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The Power of People
EDF Energy drives employee engagement and high performance
The Power of People
EDF Energy drives employee
engagement and high performance
By Lucie P. Lawrence
There’s no question that EDF Energy has experienced significant change in the past
few years. First there were the mergers of three large energy companies between
1998 and 2002 that created EDF Energy. Then came the acquisition of British Energy
in 2009, which formed one of the United Kingdom’s biggest energy corporations and
the country’s largest producer of electricity. With that monumental merger came a
new mission: We bring affordable, low-carbon energy solutions home to everyone.
To that end, EDF Energy is focused on achieving a zero-harm safety record, being
customers’ first choice, leading the way in nuclear generation, delivering strong
financial performance, being a leader in sustainability and having high-performing
people.
Measuring high performance
Leaders knew that for the new company to be successful, they would need to
strengthen and deepen the employer-employee relationship.
“We needed to engage employees in the newest set of challenges the company
faced,” explains Andrew Edgoose, director of HR shared services at EDF Energy.
“In addition to the acquisition of British Energy — which increased our U.K.
employee base by 50% and doubled the value of the company — we faced a major
reengineering project in our business-to-consumer division. We also were laying the
foundation for building new nuclear power sources in the U.K.”
He adds, “These changes would ultimately affect a very large number of employees
and create huge challenges across the business landscape. Our people needed to
understand all of these issues and be engaged to help the company make things
happen.”
The approach was to measure employee engagement and use employee feedback
in a more strategic way. “We wanted to create a scientifically based mechanism that
would lead employees and leaders to trust the survey results,” says Edgoose. “At
the same time, we needed to assess employee opinion across a range of topics,
benchmark the results against those of a variety of companies and industries, and
create a high-performing index to ensure we were on track.”
To achieve these goals, EDF Energy entered into a five-year partnership with Towers
Watson to design and administer an annual employee engagement survey, and to
consult on boosting engagement across the business.
“EDF Energy had been conducting an employee survey each year, using a very
traditional tool,” says Stephen Young, director of organizational surveys and insights
at Towers Watson. “HR leaders recognized the need to redesign it to better align with
the company’s strategic goals.”
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EDF Energy at a Glance
•• Established in 2003
•• A wholly owned subsidiary of
the EDF Group, one of Europe’s
largest energy groups
•• The largest producer of lowcarbon electricity in the U.K.
•• Supplies electricity and gas to
about 5.5 million residential
and business customers
•• Approximately 15,000
employees
Andrew Edgoose,
director of
HR shared services,
EDF Energy
EDF Energy’s Andrew
Edgoose (standing)
with (left to right)
Stephen Young, director
of organizational
surveys and insights,
Towers Watson;
Helen Beedham,
Towers Watson senior
change management
and communication
consultant; and
Christabel Mensah,
employee engagement
and change
management consultant
at EDF Energy
Building a survey
As a first step, Towers Watson consultants worked
closely with senior executives and the employee
engagement team to determine what would be
needed for the company to meet its 2012 goals.
Together they crafted a new employee survey,
including several questions from EDF Energy’s
previous study to help employees make the
transition from the traditional survey of the past.
They designed the new survey to specifically
measure engagement and performance.
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Using employees’ responses to a number of questions, HR would be able to create an engagement
index, which would later evolve into a high-performingpeople index. “The engagement index would show
what employees thought of the company,” explains
Young. “The high-performing-people index would
reflect employees’ perception of company leadership,
communication and direction, as well as performance/talent management, environment, image
and customer focus. Using the indexes, leaders
would be able to track specific behaviors related to
high performance and engagement.”
Lessons Learned
Andrew Edgoose and Christabel Mensah of
EDF Energy offer advice on administering an
employee engagement survey:
The survey ran in 2009 and was well received.
The response rate was 78%, with more than 15,000
employees sharing their views. “We were happy with
the initial response rate, and it has improved each
year,” says Helen Beedham, senior consultant in the
Change Management and Communication practice
at Towers Watson. “The responses painted a clear
picture of how employees believe the company is
doing in a range of areas.”
•• Think through what you’re trying to
achieve. What business challenges will
the survey help you meet?
•• Choose the right partner to advise you
throughout the process.
•• Consider the long-term results. Set a fiveyear goal, and plan to track your progress
each year.
•• Benchmark your results against a range
of companies and industries. This will
demonstrate what “good” really looks like
and will help you put your own data into
perspective.
•• Use similar survey questions year after
year so you can track underlying themes.
•• Act on the survey results.
Strategy at Work 5
Springing Into Action
In response to employee engagement survey findings, EDF Energy:
•• Strengthened employees’ perception of senior leadership effectiveness
•• Executive leadership visibility program: informal walk-arounds at work sites and question-and-answer
sessions
•• Leadership development programs
•• Helped employees understand the vision and direction of the company (post-merger)
•• Business unit road shows
•• The Our Compelling Story program
•• Built a strong change management capability across the business
•• The EDF Energy Way of managing people through change,
including a practical toolkit
•• Change management training for HR and business managers
•• Taught line managers how to enhance engagement on their teams
•• Leadership development programs at the first line-leader level
•• Our Compelling Story sessions for individual teams
Taking action
With survey results in hand, the employee engagement team worked with the HR directors to explain
the results to the business executive teams and
the chief executive officer. HR also used external
benchmarking data to compare EDF Energy to other
high-performing organizations.
As part of the action planning phase, the team
developed short-term recommendations for raising
engagement levels within 12 months. In addition,
the team presented a long-term plan for building
employee engagement and increasing employees’
commitment to helping the business units address
specific priorities.
“This phase is critical to the success of the survey
because we need to act on employee feedback,”
says Edgoose. “It’s essential to have a mix of
corporate responses to the feedback as well as
local responses. We give the business units the
flexibility to develop plans that meet the needs of
employees in their areas.”
To increase employees’ confidence in top-level
management, the action plan includes steps to help
senior executives further develop their leadership
skills and be more visible as leaders. The plan also
outlines ways to improve the support and guidance
provided for managers. And it calls for the launch of
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an e-learning program on sustainability that would
educate employees about the company’s role as a
leading provider of low-carbon energy.
The final action step involves explaining the company’s vision, mission and direction to employees
through Our Compelling Story, a series of interactive
sessions. “The survey results supported the
development of this program,” says Christabel
Mensah, employee engagement and change
consultant at EDF Energy. “Our 2010 survey results
showed that employees who attended one of the
sessions responded more favorably to our survey
questions than those who didn’t attend. It highlights
the importance of listening to employees and
responding to what they’re telling you.”
A continuous journey
“With the help of Towers Watson, we’ve made
progress toward achieving our high-performingpeople goal,” says Edgoose. “Towers Watson
understands the energy sector, and we’ve been
fortunate to work with the same team of consultants
for several years. This has enabled them to get
‘under the skin’ of EDF Energy and get to know us
very well.”
Overall, EDF Energy’s HR team is pleased with
the survey scores. After taking action to address
specific factors — the company’s strategic
Helen Beedham
and Christabel
Mensah in EDF
Energy’s London
headquarters
What Does Engagement Look Like?
Engagement means employees know what their business is trying to achieve, understand their role in that
effort and feel motivated to play a part in the company’s success.
Employee engagement creates and harnesses the discretionary effort employees put into doing things better
and more effectively, leading to stronger business results. Engagement has three components:
•• Rational. Do employees understand the company’s ambitions and values — and how they fit in?
•• Emotional. Do employees feel a sense of belonging and pride? Do they feel valued by the organization and
committed to its goals? Do they advocate for the business?
•• Motivational. Do employees get involved in company programs? Are they willing to go the extra mile?
Do they make plans for their future with the company?
direction, vision, leadership, internal communication,
and workforce health and safety — leaders have
seen significant progress in those areas.
“Our survey results show we’re improving,” says
Mensah. “For example, last year we saw an
increase in favorable scores across each of our
14 categories. We are moving in the right direction;
however, in some areas, such as customer
focus, we’re lagging behind many high-performing
companies. We still have work to do.”
Strategy at Work 7
About Towers Watson
Towers Watson is a leading global professional
services company that helps organizations improve
performance through effective people, risk and
financial management. With 14,000 associates
around the world, we offer solutions in the areas of
employee benefits, talent management, rewards,
and risk and capital management.
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