A member of staff at The University of Nottingham Ningbo has been recognised internationally as a top expert in employee engagement.

Ben Whitter, Director of Organisational Development at UNNC, joins the ranks of Sir Richard Branson and Mark Zuckerberg in the top 101 list compiled by The Employee Engagement Awards.

The list recognises people from all walks of business who have made a significant contribution to the development of employee engagement.

Last year Ben was a finalist in the University’s Knowledge Exchange and Impact Awards for Digital Engagement with his thought leadership work reaching 1 million people.

He also set a record attendance for a WeChat HR webinar and chaired Europe’s first employee experience conference in London.

Ben said: “It is a great honour to be recognised as one of the top influencers and experts in the world within employee engagement. This represents a defining moment for the employee experience movement globally. From pre-hire to retire we believe that the quality of the employee experience is prominent and highly influential, whether designed or not, throughout all the key moments of one’s journey within an organisation, and that this experience impacts strongly on engagement, productivity and performance outcomes.

“I am delighted that my work has been acknowledged in this way and am very proud of the people I work with at The University of Nottingham Ningbo China, and my partners and supporters around the world.”

Matt Manners, founder of The Employee Engagement Awards said “We have created this initial list as a starting point. We want to trigger people to go and look at the #Engagement101. We want them to research the 101, to follow them and to emulate them.”

Throughout the year members of the list will be asked to speak at conferences around the world and share their expertise.