Engaging Employees: The Business Case

20th Apr 2005 @ 12.09pm

Engagement is a positive attitude held by the employee towards the organisation and its values. An engaged employee is aware of business context, and works with colleagues to improve performance within the job for the benefit of the organisation. The organisation must work to nurture, maintain and grow engagement, which requires a two-way relationship between employer and employee. (IES)

Much analysis and statistical data has been collated to prove the benefits of employee engagement and the detrimental effect of disengaged employees.

A Gallup survey (2001) concluded that actively disengaged employees cost UK business somewhere between £39b and £48b per annum, and that 80% of employees in the UK are not engaged at work ? not surprising perhaps when only 5% of the workforce understands corporate strategy (Balanced Scorecard Collaborative 2002).

This data has been bolstered by Mercer Delta research that shows, conversely, that engaged employees deliver four times more value to the organisation than non-engaged employees. This is further supported by Watson Wyatt?s evidence that employee involvement, sharing information and getting feedback are directly related to a 2.2% increase in shareholder value. IES’s research also demonstrates that employee commitment has a direct correlation to an increase in sales / company performance.

posted by Paul Honeywell
filed under Engagement