Choosing the right employees, empowering them to excel, and maximizing leadership are all strategies that every company attempts to refine, and the best companies have it all down to a science.
Fortunately, for those that are still attempting to tweak their HR tactics, that science can be outsourced.
Minneapolis-based
Modern Survey provides a number of tools for boosting an enterprise's effectiveness in major areas like employee engagement and performance management.
Founded 12 years ago by three entrepreneurs, the company was a "big dot-com idea that actually worked," says CEO and co-founder Patrick Riley with a laugh. The trio had all come from large companies like American Express, and saw first-hand how those businesses operated.
When Modern Survey first got started, the focus was on helping that type of large company to go paperless, but over the years, it shifted to become a human-capital-management firm, Riley says: "We help companies to build the right workforce, retain key talent, and understand how the customer connects back. It's getting pretty cool in terms of what we can do."
The firm has 25 employees and is growing steadily, he adds. Over the past year in particular, companies are spending more money on improving their internal processes and software. Although hiring hasn't surged upward for many Modern Survey clients, Riley believes that they're putting tools in place for ramping back up to pre-recession levels.
Recently, Modern Survey completed a significant investment round, so it's ready to keep growing strong and to continue helping companies refine their HR tactics. Riley expects the firm to expand nationally, and a new-generation product line should be released at the end of the year.
"We're in a position to grow aggressively over the next few years," he says.
Source: Patrick Riley, Modern Survey
Writer: Elizabeth Millard