A Huntsville-based company is using employee surveys to help both workers and management get what they want.

Dr. Timo Sandritter is a native of Germany who has two doctorates and a law degree. Sandritter, who first came to the United States to play soccer, started a company in 2017 to track the motivation of professional athletes. That company, RippleWorx, has expanded its scope to consult with government, law enforcement and private companies to improve workplace performance, employee retention, job satisfaction and communication.

RippleWorx’s clients now include the Alabama Department of Corrections and the U.S. Department of Defense.

Its website cites some unsettling facts about the American workplace. More than 40% of frontline staff members are considering leaving their jobs, and many feel unconnected. Unsupported employees are four times more likely to leave. Nearly half of all frontline managers suffer daily burnout and need stress management tools.

“We really focus on how can we retain, engage and help organizations perform and individuals feel empowered to perform within those organizations,” said CEO and co-founder Angie Sandritter.

With roughly 21,000 active users, the company has launched more than a half-million workplace surveys and collected more than 50,000 responses.

Using that information, RippleWorx provides “targeted recommendations and strategic actions leading to a workforce equipped with the physical, mental and emotional capacity to achieve their goals.”

Its proprietary methodology, called RPX5, and AI-driven analytics produce data that suggest ways to address issues. The company describes itself as “an indispensable ally to frontline desk-less workers across a range of industries.” Sandritter said Rippleworx’s “feedback loop” works as an employee’s “listening solution.”

“We’re going to be able to take feedback from the organization in our performance models and give the actions necessary to develop, retain and engage those individuals,” she said.

Inc. 5000 recognized RippleWorx on its 2023 List of America’s Fastest Growing Private Companies. (Rippleworx)

Through anonymous communication, employees can relay specific information that Teams doesn’t work for their needs, for example, or that they need clarification on the latest communication from company leaders.

“We can even take that intentional feedback from employees and give summarized views to leadership,” Sandritter said.

So-called deskless workers such as police officers and utility workers typically communicate on mobile devices and rarely go into an office.

“With utility workers their office might be a truck or a squad car or a manufacturing floor,” Sandritter said. “Their ability to have regular connectivity is limited.”

After RippleWorx becomes involved, many employees report that “this is the first time I feel like someone is really listening to me,” she said.

“More importantly, we track employee motivation. Is that employee motivated to come in to work that day and do their job?”

One of the company’s strengths is improving communication between workers and management.

Employees, particularly younger ones, “won’t tell you when directly asked, but if you ask them on a mobile device, they communicate authentically,” Sandritter said.

Getting their feedback is important because young workers are typically the hardest to retain.

“There is a generation where they want to be heard; they want their voice to matter. They have options,” she said. “That’s the challenge of employers, trying to address those concerns and still bring these businesses forward in these economic times that we’ve had.”

The namesake “ripple” concept is based on making small, positive changes incrementally or saving money a little at a time.

“As humans, we want to get to goals in life,” Sandritter said. “Better performance is based on the ripple effect.”

This story was previously published by This is Alabama. Want to read more good news about Alabama? Sign up for the This is Alabama newsletter here.