Although many will have considered themselves lucky, levels of engagement are said to have reached an all time low. Static pay levels, redundancies, survivor syndrome, higher workloads and reduced negotiating power have all taken their toll on the UK workforce.

This situation needs urgent attention. For the UK to return to full strength quickly, with the ability to compete in a global market, it is essential that employee engagement is prioritised, according to a recent survey: “59% of 450 HR directors picked out employee engagement as key for their business over the next year, suggesting that it will play a major part in driving businesses out of the recession”.

There is strong evidence for the importance of employee engagement. Whereas engaged employees in the UK take an average of 2.69 sick days per year, disengaged employees take, on average, 6.19. That’s 2.3 times as many! In addition, engaged employees are 87% less likely to leave the organisation than disengaged employees. Both of these high organisational costs can be reduced by paying attention to employee engagement. In 2006, Gallup found that employees with engagement scores in the top quartile averaged 18% higher productivity and 12% higher profitability.

Employers need to create and use smarter employee engagement surveys. This means developing the traditional staff survey so that, as well as providing the usual  information, engagement levels are linked to key business outcomes for the organisation – for example turnover, commitment, sickness absence, sales and so on. With this linkage, employee engagement will become of great interest to finance directors, CEOs, HR personnel and psychologists.

So let the end of the recession mark a new way of measuring and improving staff engagement! What is your perspective? Is employee engagement essential to post-recession recovery?