Over the past 18 months, employee engagement has emerged as a key theme in Aberdeen’s HCM research.  Mollie Lombardi at the Aberdeen Group has recently published an excellent report that not only begins to define this nebulous concept, but also gives concrete steps that managers can begin to take to engage (not just satisfy) their employees. According to Mollie:

Engagement is all about aligning individuals with the mission and priorities of the organization in order to deliver business results…engagement only really matters if it is driving business results. In fact, this is what differentiates employee engagement from employee satisfaction. Satisfaction could indicate that an individual is happy that their paycheck comes in on time, or they appreciate the fact that they have healthcare benefits that protect their family, or that their schedule doesn’t interfere with their passion for kayaking on the weekend. [Satisfaction] doesn’t necessarily reflect any connection with the priorities of the organization.

The interesting thing about this study of 450 companies, 312 of which already have engagement programs in place, is that it begins to tie employee engagement to business results. According to the study, Best-in-Class organizations (i.e. top 20% of performers on key performance indicators) are 23% more likely to use employee engagement programs to address customer needs and expectations and 55% of Best-in-Class of companies report that employee engagement is having a direct impact on revenue and/or profitability.

As a matter of personal interest, I will be exploring this topic a little more over the next few weeks. In the meantime, you can download a free copy of the report here (available until the end of Sept 2009).

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