Case Study

Reduce turnover and increase retention through organizational transformation

A co-design process to redesign the experience of the assembly and testing department and define a new organizational model

In Officina del Cambiamento, we empowered the workers of a crucial Casappa department to redesign their Employee Experience, mediating with the strategic directions of management. This redesign was the starting point for a company-wide organizational transformation.

Settore Azienda

Manufacturing Industry

Servizi Amploom

Employee Experience Design

Persone Coinvolte

20 production operators, 10 HR, and department managers

Initial Challenge

Reduce turnover and increase department retention

Casappa was observing high employee turnover in the assembly and testing area. Several factors contributed to this phenomenon: the high technical complexity of the job, intergenerational differences within the department, and the transition to a managerial company structure.

Initial Challenge: Reduce turnover and increase department retention

Strategy

Involving Operators in a Change Strategy

After identifying critical issues with management, for Officina del Cambiamento (Workshop of Change), we invited department operators to design their new Employee Experience. Their proposed changes were then taken on and implemented by management.

Strategy: Involving Operators in a Change Strategy

Result

Meta-Retention and a New Organizational Model

The program was designed to develop initiatives aimed at reducing turnover. Officina del Cambiamento proved to be primarily a powerful retention tool due to the operators' involvement in the change process. The department's new organizational model was subsequently extended to all production areas.

Result: Meta-Retention and a New Organizational Model

Casappa increased the sense of belonging by having people design their new work experience

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Initial Challenge

Reduce turnover and increase department retention

Initial Challenge: Reduce turnover and increase department retention

Casappa’s assembly and testing department was experiencing high turnover, a phenomenon driven by various factors:

  • the marked complexity of the technical tasks in the assembly and testing area, due to the high degree of product customization offered by Casappa. Although this complexity was communicated to candidates during the selection phase, it often proved difficult for them to manage, despite the intensive initial training program that always follows hiring.
  • the significant intergenerational differences within the department, which caused communication difficulties and subsequent tensions, often resulting in younger employees leaving the company very early;
  • the transition to a managerial company structure, which was challenging for some long-standing employees accustomed to an almost familial relationship with ownership and senior management.

Strategy

Involving Operators in a Change Strategy

Strategy: Involving Operators in a Change Strategy

We designed a multi-phase co-design process involving individuals from various company departments to observe the problem from different perspectives and find solutions tailored to the needs of the people within the company:

  1. Mapping the ‘as-is’ Employee Experience with the project management team: with a group comprising HR, Production Managers, and area managers, we mapped the workers’ experience within the area in question, highlighting existing critical issues. We also sent a survey to the department.
  2. Defining sub-challenges: based on these considerations, we narrowed the project focus to specific critical issues within the broader problem, defining the starting point for the subsequent co-design phase;
  3. Internal promotion of the “Officina del Cambiamento” project: the project was promoted through a presentation to department staff and by posting a branded flyer on area bulletin boards, encouraging voluntary participation.
  4. Co-design workshop with operators: after gathering voluntary participants, we co-designed the new Employee Experience with operators from the assembly and testing area, starting from the design questions generated with the management team. We guided them to conceive and develop effective solutions to address the identified critical issues;
  5. Presentation of solutions to the management team: operators shared their solutions with the management team, demonstrating the benefits for involved stakeholders and the initial implementation steps;

Action plan for solution implementation: scheduling of actions to be taken to implement the solutions co-created during the workshop phase. The meeting—initially planned for the management team—saw the voluntary participation of the involved operators.

Result

Meta-Retention and a New Organizational Model

Result: Meta-Retention and a New Organizational Model
4
unprecedented initiatives
+
350
people involved in the first 2 years
1
training program undertaken

The results of Officina del Cambiamento can be summarized as follows:

  • new initiatives proposed: from internal department communication to the revision of role responsibilities, and the standardization of mobility pathways;
  • new behaviors, new culture: facilitated and structured dialogue between company figures from different areas and functions allowed for understanding mutual perspectives and co-constructing solutions that synthesize human, business, and technological factors.
  • involvement and meta-retention: the involvement of operators in designing their new Employee Experience increased their sense of belonging, making them co-authors of their company. A project aimed at generating retention initiatives itself became a retention project (meta-retention).

Furthermore, the innovations in the organizational model of the assembly and testing department were extended to other production areas of the company, generating a broader organizational transformation.

What's in Employee Experience Design?

What's in Employee Experience Design?

Mapping organizational processes (Employee Journey Mapping) to identify critical points and the subsequent design of a new experience is at the core of the methodology.

What is Culture Design?

What is Culture Design?

The creation of facilitated dialogue between different company functions and comparison between diverse viewpoints allowed for changing behaviors. The new initiatives proposed constitute unprecedented organizational practices capable of creating new interactions within the department.

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