatives in virtual workspaces.

“The result is that learning and development have taken on new accessibility because people have changed the way they deliver training and development,” said Wicks.

The company employs about 11,000 hourly salary agents across the United States. It offers community centers to teach jobs skills and academies to teach entrance to the technology world.

Training at Discover includes its tech academy, its advanced analytics research center and a tuition reimbursement program. The company offers advanced education tuition because it “wants to pay our folks to get their bachelor's degrees,” Wicks said.

It has created guilds around various crafts and skills for training and communication. “We invest in our workforce with continuous improvement and growth opportunities. We make time for people’s professional development and personal development, including volunteerism and community outreach,” said Wicks.

Francine Brevetti is a business writer, ghostwriter, and writing coach in San Francisco, CA. www.francinebrevetti.com.

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When you involve the employee in ‘What is it that you want?’ versus telling the employee, ‘This is what I think you should have,’ that's when you see success.”Working Across DepartmentsRebecca Tinsley, VP, talent engagement & culture at Teradata, and her team have found success by working across departments, pairing benefits, well-being, and talent development to form one cohesive strategy. “We’re analyzing trends in learning, program participation, engagement survey and we’re also looking at benefit awareness and usage,” Tinsley said. “What that’s allowing us to do is to tailor programs to different employee segments based on what they’re directly telling us, or what they may be indirectly telling us through some of the feedback.”Panelists spoke about "Enhancing Employee Engagement Through Whole-Person Management" (photo by From Day One)This has led to new initiatives like their mid-level management program that blends leadership training with well-being support for some of the stresses that naturally come along with the role. 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