The 5 drivers of employee engagement

For me, John Bersin recently put it best when he said that “Candidates are not looking for a career, they are looking for an experience; and that employee engagement is your employee brand.”Companies that really drive this are the ones that we all want to work for..so what are my five drivers?

1. Leadership
   People want to work for strong leaders who drive a sense of purpose and vision both of the business and of themselves. A great leader is the number one reason why I would or would not join an organisation, my emotional connection stems from this and can not be de-coupled in my mind.
2. Meaningful work
   Having autonomy, feeling like you have the trust and permission to deliver your best work for an organisation, is driving the next generation of talent. Creating opportunities for people to learn on the job drives again real engagement for talent as there is always something difference, a new or exciting challenge that keeps you connected and engaged.
3. Environment
   Here, I am talking about not only the office “bricks and mortar” but the style, tone and technology that enable people to do there work..the unwritten hygiene factors. I also mean the ways in which people are recognised/rewarded to create flexible open spaces which enable diversity of thought and opinion.
4. Career development
   Engagement here is driven from a deep learning culture where people can see rich opportunities to growth themselves personally and professionally. That there are facilitated career moves and that there is a fair and transparent approach which runs across the company.
5. Feedback
   This is actively encouraged and given and that is acted upon that is transparent and built into agile performance mgt approach like Google OKR approach.

Let’s keep it simple, de-clutter and put our colleagues first and then we can really drive the sort of places that great people want to work.

If you are interested in employee engagement, make sure not to miss our Employee Engagement Summit 2015 in May.

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About Jo Taylor

Jo is an experienced & innovative leader and manager in the creative & technology sector. She believes that talent drives businesses, that by throwing away conventional scripts we can create environments that deliver behavioural innovation for business, the UK and the wider world. She wants to create legacies for businesses that deliver commercial, cultural and behavioural change.

Jo is Director of Talent Management for TalkTalk Group. She is responsible for driving an ambitious, innovative talent strategy. Her ambition is to empower people to take responsibility for their learning to make TalkTalk a brighter place to work for everyone – fulfilling theirs and others dreams and ambitions. She is currently creating a distinct employer brand proposition which plans for future business growth, driving a culture of innovation & risk which allows TalkTalk to be more opportunistic about where and how they develop their talent.

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