This week, Modern Mentor is helping employees take their experience into their own hands. 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 start with some basic geography. Question: Where does your employee experience live? Answer: it’s halfway between hygiene and sparkle of course!

So, of course, we need a little clarification please. Your hygiene factors are the things that you only really notice when they’re absent. They’re things like reasonable base compensation, a safe workplace, fair and equitable policies. When these are absent, you’re likely to walk. But when they’re present, you rightfully take them for granted.

Now your sparkle factors—these are your sexy extras. Your fancy holiday parties, your team yoga sessions, free food in the office. “If you can swing ‘em, bring ‘em.” Sparkle factors are great. But their shine wears off quickly.

Your actual employee experience lives between these two poles. And Modern Mentor define it as the collective set of conditions that allow you to do four key things at work:

When we get these 4 things right, then we nail the employee experience. It is of course on the company as whole to provide most of this, but we can apply the same ideas on an individual level. And that's what this week's episode dives into. Listen to it here, or read a transcript here.