1. The What, Where and How of Employee Engagement
What exactly is Employee Engagement
The debate continues amongst both academics and practitioners in coming up with a definitive
definition for what employee engagement means.
While this deliberation endures author Simon Albrechti states that common to many of the definitions
offered by researchers and practitioners alike is the idea that engagement is a positive work-related
psychological state – reflected in words like enthusiasm, energy, passion and vigor. He also states many
of these definitions relate to a motivational state reflected in a genuine willingness on the part of an
employee to invest focused effort in realizing organizational goals and success.
Therefore for the purpose of this article we might say that employee engagement is:
“A high level of energy and strong identification with one’s work”ii
Is Employee Engagement an old lady dressed up in new clothes?
The Blessing White research report of 2011iii states that genuine engagement isn’t merely about an
employee’s job satisfaction. This report goes on to explain that employee engagement also reflects
talent alignment with organizational priorities and discretional effort, not merely satisfaction and
emotional connection.
However, Albrecht recognizes some overlaps between engagement and other organizational constructs
such as organizational commitment, job involvement and job satisfaction. This is due to the fact that
each of these constructs refers to positive work-related psychological states and therefore must, to
some degree, be related. The main difference between employee engagement and these other
constructs are the way in which they are measured.
Where are we now: some statistics
The results of a 2008 Tower Perrin workforce study of 5000 employees in Canada, entitled Closing the
Engagement Gap: A Roadmap for Driving Superior Business Performanceiv , highlighted the following:

2.  23% of the respondents declared themselves engaged
o Engaged employees work with passion, feels connected to the organization, thinks
innovatively and moves the organization towards its goals and success
 69% of employees declared themselves unengaged (enrolled and disenchanted).
o Unengaged employees simply put in their required time and have no passion for their
work or the goals and success of the organization.
 7% of people were actively disengaged – these are the people who want to drag others into that
category with them, too.
Furthermore according to the Mercer Report of 2011v employee loyalty is dropping around the world.
In Canada where more than 2,000 Canadian employees took Mercer's latest What's Working™ survey
the key takeaway was this: Compared to past surveys, employees today feel less committed and less
satisfied. More than one in three is seriously looking to leave. Among younger workers, it's four in 10. Of
equal concern is indifference: The 22% who didn't commit to staying or leaving are less satisfied and
engaged.
The Mercer Report also noted global similarities and differences with respect to what was essential to
employee engagement.
The global top five non-financial factors needed for employee engagement were (see figure below):
1. Respect
2. Work/life balance
3. Type of work
4. Quality of co-workers
5. Quality of leadership
Additionally, in North and South America alike, employees ranked the provision of good services to
others as highly important.
Base pay ranks were the most influential financial factor (see figure below).

3. How to begin to reverse this trend
In 2010 Hewitt Associates, a global human resources consulting and outsourcing company conducted a
studyvi co-sponsored by the Globe and Mail’s Report on Business magazine, Queen’s University School of
Business, and the Queen’s Centre for Business Venturing entitled Best Employers in Canada 2010. This
study marks the 11th time the study had been conducted.
This national study measures employee engagement, in which employees decide which organizations
make the list of the 50 Best Employers in Canada.
According to the study, employee engagement is a measure of how positively employees feel about
their employer, how likely they are to stay, and how committed they are to doing their utmost to
achieve business objectives.
Neil Crawford, a principal at Hewitt Associates is quotedvii as saying “While leadership is always
important, it plays an even more critical role during difficult or tumultuous times.”
Additionally, Ted Emond, a senior consultant in Hewitt’s Toronto office is quoted as saying that the
report brought to light the importance of “open, transparent, complete, and timely two-way
communication” in engaging employees.
Examples of how to engage employees from three of the top 50 Canadian organizationsviii
According to the Evolved Employer website PCL Constructors Inc., EllisDon Corporation and Cisco
Canada topped the charts in the Hewitt Associates 2010 survey.
Let’s look at the focus of these three employers and how they topped the employee engagement
survey.

4. PLC Constructors Inc.
PLC Constructors Inc. is a group of independent construction companies throughout Canada, which
endeavors to create a culture where cash compensation isn’t the main determinant of employee
satisfaction.
They offer:
1. Flexible employment practices
2. Rewarding and challenging work
3. Professional and career development opportunities and recognition
The organization also heartily supports mentorships between supervisors and employees with the view
that these supervisors pass along their skills and techniques as builders.
Newly hired individuals are also promised immediate responsibility and challenge along with personal
and professional development.
EllisDon Corporation
Located in London Ontario the EllisDon Corporation is an internationally known, leading Canadian
building contractor, which purports to exist for its employees rather than its shareholders. According to
its President and CEO, Geoff Smith EllisDon “strives to attract and develop the very best people and then
sets those people free to excel in their careers and to serve their clients.”
EllisDon focuses on five core cultural values:
1. Trust
2. Entrepreneurial enthusiasm
3. Individual initiative
4. Complete openness
5. Mutual accountability
It works towards creating a “culture of trust and openness, where our employees are able to rely on
one another to be capable and accountable, to serve clients according to their very unique needs, to
watch out for one another, and to conscientiously build success for each other.”
Like PLC Constructors Inc. it has mentoring programs, as well as on-the-job-training and access to
educational resources.
Cisco Canada
Cisco Canada is a Toronto-based leading supplier of Internet networking equipment and
management. According to HR Director David Clarkson employee engagement begins with “looking
for candidates with enthusiasm— they need to be passionate about something in their lives. We find
that same passion often carries over into their work.”

5. Willa Black, Cisco Canada’s VP of Corporate Affairs, stresses the importance of effective
communication from “the top down—as well as from the bottom up and the middle out.”
Cisco believes that how you retain the best and brightest is to promote:
1. Flexibility and trust
2. Open employee communications
3. Employee development and advancement
4. Inclusion and diversity
5. Balancing life/promoting wellness
Cisco Canada also encourages their employees to consider their next career move after being on the
job two to four years by providing opportunities, which allow employees to grow into new roles –
sixty to seventy percent of Cisco Canada new positions are internally filled.
These best practice organizations demonstrate some of the ways to create cultures where employees
are meaningfully engaged in ways that assist both the employee and the employer attaining their goals
and being highly successful.
Ruth Garrett MSc, PhD
Inspiring individuals and organizations to ignite their passion, find authentic purpose and make that
purpose a reality!
The author of five books, a facilitator of change and inspirational speaker, Ruth draws on a wide range of
hands-on experience and expertise in personal and organizational change and transformation.
Her background in self-leadership, emotional intelligence, resilience, conflict resolution and positive
psychology enables people to passionately and enthusiastically engage in creating authentic, purposeful
goals. Then make those goals a reality.
She is the CEO of two organizations: Integral Coaching & Mediation and Manifesting Your Abundance.
How to connect: integralcoaching@sympatico.ca OR
ruth@manifestingyourabundance.com
Cell: 705-441-6581

6. Bibliography
i
Albrecht, S. (2010), Handbook of Employee Engagement Perspectives, Issues, Research and Practice
http://books.google.ca/books?hl=en&lr=&id=kHMXV_ITqLgC&oi=fnd&pg=PR1&dq=employee+engagement+canad
a+2010&ots=MtrIR6tBsa&sig=S8IHnwXxggpD-qmchNDaK4ikI7I#v=onepage&q&f=false
ii
Bakker, Arnold B., Schaufeli, Wilmar B., Leiter, Michael P. and Taris, Toon W.,(2008), 'Work engagement: An
emerging concept in occupational health psychology', Work & Stress,22:3,187 — 200, (p.189)
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/02678370802393649
iii
Blessing White 2011 Engagement Report: Beyond the numbers, A practical approach for individuals, managers,
and executives http://www.bs-muc.de/aktdoku/report.pdf (accessed April 2012)
iv
Tower Perrin is a professional services firm that helps organizations improve performance through effective
people, risk and financial management. This report can be viewed at
https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&q=cache:GZm8uYrcuvEJ:www.towersperrin.com/tp/getwebcachedoc?webc
%3DHRS/USA/2008/200803/GWS_Global_Report20072008_31208.pdf+Tower+perrin+2008+global+workforce+stu
dy+canada&hl=en&gl=ca&pid=bl&srcid=ADGEESg0TUolKeZaBRP_bs_jhMxb3wKb2RAT8QyOY18jWKEEE_n0M2Lc-
O3DkjPq3toxqjzrkrGkmK740RmsCDgI5JMgqPD-
gIRXJsXos4LgRiY_Op7WCGa5OEPT4J8jWG7ymRBTNO0D&sig=AHIEtbQIqWTDJsMQo1AIwYWPcbm75YiLKw
(accessed April 2012)
v
Employee loyalty is dropping around the world, according to new global analysis of Mercer’s What’s Working™
survey. The research, conducted among nearly 30,000 employees in 17 geographic markets between the fourth
quarter of 2010 and the second quarter of 2011, shows that the percentage of workers seriously considering
leaving their organization has risen since the last time the survey was conducted in each market (between 2003
and 2006 prior to the economic downturn). http://www.mercer.com/press-releases/1430455
vi
Best Employers in Canada 2010 Survey Highlights & Fact Sheet
http://was2.hewitt.com/bestemployers/canada/pdfs/Hewitt_BE_2010_Fact_Sheet.pdf (accessed April 2012)
vii
Evolved Employer article: Keys to Employee Engagement from Canada’s Best
http://www.evolvedemployer.com/2010/02/02/keys-to-employee-engagement-from-canadas-best/ (accessed
April 2012)
viii
Same as above