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FINRA Makes Major Gains in Cross-Department Collaboration, Professional Development Opportunities, and Employee Engagement

  • Increased survey participation by 6% to an all-time high of 93%
  • Improved scores in 78% of all survey items
  • Enhanced cross-departmental cooperation by 8%

The Opportunity

In 2018, FINRA launched four core values — collaboration, expertise, innovation, and responsibility — to help shape its organizational culture. By 2020, FINRA needed a systematic way to measure how these values influenced daily work and decision-making across teams.

The Solution

FINRA built a biennial culture survey program, partnering with Perceptyx in 2020, 2022, and 2024. The strategy expanded in 2024 to include a focused hybrid work assessment. Backed by the CEO, Robert Cook, and with the support of its senior executives, FINRA launched several initiatives to address employee feedback, including:

  • A Decision-Making Resource Center with learning pathways for all employees and people leaders
  • A Psychological Safety Framework with foundational group coaching workshops for people leaders
  • The THREADS (Together, Hearing, Reflecting, Engaging, and Amplifying Diverse Voices Through Storytelling) initiative to encourage learning through shared professional experiences and foster a culture of “speaking-up”
  • Targeted solutions within departments, based on their local survey results: the CRED team implemented "Crucial Conversations" training, while People Solutions launched a Career Accelerator Program for cross-team skill development

The Impact

The 2024 Culture Survey found gains across multiple areas:

  • Growth in 8 of 10 survey categories
  • Improved scores in 78% of all survey items
  • Cross-departmental collaboration 15% above high performing benchmark
  • Job energy up 6%
  • Workplace inspiration rose 5%
  • Professional development opportunities increased 5%
  • Organizational pride lifted 2%

Analysis of 5,000+ employee comments showed "culture" as the dominant theme, with 30% highlighting organizational strengths. Decision-making metrics improved 1-4%, while speaking-up indicators rose 2-3%.

FINRA's methodology for measuring and strengthening culture yielded tangible results. The 93% survey response rate — their highest ever — reflected growing employee investment and trust in the feedback process.