Premium editorial | Page 373 (3,822 items)

Prioritising shared values ahead of technical skills when recruiting staff is one of the keys to high engagement levels at Swinburne Online, according to its head of HR.

Employers don't have to change the behaviour of every worker to fix a toxic culture; they should focus their efforts on "rapport leaders", says leadership and performance coach Peter Keith.

Giving employees an opportunity to pitch their ideas to senior management is a cost-free way to improve engagement and develop better systems, processes and products, according to HP's Michelle Sutherland.

The best way to get leaders' buy-in for people initiatives is to 'get their skin in the game' and have them drive it, according to the HR director for employment services company Adecco Australia, Erica Page.

HR professionals should foster a developmental culture within workplaces that allows each staff member to form a web of "rigorously informal" mentoring relationships, according to research by American academics Wendy Murphy and Kathy Kram.

Many of the difficulties employees face at work - from information overload to tensions between co-workers - can be eased with mindfulness training, according to workplace consultancy The Potential Project.

A staff-driven "hackathon", where employees develop, produce and market a new product in 48 hours, has helped online employment company Seek tangibly demonstrate its EVP and increase staff engagement in the process.

As a not-for-profit organisation, Starlight Children's Foundation has a lot to do with limited funds, so it places high expectations on its people.

Shared ownership of ideas is one of the key tenets of Cirque du Soleil's success, as all employees work better when given a "share in the pot", says the circus's former director of creation.

What makes employees go the extra mile? This year's 'Best of the Best Employers' finds empowerment, "tough love" discussions and reasonable boundaries work better than financial rewards.