Kenexa Manages One of the World's Largest Employee Engagement Surveys for Global Shipping Group

WAYNE, PA--(Marketwire - April 29, 2009) - Kenexa® (NASDAQ: KNXA), a global provider of talent acquisition and retention solutions, today announced that it is undertaking one of the world's largest employee engagement surveys, for the fourth consecutive year, for A.P. Moller-Maersk, the Copenhagen-based shipping and oil group that has 110,000 employees in 130 countries.

The annual survey, which is translated into 16 languages, has led A.P. Moller-Maersk to introduce local and group-wide improvements in its 20 businesses, in areas such as retention, leadership, teamwork, performance, communication, innovation and organizational change.

"We created the engagement survey as a mechanism for employees to voice their opinions about their work, about the organization and about their managers," said Thomas Hedegaard Rasmussen, General Manager at Group Human Resources, A.P. Moller-Maersk. "We use it to improve the workplace, to focus our attention on key interventions and to track progress. In an economic downturn, your business results depend on having engaged employees who perform well and good leaders who ask the right questions."

The majority of employees complete the engagement survey online. Paper surveys are provided to those who do not have access to a computer. These are then shipped back to Kenexa for analysis. In 2008, the response rate was 89%.

"People like to participate in the survey and give their input," said Hedegaard Rasmussen. "We learn what is important to employees, where we're doing well and what we can do better. It's like holding up a mirror to the organization and the findings form the basis of a wide range of decisions. Because it is undertaken in consecutive years, we're able to review the impact of our interventions, monitor trends and compare results with how we scored in previous years."

The survey shows that A.P. Moller-Maersk has highly engaged employees, who are proud to work for the Group, and that engagement is clearly linked to retention. But it does more than measure the 'temperature' of the organization. Employees are also asked to assess their direct manager. Over the past year, an index of 13 items measuring employee perceptions of their manager's effectiveness has risen from 69% favorable to 73%.

Kenexa provides an overall report on the engagement survey results via an online portal. Around 8,000 leaders at A.P. Moller-Maersk each get their own individual report, detailing the results and the feedback from their subordinates. Kenexa also provides a 'data mining' tool that enables A.P. Moller-Maersk's HR team to drill down into the data as required.

"We were impressed with Kenexa's science-based, data-driven approach and their understanding of how to transform the survey results into actionable initiatives," said Hedegaard Rasmussen. "They worked with us to develop the engagement survey, in line with best practice, and helped us to tailor it to take account of our organizational context. The questions have evolved over the years and the focus is now on developing a high performance culture. Having the capacity to consistently manage the logistics and infrastructure of a project of this magnitude is certainly impressive but what keeps Kenexa at the table is the fact that they're able to provide valuable strategic advice and expertise."

Ritu Mohanka, managing director of Kenexa's survey business in Europe, the Middle East and Africa, said, "A.P. Moller-Maersk is one of the world's biggest companies and this is a best of breed example of how an engagement survey can help an organization to understand and act on the drivers of engagement and high performance in its culture. It has enabled the Group to attract and retain top performers, assess its leaders and use the power of its people to drive business success."

About Kenexa

Kenexa (NASDAQ: KNXA) is a global leader in building the world's greatest workforces using a combination of software, employee research science and business process optimization. Kenexa's global solutions include applicant tracking, onboarding, recruitment process outsourcing, employment branding, skills and behavioral assessments, structured interviews, performance management, multi-rater feedback surveys, employee engagement surveys and HR Analytics. Kenexa is headquartered in Wayne, Pa. (outside Philadelphia). Additional information about Kenexa and its global products and services can be accessed at www.kenexa.com.