Expert details how TransAlta implemented culture transformation strategy
With a new generation of workers coming into the labour market, employers must make changes to attract and retain younger people to their business.
One employer that puts a primary focus on their total rewards package in hopes of winning the hearts of the younger generation is TransAlta.
“In 2021, we created a focus in the new total rewards team to really focus on understanding how to compete for employees in the renewable energy business,” says Tawnie Dahl, director, executive compensation and total rewards, at TransAlta, in speaking with Canadian HR Reporter TV.
“We needed to attract a different skill set, and frankly, a different generation of employees with different needs and desires than our traditional workforce had seen.”
The team focused on answering questions such as “How do we actively engage employees in the culture transformation?” and “How can we set up a reward and recognition program that gets their buy-in and gets their engagement?”
Following the transformation, TransAlta’s “Boost and Bolt” reward programs have fuelled TransAlta’s success, as Dahl discussed.
“It's a peer-to-peer recognition program that provides our employees with what we call ‘boost bucks’. So every quarter, every employee gets a small pot of boost bucks. And we asked them to reward their peers and colleagues for displaying the behaviours that directly support the five pillars of our culture transformation.”
The program has been “hugely successful with 92% participation” says Dahl.
“The ability for all employees to easily thank and reward their peers and colleagues, combined with that social media format, they can posts and comment on them and applaud people, it's really been the recipe for success with the generation of employees that we're trying to attract,” she says.
At the 10th annual Canadian HR Awards, TransAlta received an Excellence Award for Best Rewards & Recognition Strategy.
Learn more about TransAlta’s decision to implement a culture transformation strategy and it’s “Boost and Bolt” reward programs. Watch this video of Dahl’s conversation with Key Media’s Sarah Dobson, for free right here.