Hey, it's Rachel Cook, your modern mentor.

I'm the founder of Lead Above Noise, a firm specializing in retaining, engaging, and developing

talent.

And, you know, one of the most powerful drivers of talent retention and engagement is a really

impactful employee experience.

I've worked with dozens of companies to help them understand what the

employee experience actually is and what it isn't, and how to dial it up to amazing. And the great

news today is that you don't have to wait for your company to take action. You can actually

take your experience into your own hands. So let's talk about how. But first, hey, if you're a regular

modern mentor listener and you feel like this podcast is adding value, please take a minute to

review it on Apple Podcasts. It makes a huge difference. I super appreciate it. Okay, let's start with

a question. If I asked you to describe your own employee experience, what would you talk about?

Would it be money, flexibility, office space, virtual team yoga sessions?

The truth is, most of us can't find the employee experience on a map.

And it's hard to change something you can't see. So let's just start with some

basic geography. Like, where does your employee experience live? Well, the answer is right between

hygiene and sparkle. Yes, a little clarification is necessary here, so here we go. Your hygiene factors are the things that you only really

notice when they aren't there. Right? You expect things like reasonable compensation

for a safe workplace or policies that seem fair and equitable. You only notice these things

when they're not there, but when they are, you tend to take them for granted.

And you should take those things for granted.

Now, your sparkle factors, these are your sexy extras.

...