The Conference Board Human Capital in Review™: Focus on Employee Engagement (Vol. 1, No. 1, 2012)

The Conference Board Human Capital in Review series is designed for the busy human capital executive who values filtered and thoughtfully summarized highlights of significant ideas, topics, research, and trends in employee engagement. This quarterly publication includes short summaries of insightful research and articles published across the globe from multiple sources.

In this issue, there are several new reports that analyze, measure, and uncover what some companies are doing with their engagement scores. Again, not surprisingly, the overall trends are not positive: employee engagement is down across the board. Many companies are struggling to assess engagement in a meaningful way, and at the same time, the trend of using employee engagement as one measure of organizational “success” is increasing. As a result, executives are confused or uncertain as to what to do with employee engagement and how to improve the levels of engagement. Executives are wondering about the moods, minds, and hearts of their employees.

Several summaries identify catalysts and drivers that can help improve employee engagement: value employees for more than their work, secure senior leader buy-in, give managers the tools to deliver effective feedback, cultivate a culture of trust and respect, and create meaning in work—not mission statements.