A survey co-sponsored by
BlackBook EMG and Cincinnati USA Chamber's
HYPE is looking for young professionals to share their work and community life experiences to gauge the risk of the region losing young talent.
The 25-question survey, located
here, takes about 10 minutes to finish. It's geared toward anyone who lives in the metro Cincinnati area and is employed. The results will be unveiled at the
HYPE talent symposium Oct. 19. The symposium's theme is "Ignite the Fire! Leverage Cincinnati's strengths as part of your recruitment and retention strategies."
BlackBook, whose Compass technology matches employee performance with local events, venues and businesses, has a 2,000-person response goal for the survey. So far, just under 1,000 people have responded, said Carla Messer, Blackbook's senior vice president of operations. To encourage responses, participants can enter to win one of three iPads. Survey results are kept confidential.
The survey asks questions related to the concept of "community embeddedness" or the experiences, people and places outside of work that keep a person in a particular area.
"The survey asks how an employee fits into culture of an organization, and also how people are connected to other people and places where they live. At the workplace you're made to feel like it would be a great sacrifice to leave, but from a community standpoint often things outside the workplace that keep people retained in the organization aren't considered. Things, if you left behind, like a country club, church or neighbors would feel like a big sacrifice to leave," Messer said.
The survey is an effort to drill down into how or even if workers have those outside connections. Under the theory of community embeddedness, the more satisfying community links a person has, the less likely they are to leave a current city or place of employment.
"Companies spend a lot of time and money trying to explain why people leave. We are trying to evaluate why people stay, and create those connections and experiences that get people to stay," Messer said.
The survey is open until Oct. 1.
Writer: Feoshia Henderson
Source: Carla Messer, Blackbook senior vice president of operations
You can follow Feoshia on twitter
@feoshiawrites
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