Associate EngagementEngaged associates are our greatest resource. They care about Regions’ success, and the enthusiasm and dedication they bring to work makes life better for their fellow associates, our customers and the communities we serve. We believe that in order to drive engagement, we must live our values and focus on our strategic priority of Build the Best Team. We do this through our efforts to maintain a culture that best positions us to attract, engage, develop and retain top talent. We celebrate the contributions and achievements of all of our associates as a Company and reward exemplary performance. We regularly measure our performance in this area and use the results to recognize top performers and to facilitate honest conversations and team impact planning. Guided by values and driven by performance, the culture we are creating at Regions is unique. It engages the people who come to work here every day and differentiates who we are to our customers.
John Turner, President and CEO, speaking with Clara Green, Executive Vice President and Head of Diversity and Inclusion.
Associate Engagement Survey
A fundamental component of building the best team is understanding what parts of our culture drive associate motivation and engagement. Measuring engagement helps us understand what we are doing well and how we can improve and strengthen our culture and fulfill our mission. To this end, Regions distributes an anonymous online Team-Associate Engagement Survey annually to measure engagement. Through this survey, associates answer questions that enable us to capture how they feel about their workplace experience at Regions. The first 12 questions, known as the Q12, remain the same from year-to-year for comparison purposes. Up to 10 customized questions are also included and vary yearly, generally reflecting focus areas for the organization. In 2018-2019, these customized questions focused on effective leadership behaviors, diversity and inclusion and Company advocacy; in 2020, they will focus on culture, diversity and inclusion and well-being, among other topics.
Anonymous survey results and resources are provided to managers, who then share the results with their respective teams for group discussion. Teams are encouraged to use the group discussion to have a meaningful dialogue that celebrates the great things they are doing and includes identification of new practices that will drive engagement and positively impact their day-to-day work and performance over the following year. By determining a specific plan of action and establishing individual ownership, teams can become unified in achieving shared goals. Once a plan is put into action, teams can regularly discuss progress and recalibrate as needed.
The engagement survey provides important benchmarks about associate engagement, but the team discussions, plans of action and follow-up efforts ensure continuous improvement and sustained engagement. The real work of engagement is managed through our leaders, their teams and a shared desire to make life at work better to ensure continued success. Regions’ leaders receive a variety of tools and resources to engage their teams. In 2019, 3,000 managers completed a leadership development workshop focusing on manager development as part of an associate engagement initiative that began in mid-2018. This initiative has helped us better understand how engagement impacts associates in different departments and roles, as well as our overall performance, so that we can develop resources to support associates and managers alike.
In April 2020, we conducted a Gallup pulse survey of our associates regarding COVID-19. Over 14,700 associates responded to the survey, which places Regions above Gallup’s national average in response rate. Here are a few highlights:
- 89% of associates agreed or strongly agreed that ‘My employer has communicated a clear plan of action in response to COVID-19’
- 85% of associates agreed or strongly agreed that ‘I feel well prepared to do my job’
- 91% of associates agreed or strongly agreed that ‘My immediate supervisor keeps me informed about what is going on at my company’
- 83% of associates agreed or strongly agreed that ‘My company cares about my overall well-being’
Regions is extremely proud of the overwhelmingly positive results from this pulse survey because we believe it reflects, among other things, our strong associate culture. Additional pulse surveys are planned for May and June to continue gathering important feedback from our associates during these challenging times. We have also made tools and resources available to managers, in order to encourage effective leadership through trust, compassion, stability and hope — the four needs of followers.
Evergreen Week
Although associate appreciation takes place throughout the year, Regions specifically honors all associates every September during Evergreen Week. This week is a time when managers thank associates for their hard work and dedication, celebrate how associates work together to deliver the best results in the right way, and show appreciation for associates’ unique talents and contributions to our Company. Each year, we develop a new Evergreen theme that guides the activities for the week. In 2019, the theme was Shared Value. Shared Success. We celebrated associates and how their shared contributions added to our success as an organization. Together, we make life better for each other and the customers and communities we serve — creating shared value for everyone. All associates also receive an extra day of paid vacation as part of Evergreen Week.
Better Life Award
The Better Life Award is the top award given by Regions to associates for outstanding dedication to customers and the community, as well as job performance. Presented monthly to one associate who lives the Company’s values in an exceptional way, the award recognizes associates who have gone beyond what is required by their day-to-day jobs and whose contributions make life significantly better for others. All associates are eligible to nominate a coworker — or be nominated — for the award. Our CEO honors recipients at the Company’s headquarters during a meeting broadcast to all offices. Each recipient receives an additional week of paid vacation and a $1,000 donation made in the recipient’s name to the nonprofit organization of their choice.