hy Axel Springer

hy is a business consulting firm with around 60 employees and are based in Berlin, Germany. They’re a legally independent subsidiary of Axel Springer SE, one of Europe’s leading media and technology companies. hy focuses its consulting services on strategy, innovation, pricing, and digital transformation.
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The Challenge

hy’s People Team faced a challenge many HR professionals are familiar with: losing time conducting performance reviews through a long-winded, manual process. This involved completing reviews on Google Sheets and collecting the results in Google Documents to share with managers. Apart from this process being unscalable for growing organizations, even at only 60 employees, hy’s People team spent a substantial amount of time conducting these reviews. The time that could’ve been spent on more impactful initiatives was wasted copying and pasting results between two programs, and with the company scaling in size, there was an ever-growing risk of errors and inconsistencies creeping in and information getting lost. 

hy set out to automate and optimize their performance review process. Not only would this give the People department precious time back, but it would also allow for more insight into past and current reviews. hy already had a set of questions and a custom skills matrix and didn’t want to invest in a solution that would force them to adapt their process to fit the platform. 

Members of the People department at hy were already familiar with Leapsome, including Tina Chater, the Director of People and Organization. As they began looking for the right solution, they realized Leapsome could not only improve their performance review process but also allow them to run their engagement surveys, track employee development goals, and host learning courses and materials — all on a single platform. For hy, this meant being able to cut down their tool stack from 3 or 4 different solutions to Leapsome handling their people management processes all in one.
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“Our main goal was to have an all-in-one solution. We already had our HRIS system, Peakon for surveys, and then our Google Sheets for the reviews and Google Docs for goals. We really wanted a solution that would offer reviews, surveys, and goals and allow us eventually to expand into learning.”

The Solution

Leapsome allowed hy to automate and optimize its performance review process, and through the flexibility of the platform, the People team could tailor this process to fit their needs. Within two weeks, they began running all surveys in Leapsome, and after four more weeks, they had transferred their skills matrix, allowed employees to set development goals, and started a new performance review cycle.

Development-focused performance reviews

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“Our whole review system runs through Leapsome now. There are no more human errors, and it’s much easier for our managers to see previous feedback. Everyone locks in their development goals after the review and can easily incorporate them into the next review cycle. 

Managers and their direct reports can see everything in one place and don‘t have to work with several documents anymore. We — the People team — really love the automation of the process: Once it kicks off, the system automatically reminds everyone to do their reviews.”

The new review process allows the People department to fully automate performance review operations. Reminders are sent out automatically, and it‘s no longer necessary to transfer information manually into a different system. Everything is in one place — insights from past reviews, development goals, the skills matrix, and follow-up meetings to discuss the review. Not only does this considerably free up time for the People department, but it also effectively eliminates human error and confusion. Managers enjoy having a complete overview of their direct reports‘ development and aspirations, and employees enjoy receiving feedback focused on learning and feeling supported in achieving their professional goals.
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Insightful Surveys tailored to the needs of every department

The team is currently running monthly engagement and onboarding surveys for new joiners. Additionally, every department can run surveys on topics they would like to get their teams’ input on. For the company at large, having regular DEI surveys is a big focus: hy employs some amazing women and realizes the importance of regularly pulse-checking their sentiments, concerns, and ideas for improvement. Tina believes many initiatives would never have been realized without the insights they’ve been getting from Leapsome.
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“The surveys are really helpful for managers to make more meaningful decisions. There are a lot initiatives coming out of the survey results — to be honest, there are a lot of initiatives coming out of the usage of Leapsome. Our managers have found different ways they can use the platform. It’s been a very helpful tool to uncover a lot of layers within the organization that need to be addressed.”

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The Result

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🌱 100% of employees set development goals every six months

🏁 100% review completion rate

💡100% trust in the accuracy of data and analytics

🎯 Average score for employee promoter question 7.92 (26 eNPS score)

Every employee at hy now receives performance reviews and records their development goals in Leapsome, resulting in transparency, alignment, and focus on individual progress. Managers have the proper context from past reviews and current goals in front of them and can provide insightful feedback to their direct reports. The entire process runs much smoother on the operational side, giving the People team valuable time back. Leapsome automatically reminds employees to complete their reviews, which gives Tina and the team confidence that everyone at hy is receiving feedback.

Tina also observes an upswing in hy’s survey results. The team used the heatmap to identify organizational challenges and plan initiatives. And the outcome is a significant improvement in their score for employee promoter questions, which now averages 7.92 and gives them an eNPS score of 26. 

hy set its target score at 8, and the team plans to overachieve that score this year, with a renewed focus on Leapsome’s Engagement module to improve communication and engagement at hy. By reviewing survey results more closely and further leveraging the analytics Leapsome provides, hy’s people team hopes to gain a complete understanding of the organization’s pain points. 

With the large number of best-practice questions, survey templates, and benchmarking data available in Leapsome, Tina sees many opportunities to further improve their engagement surveys. Plus, the platform enables them to compare their results to companies of similar size and industries. Ultimately, the goal is to give employees certainty that their voices are being heard and their feedback is not just received but turned into action. 

Tina believes a core benefit of Leapsome is the excellent customer support — which she thinks truly sets us apart from the competition. Besides our extensive online library with in-depth tutorials and guides, Leapsome’s customer success managers are always available to answer questions or help set up a process.
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”One more thing I want to highlight is the customer support. Whenever we have an issue, our account manager is right there on speed dial and ready to jump on a call. She’s super helpful and immediately answers our questions. 

It really sets Leapsome apart. Sometimes you wait days and days for an answer, and a lot of other systems have regressed from having an actual person you can contact to support you.”

Apart from valuing the customer support at Leapsome, Tina would recommend Leapsome to those looking for people enablement software focused on ease of use and customizability. She enjoys having a system that can be tailored to existing processes and provides in-depth, varied data and analytics. 

‍Ultimately, the use of Leapsome has helped hy become a better place to work. Employees have more clarity on their professional development and can easily share their opinions and feedback. This helps uncover challenges within the organization and identify valuable initiatives leading to managers being able to make more informed decisions.
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