Prudential Strengthens Culture Through Inclusive Leadership

The Opportunity

Prudential's leadership recognized a gap in their approach to measuring inclusion. Their existing inclusion index, while functional, wasn't capturing emerging priorities like belonging, trust, psychological safety, and growth mindset. This limitation wasn't just a measurement issue — it was hampering their ability to provide comprehensive insights to support talent strategy decisions.

The challenge was pressing because initial analysis suggested that the absence of inclusive behaviors was strongly linked to trust issues in pockets of the organization. Without a more comprehensive measurement framework, they couldn't track the behaviors needed to continue fostering an inclusive culture.

The Solution

Prudential undertook a thorough revamp of their inclusion index, partnering with Perceptyx to incorporate industry best practices and benchmark data. The enhanced framework integrated vital components of modern workplace culture: belonging, trust, psychological safety, and growth mindset.

Using sophisticated analytics, they examined correlations between different behaviors and outcomes, compared performance against benchmarks, and analyzed feedback across various employee segments. This comprehensive approach allowed them to identify key behaviors that contribute to healthy relationships and overall culture.

The insights gained led to the development of a new leadership framework that placed inclusive leadership at its center. This framework wasn't just theoretical — it guided the development of targeted learning initiatives that helped leaders understand how trust intersects with belonging and psychological safety to drive engagement and retention.

The Impact

Analysis revealed that when employees experienced strong inclusive behaviors, their engagement levels were twice that of peers who lacked a sense of belonging and psychological safety. This finding validated Prudential’s investment in leadership training focused on inclusive behaviors.

The impact was visible across multiple metrics:

• Manager trust ratings showed steady improvement, increasing by 6 points over five years
• The percentage of employees who felt their perspectives were welcomed and valued rose by 5 points
• Their inclusion index consistently outperformed external benchmarks
• The organization saw growing numbers of employees willing to self-identify across diversity segments
• Voluntary turnover reached an all-time low, significantly below industry norms

As a result, Prudential succeeded in narrowing the gaps in engagement and inclusion scores between diverse segments of their population over the past two years. This achievement demonstrated that their comprehensive approach to inclusion wasn't just improving overall metrics — it was creating a better workplace experience for all employees.

The enhanced measurement framework also enabled more targeted interventions. By identifying areas where belonging or psychological safety were lacking, they could implement customized local interventions. This data-driven approach to inclusion helped ensure that resources were directed where they could have the most impact.