The document discusses the significant impact of employee engagement on organizational performance and the economy, emphasizing that engaged employees drive innovation, productivity, and sales growth. It outlines four key enablers for fostering employee engagement: strong strategic narrative, engaging managers, employee voice, and integrity. The evidence demonstrates that organizations with high engagement levels enjoy reduced turnover, higher profitability, and overall improved performance compared to those with low engagement.

1. THE EVIDENCE
HOW EMPLOYEE ENGAGEMENT IMPACTS THE BOTTOM LINE
DRIVING
ENGAGEMENT
IN YOUR
ORGANISATION
TOOLKIT

2. ENGAGEMENT: WHAT DOES IT MEAN AND WHAT DOES
WHY DOES IT MATTER? AN ENGAGED EMPLOYEE LOOK LIKE?
EARS BRAIN
The report makes clear that, Listening to feedback
and treating people
You are able to process
a clear, credible and
as a business tool, engagement
as individuals is consistent message from
more rewarding for your organisation and its
everyone involved leaders, with no ‘say-do’
is now an imperative. and promotes gap. The values on the
engagement and well- wall are reflected in day-
being. to-day behaviours.
HEART
People who enjoy their EYES
New evidence showing the direct Marks and Spencer stores work and take pride in the Employees who see
impact employee engagement has
with improving engagement organisation they work leaders ‘walking the talk’
on the bottom line clearly for are prepared to give and showing integrity in
demonstrates that it is a must-do, had, on average, delivered more. This results in an what they do and say are
£62 million
not a nice-to-have. upturn in innovation and far more likely to engage
creativity, and an overall with the organisation.
more sales
Improved engagement across the UK improvement in quality.
could add as much as £26 billion to
our gross domestic product – MOUTH
than stores with declining
bringing a significant improvement STOMACH Being able to voice
engagement. The well-being of your ideas and
in productivity as well as a much-
needed boost to the economy. employees significantly feelings makes
improves through you feel more valued
When David MacLeod and Nita Clarke Sainsbury’s found that colleague higher engagement and empowered
engagement contributed up to levels and reduces
published their 2009 Engaging for absenteeism and
Success report to the UK Government,
they identified four themes or 15 per cent sickness rates.
FEET
of a store’s
‘enablers’ for employee engagement. Organisations with high
These are: strong strategic narrative, employee engagement have
year-on-year
HANDS the potential to reduce staff
engaging managers, employee voice
People who work for turnover by 87%, whereas
and integrity.
growth.
an engaging manager disengaged employees are
and feel supported, four times more likely to
The enablers provided the theory to recognised and leave the organisation.
effective engagement and the 2012 valued feel more
follow-up report, The Evidence – engaged with their
based on research and real world organisation.
examples from some of the UK’s top
Dorothy Perkins stores with high
levels of engagement produced
businesses – offers hard evidence
together with case studies and
examples of best practice. 12% higher from Engaged employees are committed to their organisations’ goals and
growth
values and motivated to contribute to their organisations’ success.
arms and An engaged employee experiences a blend of job satisfaction,
in sales – the equivalent of organisational commitment, job involvement and feelings of
legs to empowerment and well-being.
£445,000 heads and David MacLeod says work has gone “from arms and legs to heads and
extra revenue. hearts
hearts”, and that employers must realise and act on this if they are to
engage and get the best from their people.

3. EMPLOYEE ENGAGEMENT
THE EVIDENCE
A high-level task force of some of the UK’s Analysis of the evidence shows that:
most recognisable organisations is calling
for every leader and manager across the Only around a third of UK employees
economy to play their part in tackling the say they are actively engaged at work.
UK’s employee engagement deficit.
20 million workers are not delivering
their full capability or realising their
potential at work.
CEOs call on UK to deliver of people said they have
more to offer in skills
% and talent than they are
£26bn GDP growth currently being asked to
demonstrate at work.
by better engaging
64
employees at work. UK productivity was 20% lower than
the rest of the G7 in 2011.
STATISTICS AND CASE STUDIES
2.5
12%
TWICE
NET REVENUE CUSTOMER
PROFIT PROFIT GROWTH SATISFACTION
Companies with Organisations in the top Companies with top
engagement scores in the quartile of engagement scores quartile engagement
top quartile had twice the demonstrated revenue growth scores average
annual net profit of those 2.5 times greater than those in 12% higher customer
in the bottom quartile. the bottom quartile. advocacy.
18% higher 40%
productivity lower
59% INNOVATION
PRODUCTIVITY 59% of engaged
Organisations in the top employees said that their
quartile of employee engagement job brings out their most EMPLOYEE TURNOVER
scores had 18% higher productivity creative ideas against 3% Companies with high levels of engagement show turnover rate
than those in the bottom quartile. of those less engaged. 40% lower than companies with low levels of engagement.
EFFICIENCY
An insurance company found that teams
with higher engagement had 35% less
down time between calls – equivalent to
35%
one ‘free of charge’ employee to every HEALTH & SAFETY
eight engaged employees. Organisations with engagement in the bottom quartile
average 62% more accidents than those in the top.
Full report with references available at: www.engageforsuccess.org/about/why-does-it-matter/

4. HOW DO WE GET THERE? THE KEY INGREDIENTS FOR SUCCESS.
Although there is no ‘one size fits all’ approach for employee Strong strategic narrative
engagement, the four enablers – strong strategic narrative, V
isible, empowering leadership provides a strong strategic narrative about the
organisation, where it’s come from and where it’s going.
engaging managers, employee voice and integrity – have been For example, in January 2010 the Welsh Government launched the ‘Managing for
identified as key ingredients in achieving success. Less’ initiative in response to budgetary pressures. The initiative was cascaded
through divisional ranks to teams below, creating a platform for frank and
Taken together, each of these can have a powerful open discussions around the core cost-saving message. The result was a 98%
effect on driving employee engagement. awareness rate among staff and reductions in spending of more than £20m.
Engaging managers
Engaging managers focus their people and give them scope, treat them as
individuals and coach and stretch them.
BAE Systems, recognising the need to create a more engaged workforce,
embarked on a series of ‘conversations’ involving different departments and
union representatives. By the end, more than £26 million of improvement
opportunities were identified and the time taken to build its Typhoon fighter plane
was slashed by 25%.
Employee voice
Employee voice reinforces people as any organisation’s most important asset and
is essential for gathering views and feedback and making employees part of the
solution. Of course, it is essential that the organisation listens and is seen to act
on what people have to say.
This was certainly the case for digital, cable and satellite television provider
UKTV. Operating in a competitive market, the senior management team
introduced a flatter hierarchical structure that placed more emphasis on
individual effort and reward. UKTV has since recorded a 6% rise in revenues
against the same quarter in 2011, while the overall market is 10% down.
Integrity
Organisational integrity means that the values people can see on the wall are
reflected in the way people, and particularly leaders, behave on a daily basis-i.e.
that they ‘walk the talk’.
Nowhere was this more evident than in the construction of the London 2012
Olympic Games. Determined to deliver on its promise of the safest Games ever,
the Olympic Delivery Authority operated a zero tolerance approach to health and
safety on site – even threatening to shut work down if standards were not met.
Shutting work down sent out a powerful message that the ODA and its Delivery
Partners were serious about preserving the health of its workforce.

5. FURTHER RESOURCES
Engage for Success website and the full report of The Evidence:
www.engageforsuccess.org/about/why-does-it-matter/
Free resources to support engagement are also available at:
http://headlines.uk.com/resources/