Imperative Launches Solution that Enables Executives to Actively Measure and Improve Employee Engagement and Productivity

In a first for HR tech, Imperative, a venture-backed startup based in Seattle, today launched a suite of tools that provide C-Suite executives with the ability to measure, report and influence the layered employee connections that exist within their organizations, and thus optimize their workforce. Improving employee retention, engagement and productivity is at the top of every executive's mind, and now there is a complete suite of tools to track, measure and influence these outcomes directly.

Executives need measurable ways to quantify their business that can be used to more accurately steer the company to higher levels of success. To date, HR measures have been imperfect (engagement is based on sample survey data) or lagging indicators (retention is only measured when it’s too late to influence). Such data is frustrating and rarely actionable. This leaves executives unable to proactively develop their culture at scale and to predict and adapt to challenges that are ahead of them, not just in the rearview mirror.

Research over the last twenty years has demonstrated that when people have diverse, strong connections at work, built on trust and mutual respect, they are more productive, creative, engaged and less likely to leave. These internal human networks, especially beyond those inside immediate core teams, are increasingly hard to build and maintain with hybrid and remote work.

The same research also points to specific network configurations that have an outsized impact on broader corporate competitiveness from innovation to efficiency. This represents an opportunity to not only provide executives with critical leading indicators, but also to steer their culture by proactively building networks based on science.

Imperative’s AI-driven employee network development platform uses proven organization network analytics to enable executives to select the changes they want to amplify within their company and then match employees for scientifically designed online conversations that accelerate trust and bond employees together (89% of connections result in meaningful and sustained relationships). In real-time, executives can then track the breadth and depth of these networks as they manifest to anticipate the changes emerging in their culture.

“Imperative has developed the first platform that has proven to accelerate trust between people working remotely and at scale by using purpose profiling technology and guided coaching conversations,“ said Aaron Hurst, CEO and co-founder of Imperative and author of The Purpose Economy. “Using organization network analysis, we can now help executives strategically determine how to apply that capability to build the networks that will drive culture change and provide the key leading indicator they need for their dashboard.”

The platform launched with six network building “culture dials” that executives choose from to amplify and measure the leading indicators of their culture:

• Innovation: Accelerating idea generation and increasing implementation efficiency
• Collaboration: Improving decision making and uncovering resources
• Purpose: Orienting the organization to its purpose and connecting employees to it
• Well-being: Decreasing burnout and increasing mental health
• Belonging: Developing trusted bonds between people of different identities
• M&A & Silo Busting: Accelerating the cultural integration of teams

“Too often we are put in a reactive position responding to data about past performance,” said Britt Provost, Executive Vice President, People and Culture, Accolade. “Imperative is enabling us to understand where we are now, where we’re going and how best to actively influence our culture by building and managing the human infrastructure of our business as we grow and adapt to changing conditions.”

To get started, companies invite their people to create a purpose profile on Imperative and be matched for conversations based on the outcome selected by leaders. Through a series of guided conversations on the Imperative platform, employees develop a meaningful and sustained relationship. Over time, employees are matched with new partners that expand their networks. The company is able to monitor and report on the development of these networks as they grow and incorporate it into their executive dashboard.

About Imperative

Imperative is an AI-driven employee network development platform that human-centric Fortune 1000 companies use to empower their employees to make their work fulfilling - driving retention, productivity, inclusion, well-being and creativity. It uses organization network analytics to enable executives to select the changes they want to amplify within their company and then match employees for scientifically designed online conversations that accelerate trust and bond employees together using the science of purpose. In real-time, executives can then track the breadth and depth of these networks as they manifest to anticipate and steer the changes emerging in their culture. Imperative is a B Corporation founded by workplace entrepreneur Aaron Hurst and funded by Voyager Capital and Court Lorenzini, founding CEO of DocuSign.

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