#UnionizeStarbucks. #StarbucksWorkersUnited.

The collective outcry of disgruntled Starbucks employees this summer was just one of many examples of people taking their issues with working conditions to the court of public opinion – social media – that we have seen over the past few years. And they were effective. By month’s end, despite a US Supreme Court ruling that favored Starbucks, consumers were siding with the baristas, investors were selling their shares at a loss, and union negotiations were on track to deliver to workers a better contract.   

Our new research shows that employees today are seeking agency – the ability to make an impact and the recognition for doing so – above all else from their employers. Those employers who do not offer opportunities for impact and value risk their employees grabbing it on their own terms, thereby changing consumer sentiment, influencing market valuations, and remaking their workplace.  

This trend marks the latest evolution in how employees are engaging with their employers online; something we first observed in and have been tracking since 2014. That was the year of social campaigns so viral—remember the Ice Bucket Challenge?—they broke the Internet. Research we pioneered then revealed a startling development: engaging employees on social media resulted in brand messaging traveling 10X further than corporate channels. For organizations willing to invest in developing and empowering champion networks, the rewards were stratospheric—and the risks were low.  

Fast forward to 2017, when we witnessed that advocacy morphing into something far more volatile. With one blog, you may recall, a disgruntled employee at Uber managed to dethrone its CEO. Research we conducted that year affirmed the trend: employees were gaining significant traction online by calling out their employer for unfair practices (real or perceived) or calling on them to take a stand on issues within or outside of the workplace. The risk/reward ratio, for employers, had dramatically reversed.  

In 2021 and even more so today, we see that while winning brand advocacy is still possible, it’s by no means a given. To be sure, many employees have taken at least one action to advocate for their employers in the last 12 months—but these numbers have declined by close to or more than double digits since 2014. At the same time, employees’ activist positions have remained the same or slightly increased.  

Faced with these headwinds, employers are not powerless. Our client work worldwide, bolstered by our ten years of research, highlights exactly how you can ride the momentum of employee advocacy while curbing the tide of rising employee activism.  

• Understand and build a strategy to leverage the proven formula for building advocacy: multi-variate analysis shows that employees who feel 1) connected to and proud of their CEO, 2) that they have opportunities to develop and grow and 3) are generally satisfied with their workplace experience are significantly more likely to proactively advocate on behalf of their employers. Ensuring that employee engagement plans include robust executive visibility strategies, are tied closely to meaningful learning and development, and can be measured to ensure satisfaction will help improve outcomes. 
• Address root causes of activism before they can sprout: employees who experience bad behavior in the workplace – from discrimination to micro aggressions – are understandably more likely to take a public position against their employer. There is no place for this toxicity at work, and employers must continue to do everything they can to identify it through culture risk assessments and remediate it by intervening where it persists.  

Investing time in understanding what issues employees – and all important stakeholders – care about when it comes to navigating societal issues will also help get ahead of potential activism. A strong societal issues framework that balances stakeholder perspectives with organizational values and the realities of the business will allow for better coordinated planning as expected and emerging issues come up. 

Based on the above, the questions we advise our clients to consider include:  

• Do we create alignment across and points of connection with (C-suite, region, unit, site)? 
• Do we have a plan for navigating societal issues to ensure consistency, speed and alignment? 
• Are we consistently revisiting employee life-cycle from on-boarding to continued engagement with alumni for opportunities to strengthen engagement, learning and development? 
• Are we facilitating mentorship and sponsorship across the organization? 

While the proven approaches increasing employee advocacy and mitigating activism are relatively straightforward, they are anything but simple. We work closely with our colleagues at United Minds across North America, South America, Asia Pacific, Europe, Africa, and the Middle East to help clients anticipate, minimize and address organizational risk, while at the same time improving employee engagement, satisfaction, and ultimately, performance.

Published originally in Compass for the Chaos.