Each year, ORC International celebrates excellence in employee engagement amongst our clients around the world. Winners of ORC’s International Excellence in Employee Engagement Award achieve the highest engagement survey scores relative to external benchmarks. This year’s winner is one of the world’s leading publishing and financial information firms. Congratulations, Dow Jones. Founded by Charles Dow, Edward Jones and Charles Bergstresser in November 1882, Dow Jones first published The Wall Street Journal in 1889 for 2 cents an issue with the statement: “We appreciate the confidence reposed in our work. We mean to make it better.” The industry has changed immensely since then, accelerated considerably in recent years by social media and digital technology developments. What was great yesterday may not be great tomorrow, and every day has to deliver a new product – another newspaper, more stories – now to be distributed through a number of channels. Keeping employees engaged in this type of dynamic, ever changing industry is key, especially as the news that Dow Jones delivers impacts societies and communities. In 2014 Dow Jones conducted its first employee engagement survey since its acquisition by News Corp in 2007, in recognition of the vital importance of listening to and having regular dialogue with employees at every level. The survey results showed employees have an incredible connection to Dow Jones. People are passionate and proud to work for Dow Jones, and would recommend and associate themselves with the organization, The Wall Street Journal, and with the other services and products it delivers. The employee culture is one of energy and enthusiasm. Mark Musgrave, Chief HR Officer, said “Employees have great passion to create new content for customers every day and as such it’s a highly dynamic place to work. We are extremely proud of how engaged our workforce is with our brand and products.” Driven by broader industry disruption, there has also been profound organizational change at Dow Jones in recent years, and a need to direct the passion in the right way. The engagement survey is an important way of understanding how employees are reacting to and embracing that change. As a result of the survey, there has been a focus on providing greater clarity around vision and strategy through increased communication, town halls and listening groups, to better share what is happening in the industry and where Dow Jones will stand within that. “The survey results provide a clear picture of how the organization is feeling and where our attention needs to be focused. As an HR practitioner, my mantra is about how we can make our people resource even better and, as a result, make the company even stronger in a very competitive landscape.” Mark Musgrave, Dow Jones. Looking to the future – a focus on becoming more customer centric. Dow Jones understands that with increased competition, a customer-centric culture is key to differentiate and stay ahead. Employees need to not only be engaged, but must also be connected to the needs of customers. With this in mind, Dow Jones has implemented an internal customer charter to help employees understand their role in delivering the customer experience. They have also conducted a rigorous customer segmentation study to identify and understand different parts of their customer base; to build employee understanding of this initative, employees fill in a questionnaire to see what type of customer they would be. Video interviews with customers have also been published internally, emphasizing the sense of pride and the connection between what employees do and who they do it for. Matt Roddan, Vice President and Head of Employee Research US at ORC International, said: “Dow Jones has maintained an incredibly engaging, innovative employee culture in the midst of ongoing disruption. Congratulations on this very well deserved award.” Dow Jones will be sharing more of their story and best practices at ORC International’s upcoming Employee Engagement conference in Chicago on October 20th. More details at www.orcemployeeconference.com.