Same Surveys. Same Results.
Same Issues. Repeat.
The method behind your surveys was built in 1932.
It was never designed for business decisions.
Yet that's what you're using it for.
“Sarah is outperforming her peers at her compensation level by 25%? Is she a flight risk if we don't acknowledge and act?”
“Should IT or Sales get 70% of our FY initiative budget like they both are requesting?”
“We have budgeted for 4 FTEs. Should Department A get 3 and Department B get 1 — or should it be 2 and 2? Who should get the extra headcount?”
The Status Quo Cannot Answer These.
ARBHR CAN.
Where Your Leadership Bandwidth Goes
of executive time in reporting meetings
HBR
of knowledge worker time finding, cleaning & verifying information
McKinsey
of manager time on managing recurring staff conflicts
McKinsey
of manager time on coaching & development
Proaction Intl
5 Decisions The Status Quo
Can't Support
The problems categorical data was never built to solve
The Budget Black Hole
"What percentage of Q2 budget should shift to our top initiatives?"
No Allocation Precision
When 85% of items are rated "important," you have no strategy. Just expensive guessing. Categorical data cannot calculate budget proportions — only "yes/no" funding decisions. You can't allocate 60/40 when everything is "4 out of 5."
The Fix: Forced Prioritization
We don't ask "Is this important?" — everything is. We ask "What matters MORE?" — that's what budgets require. The result: mathematically precise allocation roadmaps.
The Compensation Trap
"Is Sarah outperforming Mike by 25%? That's $22,000 in comp."
No Magnitude Visibility
Both "exceed expectations." But by how much? The status quo cannot show magnitude — only category. You can't justify a 25% comp difference from two identical ratings. Only 22% of employees believe leaders distinguish performers.
The Fix: Magnitude Visibility
100-point continuous scales reveal what 5-point scales compress. Sarah: 78. Mike: 62. That's a 26% gap — comp difference justified.
The Surprise Departure
"Your 'satisfied' employees keep leaving. You never saw it coming."
Signal Compression
5-point scales force "staying" and "about to leave" into the same box. A "4" who loves their job looks identical to a "4" who's interviewing elsewhere. You can't prevent what you can't distinguish.
The Fix: Variance Expansion
100-point scales reveal the 31% of signal that 5-point scales compress. See exit risk 6 months before resignation.
The Doom Loop
"The same problems keep returning. The same feedback themes appear year after year. Nothing ever changes."
Root Cause Invisibility
When all items cluster at 3-4, root causes look identical to symptoms. You treat symptoms. Root causes persist. Problems return. Employees see nothing changes. They give less honest feedback. Loop accelerates. 70% of change initiatives fail. This is why.
The Fix: Causal Chain Visibility
When items spread across 58 points instead of 2, you see which problems cause which. Fix root causes. Break the loop.
The Meeting Trap
"Your leadership team spends 2.3x more bandwidth figuring things out than building capabilities. The data should show this."
Time Allocation Blindness
Status quo data can't answer the questions meetings are trying to resolve. So meetings multiply. Strategic work gets crowded out. Coaching disappears. But everyone looks "moderately" busy with "moderate" time on everything. The time allocation inversion is invisible.
The Fix: Bandwidth Visibility
See the 43-point gap between compensatory activities (77/100) and capability-building (34/100). Status quo shows both as "Moderate Share."
Keep Using Categories for Decisions
That Require Magnitudes.
— OR —
Start Getting Data Your Decisions Need.
The Status Quo
(Categorical Data)
ARBHR
(Continuous Comparative)
Same questions. Same effort. Same respondents.
DECISION GRADE DATA.