Original article from the Flevy business blog can be found here: http://flevy.com/blog/help-them-help-you-good-managers-inspire-good-employee-performance/ Gallup released its “State of the American Workplace” report, a comprehensive look at employee engagement and performance in the U.S. The study found that 30 percent of employees are engaged and inspired by their work, and at the other end, 20 percent are actively disengaged and uninspired. In the middle is the remainder: 50 million (50 percent) Americans who are not engaged by their work or their managers. They’re just kind of there. Gallup holds managers entirely responsible for an employee’s level of engagement. The top 25 percent of teams (the best managed) have 50 percent fewer accidents and 41 percent fewer quality defects than the bottom 25 percent (the worst managed), and they incur far less in health care costs. With this in mind, we think that one of the most important decisions you can make in business is who you name manager. Good managers embolden your employees; bad managers hurt your bottom line. The good news? These four performance solutions can help at every level. Health Care Health care plays a vital role in a motivating a workforce. Research from Cornell University shows medical insurance has a great influence on an individual’s task performance, which affects workplace safety and performance. Cover your staff—it indicates you care about their well-being and inspires them to be safer and perform better. Company Culture Companies tend to this issue the least, because it doesn’t yield tangible results, but company culture is often the first link in a chain of subsequent performance defects. There isn’t a single formula to tightening the family ties of your organization, and it’s a big job—but you should be doing it, as it pays big dividends. Two examples to get you started: