Here at Instructure, we believe that people and companies do their best work through connection, alignment, and growth. Working closely with organizations of all sizes, we’ve seen how many of them struggle to help their employees connect with their co-workers in a meaningful and effective way that also fosters career development and engagement. Some try to solve the problem using sparse or cumbersome organizational directories, but just basic information alone about your colleagues doesn’t normally lead to meaningful connection and communication.
That’s why the Bridge Employee Development Platform now includes Connect, a new way to enable employees to learn more about and connect with co-workers, join skill communities, and identify potential mentors. At its core, it’s a searchable and browsable employee directory. Going way beyond just contact information, this new capability focuses on establishing meaningful relationships at every level of an organization.
New research from The Harris Poll, released today by Instructure, finds that only half of employees believe their companies can deliver impactful mentorship programs. The research also shows that people feel alone on their career journey, with 77% believing they are on their own to determine their personal career development.
The data is very clear – employees need more effective ways to build relationships, strengthen professional networks, and identify mentors that will provide meaningful feedback on their career trajectory. With a focus on purposeful development and connection, Bridge’s employee development platform helps alleviate the organizational pain points of building these relationships or a formal mentorship program. You’ll be able to:
Get to know your colleagues: The Bridge company directory combines an organizational chart with unique employee profiles that include a biography, contact information, personal interests, and skills.
Find your skill communities: Bridge empowers employees to highlight skills on their personal profile. They can both identify skills they want to learn and skills they can help others develop, and in the process, establish communities of experts and learners.
Identify potential mentors: By searching for skills and interests, employees can identify potential mentors who can aid in their skill and career development.
Bridge helps companies increase their impact by giving each employee what they need to develop and grow, and enables managers to be better leaders and coaches. The new Connect module provides employees with the tools they need to understand organizational structure and make meaningful connections with their colleagues.
Bridge is atthe HR Tech Conference in Las Vegas this week. Attendees can experience Bridge at booth 2032 from 10 a.m. – 5:30 p.m. on Wednesday, October 2 and 10 a.m. – 4 p.m. on Thursday, October 3.
SURVEY METHODOLOGY
The HR Decision Maker (Employer) and Employee surveys were conducted by The Harris Poll on behalf of Instructure. Both were administered online to those in the United States. In the survey of HR decision makers (referred to as “employers” below), respondents were screened on their employment status (only full-time employed), job title (director-level and above), company size (at least five employees), and involvement in HR decision making (either partial or primary decision maker in ‘employee training and development programs’). 310 complete surveys were collected from April 26 – May 3, 2019. Sample was weighted based on the size of employer (number of employees).
In the employee survey, respondents were screened on their employment status (only full-time employed) and the size of their employer (at least five employees). A total of 1,433 interviews were conducted and completed from April 26 – May 6, 2019. At least 150 interviews were conducted with employees in four DMAs: NYC, Chicago, Dallas, and LA. The sample was weighted on education, age, gender, race, region, income, and size of employer to align with targets among employed Americans. Sample from each of the DMAs were weighed individually to DMA targets of employed adults.
