Personnel Today
  • Home
    • All PT content
  • Email sign-up
  • Topics
    • HR Practice
    • Employee relations
    • Learning & training
    • Pay & benefits
    • Wellbeing
    • Recruitment & retention
    • HR strategy
    • HR Tech
    • The HR profession
    • Global
    • All HR topics
  • Legal
    • Case law
    • Commentary
    • Flexible working
    • Legal timetable
    • Maternity & paternity
    • Shared parental leave
    • Redundancy
    • TUPE
    • Disciplinary and grievances
    • Employer’s guides
  • AWARDS
    • Personnel Today Awards
    • The RAD Awards
  • Jobs
    • Find a job
    • Jobs by email
    • Careers advice
    • Post a job
  • Brightmine
    • Learn more
    • Products
    • Free trial
    • Request a quote
  • Webinars
  • Advertise
  • OHW+

Personnel Today

Register
Log in
Personnel Today
  • Home
    • All PT content
  • Email sign-up
  • Topics
    • HR Practice
    • Employee relations
    • Learning & training
    • Pay & benefits
    • Wellbeing
    • Recruitment & retention
    • HR strategy
    • HR Tech
    • The HR profession
    • Global
    • All HR topics
  • Legal
    • Case law
    • Commentary
    • Flexible working
    • Legal timetable
    • Maternity & paternity
    • Shared parental leave
    • Redundancy
    • TUPE
    • Disciplinary and grievances
    • Employer’s guides
  • AWARDS
    • Personnel Today Awards
    • The RAD Awards
  • Jobs
    • Find a job
    • Jobs by email
    • Careers advice
    • Post a job
  • Brightmine
    • Learn more
    • Products
    • Free trial
    • Request a quote
  • Webinars
  • Advertise
  • OHW+

Personnel Today Awards

PT Awards profile: engagement is the only way for Essex

by Jo Faragher 1 Jul 2014
by Jo Faragher 1 Jul 2014 Essex County Council collect their award in 2013
Essex County Council collect their award in 2013

Essex County Council is one of the largest local authorities in the UK, looking after around 1.4 million residents. Like many public-sector employers, it faced huge cuts to its budget after the Government’s spending review in 2010.

Despite this, it wanted to improve levels of engagement among employees. As it admits in its winning submission for Personnel Today’s Award for Public Service Excellence in 2013, this would be “challenging even when your audience isn’t facing an uncertain future due to a massive transformation programme, and some would say almost impossible in a political landscape that sees public-sector pay frozen and pensions under threat”.

Undeterred, the council launched a council-wide initiative known as “Your Voice”, where two full-time equivalent employees steer engagement in the council. They work within the HR function, aiming to make managers more accountable for empowering and engaging their teams, so they can develop employees to embrace change and collaborate, and ensure that leaders made meaningful connections with council employees.

One of the highlights of the initiative was the Your Voice engagement day. The idea was that, on a given day, 48 separate but simultaneous conversations would be hosted by senior leaders. This event was delivered on zero budget, using in-house venues across the county and providing refreshments funded through sponsorship.

The council also adopted a novel approach to focus groups. Using the well-known Carlsberg advertising slogan, it asked employees to apply this theory to problem areas in their workplace – for example: “If Carlsberg did communication at Essex, it would be the best in the world, so what would it look and feel like?”

In addition, it developed a council employee panel to shape policies and projects, and created an informal network of “Essex engagers”, which now includes 500 employees. Line managers are welcome to attend a bite-size learning session known as “Engage Space”, which helps them to understand their role in employee engagement.

In order to improve communication with, and visibility of, senior leaders, the council launched a series of speed networking events hosted by the deputy chief executive and executive director of transformation. It also deployed “Thank God it’s Monday” employee focus groups and “Go Mad about Employee Engagement” workshops for line managers.

Sign up to our weekly round-up of HR news and guidance

Receive the Personnel Today Direct e-newsletter every Wednesday

OptOut
This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

Response rates to the Your Voice engagement survey have increased to 77% in 2012. The average local government benchmark is just over 50%. Essex’ employee engagement index has increased by 3% across the organisation, and in some teams exceeds the 80%+ target.

One of the awards judges, Richard Crouch, praised Essex County Council for the effect that this improved engagement will have on the people that the organisation serves, saying this was “the only entry to make a community link in the challenge”.

Jo Faragher

Jo Faragher has been an employment and business journalist for 20 years. She regularly contributes to Personnel Today and writes features for a number of national business and membership magazines. Jo is also the author of 'Good Work, Great Technology', published in 2022 by Clink Street Publishing, charting the relationship between effective workplace technology and productive and happy employees. She won the Willis Towers Watson HR journalist of the year award in 2015 and has been highly commended twice.

previous post
New code of conduct to boost women on boards
next post
One in three workers has “pulled a sickie”

You may also like

Personnel Today Awards 2025: Three weeks left to...

23 May 2025

Personnel Today Awards 2024: winners revealed

20 Nov 2024

National Grid powers through to win the Early...

20 Nov 2024

Kier Group engineers its way to the Candidate...

20 Nov 2024

E.ON UK goes home with the Family-Friendly Employer...

20 Nov 2024

Department of Health Northern Ireland/Healthdaq win Excellence in...

20 Nov 2024

E.ON surges to Hybrid Working Award 2024 win

20 Nov 2024

Deloitte UK clicks on the Digital HR &...

20 Nov 2024

Angela Williams of Corsearch is HR Director of...

20 Nov 2024

Vero HR picks up HR Consultancy of the...

20 Nov 2024

  • 2025 Employee Communications Report PROMOTED | HR and leadership...Read more
  • The Majority of Employees Have Their Eyes on Their Next Move PROMOTED | A staggering 65%...Read more
  • Prioritising performance management: Strategies for success (webinar) WEBINAR | In today’s fast-paced...Read more
  • Self-Leadership: The Key to Successful Organisations PROMOTED | Eletive is helping businesses...Read more
  • Retaining Female Talent: Four Ways to Reduce Workplace Drop Out PROMOTED | International Women’s Day...Read more

Personnel Today Jobs
 

Search Jobs

PERSONNEL TODAY

About us
Contact us
Browse all HR topics
Email newsletters
Content feeds
Cookies policy
Privacy policy
Terms and conditions

JOBS

Personnel Today Jobs
Post a job
Why advertise with us?

EVENTS & PRODUCTS

The Personnel Today Awards
The RAD Awards
Employee Benefits
Forum for Expatriate Management
OHW+
Whatmedia

ADVERTISING & PR

Advertising opportunities
Features list 2025

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Instagram
  • Linkedin


© 2011 - 2025 DVV Media International Ltd

Personnel Today
  • Home
    • All PT content
  • Email sign-up
  • Topics
    • HR Practice
    • Employee relations
    • Learning & training
    • Pay & benefits
    • Wellbeing
    • Recruitment & retention
    • HR strategy
    • HR Tech
    • The HR profession
    • Global
    • All HR topics
  • Legal
    • Case law
    • Commentary
    • Flexible working
    • Legal timetable
    • Maternity & paternity
    • Shared parental leave
    • Redundancy
    • TUPE
    • Disciplinary and grievances
    • Employer’s guides
  • AWARDS
    • Personnel Today Awards
    • The RAD Awards
  • Jobs
    • Find a job
    • Jobs by email
    • Careers advice
    • Post a job
  • Brightmine
    • Learn more
    • Products
    • Free trial
    • Request a quote
  • Webinars
  • Advertise
  • OHW+