SIGNALWORKFORCE INTELLIGENCE

CASE STUDIES

What changes when you fix the cause, not the symptom.

How Signal approaches acquisition, retention and output problems across different operational workforces.

PART 1

Insights

What we keep finding across our project work, organised by acquisition, retention and output.

WHAT WE KEEP FINDING

The same patterns hold back acquisition, retention and output.

Across our work with councils, statewide venue operators, major event operators and operational teams, the gap is rarely a lack of programs or goodwill. It’s the distance between what an organisation intends and what actually happens on the ground.

01 · ACQUISITION

Filling roles with the right people

1.6 per role

When people aren’t there, you recruit for the gap.

With attendance around 62%, one operational team had to recruit about 1.6 people for every role it needed filled.

For your workforce: Fixing why people aren’t turning up can cut how many you need to hire.

19 of 21

Saying yes isn’t turning up.

Of 21 operators invited into a statewide program, 19 signed up. Far fewer went on to take part.

For your workforce: The same gap sits between offers accepted and people on the job. Signal tracks the whole path from “yes” to fully trained.

02 · RETENTION

Keeping people and growing them

100+ initiatives

What keeps people is often already in the business.

For a statewide venue operator, we mapped more than 100 initiatives already running and ranked them by likely impact.

For your workforce: Your best retention levers are often already working in one location. Signal finds them and helps you copy them.

3.4× the cost

Programs cost more than anyone is counting.

Once staff time, in-kind support and processing across teams were included, one organisation’s program cost 3.4 to 3.7 times what it had been counting.

For your workforce: The Lever Map counts the full cost of the programs you run to keep people, so you can back the ones that pay off.

03 · OUTPUT

Getting the work done, reliably

91% vs 4/10

Willing isn’t the same as able.

Across a statewide program, 91% of operators wanted to do better, yet rated their own capability at 4 out of 10.

For your workforce: Output gaps are rarely about effort. Signal looks at capability and opportunity before anyone adds more incentives.

3 of 9

You can’t lift what you can’t see.

Only 3 of 9 major operators in the same program could report their own results.

For your workforce: Signal sets your baseline first, so every change can be measured against it.

Insights from Signal and Luminair Systems project work. Client details are de-identified.

PART 2

Case studies

How Signal approaches real problems in each sector, from the cost of the problem to the changes that fix it.

These case studies are theoretical or de-identified.

To protect the privacy of our clients, the scenarios on this page are illustrative composites or are based on real conversations with identifying details removed. None describes an identified organisation. They show how Signal works and the measures we track. They are not reported results and do not represent guaranteed outcomes.

All Franchises & multi-site Tourism & hospitality Construction & infrastructure Local councils

THE HIDDEN COST IN EVERY CASE

Programs that don’t land still cost full price.

56%

of program spend landing as intended

44¢

in every dollar not delivering

+79%

extra spend needed to reach the result you planned

Illustrative: if 56% of spend lands, the full intended result costs 1 ÷ 0.56 ≈ 1.79 times the budget. Lifting the share that lands is cheaper than adding more spend.

FRANCHISES & MULTI-SITE OUTPUT THEORETICAL SCENARIO

Every report said “fine”. The sick leave said otherwise.

THE COST

$120k

a year to cover the extra absence at one 60-person site, mostly at overtime rates

Opportunity cost: Every program was running, so the money kept going in. Without knowing which parts were landing, the only option was to spend more on the same mix.

THE PROBLEM

Unplanned absence and sick leave kept climbing at a franchisee’s site. Every system said things were as they should be: franchise reporting, compliance checks and culture surveys were all green. Yet shifts kept running short, and the problem didn’t go away.

ALREADY IN PLACE

A lot: the franchise system’s programs, plus the operator’s own incentives, leave and attendance policies, and positive culture initiatives.

WHAT SIGNAL FOUND

The Lever Map showed the programs existed, but none were aimed at what was actually driving absence. On the ground and in confidential conversations, it was motivation, hit by several things at once: rosters released late, recognition that never reached the back of house, and no visible way to step up.

PRIORITY LEVERS

→ Optimise what was already there: the same incentives and recognition, redirected to the people and shifts that needed them

→ Fill the gaps: a small number of targeted initiatives where nothing existed

→ Enable it with organisational levers: roster timing, supervisor routines and attendance policy, so the change holds

Mostly existing spend, working harder.

HOW IT STICKS

Unplanned absence, shifts covered as rostered and output against plan, tracked on the Signal leaderboard. The site manager runs the quarterly field observations, and head office can compare the site with the rest of the network.

WHY IT MATTERS

Green dashboards don’t mean the programs are landing. Signal showed why people weren’t turning up, and fixed it mostly with what was already paid for.

Illustrative: 60 team members averaging 20 hours a week (about 62,400 paid hours a year), unplanned absence up 4 percentage points, with lost hours covered at 1.5 times a $32 hourly cost. Excludes lost sales and service impact.

TOURISM & HOSPITALITY RETENTION THEORETICAL SCENARIO

Rehiring half the team every season cost six times what they budgeted.

THE COST

6×

the true cost of finding, housing and training seasonal staff: $900k, not the $150k in the budget

Opportunity cost: Every good person who didn’t come back had to be found, housed and trained again, every single season.

THE PROBLEM

Fewer than half of a resort group’s seasonal team came back each year. Recruitment for peak started late, the resort opened short-staffed, and guest reviews dipped while new teams found their feet. They budgeted $150,000 a year to attract and keep staff. Counted in full, it was about $900,000.

ALREADY IN PLACE

Staff accommodation, free meals, a full induction, social events and an end-of-season bonus. Generous perks by any standard.

WHAT SIGNAL FOUND

The Lever Map counted the full cost of every rehire: recruitment, manager time, paid training hours and the same induction run separately by three departments. Conversations with staff showed accommodation was the most valued benefit, but it was allocated too late, so good people committed elsewhere first. The end-of-season bonus felt like a penalty, returners came back to the same role and pay, and what mattered most, being asked back by their supervisor, rarely happened.

PRIORITY LEVERS

→ A personal invitation to return from each supervisor before the season ends

→ Guaranteed early accommodation for returners

→ Part of the existing bonus redirected into a step up for returning staff, and one combined induction instead of three

Same budget, keeping the people you already trained.

HOW IT STICKS

Seasonal return rate, days to fill before peak, time to fully trained and guest scores in the first four weeks of the season, tracked on the Signal leaderboard across each property.

WHY IT MATTERS

Every returner you keep is one you don’t have to find, house and train again. Signal showed what would bring good people back, using perks the resort was already paying for.

Theoretical scenario. True cost includes recruitment, manager and staff time, paid training hours, administration and duplicated induction across departments.

CONSTRUCTION & INFRASTRUCTURE RETENTION THEORETICAL SCENARIO

Losing a third of the workforce every year, despite sign-on bonuses

THE COST

$660k

a year to replace 42 skilled workers on a 120-person workforce

Opportunity cost: Sign-on bonuses kept rising to win people back, so the business was paying more each year to keep standing still.

THE PROBLEM

An infrastructure contractor was losing about 35% of its workforce every year, mostly skilled operators and apprentices in their first 12 months. Projects ran short, and sign-on bonuses kept climbing to win people back.

ALREADY IN PLACE

Sign-on bonuses, a funded training budget, safety and wellbeing programs, and a recognition award. Well resourced on paper.

WHAT SIGNAL FOUND

The Lever Map showed the sign-on bonus was attracting short-stayers who left once it was paid. On site and in conversations with crews, people didn’t know the training budget existed, couldn’t see a path to the next role, and their supervisors had never been shown how to lead a crew.

PRIORITY LEVERS

→ Turn the sign-on bonus into a 12-month milestone, paid to people who stay

→ Make the existing training budget visible as a clear pathway to the next role

→ Equip supervisors with simple routines for leading and checking in with their crew

Same budget, rewarding people who stay.

HOW IT STICKS

First-year retention, regretted turnover, promotion from within and shifts covered, tracked by project on the Signal leaderboard, with site supervisors running the quarterly field observations.

WHY IT MATTERS

Paying people to join doesn’t make them stay. Signal moved the same money to where it kept good people.

Illustrative: about $15,800 to replace each skilled worker ($3,000 recruitment, 80 paid training hours and 8 weeks to get fully up to speed at a $55 hourly cost). 42 leavers × about $15,800.

LOCAL COUNCILS ACQUISITION BASED ON A REAL CONVERSATION · DE-IDENTIFIED

Hiring 1.6 people to fill every role

THE COST

$1.6m

in payroll for every $1m of work actually delivered

Opportunity cost: Generous conditions were funded in full, but only part of that investment was turning into people at work.

THE PROBLEM

With attendance around 62%, a council works team had to hire about 1.6 people for every role it needed filled, and two or three to be sure of one critical role on the day. Work became reactive, contractors filled the gaps at a premium, and the manager was often out doing the field work himself.

ALREADY IN PLACE

A lot that’s genuinely good: a strong enterprise agreement, flexible work arrangements, generous leave, allowances and a casual pool, designed to make up for pay below the private sector.

WHAT SIGNAL FOUND

The Lever Map showed the conditions made council a great place to work, but they weren’t translating into people at work. Rigid role descriptions meant no one could step in. Incentives only some could earn created friction. Casuals took weeks to onboard and couldn’t be called in at short notice.

PRIORITY LEVERS

→ Broaden who can cover which tasks, within the existing agreement

→ A local, ready-to-call casual pool

→ Fair, visible recognition for the whole crew

No need to outbid the market on pay.

HOW IT STICKS

Attendance, shifts covered, days to fill, contractor and casual costs, and the hiring ratio itself: from 1.6 toward 1. Tracked on the Signal leaderboard, with quarterly field observations run by the works manager.

WHY IT MATTERS

Good conditions don’t guarantee people at work. Signal shows why, and fixes it with the levers council already controls.

Cost is illustrative: at about 62% attendance, roughly 1.6 paid people are needed to deliver one person’s work, so $1m of work costs about $1.6m in payroll. It excludes contractor premiums, overtime and recruitment costs, so the true figure is likely higher. Priority Levers shown are those Signal would test.

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WHAT EVERY PILOT DELIVERS

Fixed deliverables, measured on your numbers

→ Your Lever Map: every existing program and initiative, what it’s meant to achieve, its full cost and whether it’s landing

→ Findings from time on the ground: observation, conversations with your people and mystery shopping

→ Your Priority Levers: a short, costed list, mostly adjustments to what you already run

→ Your own measures and baseline, agreed up front and recorded on the Signal leaderboard

→ Your managers equipped to run quarterly field observations, with the data staying yours

Built on international best practice: one peer-reviewed model that brings together 19 established models of behaviour change.

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