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The purpose of this paper is to highlight the key trends in the levels and drivers of employee engagement over the past 12 months. It proposes some key steps for HR professionals to take in helping leaders to keep focused on those issues that will make the biggest difference to employee motivation.

The paper is based on Aon Hewitt's definition and model of employee engagement and the most recent analysis of trends from its database of more than 7,000 organizations representing 18.6 million employees. A subset of this database is the “Best Employer” group of companies, which includes organizations that have passed thresholds after analysis of employee engagement scores, HR practices, CEO interviews and financial performance.

Engaging the right employees in demonstrating the right behaviors remains a critical ingredient for companies looking to raise performance levels in today's challenging economic conditions. Global engagement levels have increased slightly over the past year but four out of ten employees are still not engaged. There are some key areas to focus on in terms of action that have been proven to make a difference in organizations with high levels of engagement.

HR can play an important role in ensuring that organizations keep focused on those aspects of the work environment that can make the biggest difference to employee engagement and business performance. The function's added value comes through support and guidance with engagement driver areas, such as career development, rewards, recognition and pay, and also in terms of securing return on organizational investment in employee research by making sure engagement is not just seen as the “annual survey”.

Although technology still dominates, human resources and how they are managed is receiving increased attention in the analysis of gaining competitive advantage. Yet, many complex questions remain. This study first examines the theoretical understanding of employee engagement. Then an empirical investigation is made of the role that a wide variety of managers’ (n = 170) psychological state of self‐efficacy plays in the relationship between their employees’ (average of about 16 per manager) measured engagement and a multiple measure (self, subordinates and peers) of the managers’ effectiveness. Results of the statistical analysis indicate that the manager’s self‐efficacy is a partial mediator of the relationship between his or her employees’ engagement and the manager’s rated effectiveness. Overall, these findings suggest that both employee engagement and manager self‐efficacy are important antecedents that together may more positively influence manager effectiveness than either predictor by itself. Implications for effective management development and practice are discussed.

The purpose of this study is to examine the impact of organizational practices on employee engagement based on 97 sample respondents from a multinational electronics firm that is based in Malaysia.

This paper uses a survey; SPSS and multiple regression analysis.

The three dimensions of organizational practices, namely organizational communication, reward and recognition and employee development, explained 43.2 percent of the variance in employee engagement. This study also evidenced the significant relationship between organizational practices and employee engagement.

This study contributes to the body of knowledge regarding the important influence of organizational practices on employee engagement. The management may use the findings to further enhance organizational practices that lead to more engaged employees.

Employee engagement studies are popular in contemporary research because of the complexity organizations face in nurturing the performance and productivity of multi-generations of workers. The purpose of this paper is to assess association of age and dimensions of work engagement.

In total, 181 participants completed the Utrecht Work Engagement Scale (UWES) to measure work engagement including the dimensions of absorption, vigor and dedication as well as demographics. One-way ANOVA and post hoc tests were conducted to examine the relationship between age and work engagement.

Employees 50 years of age and older were found to have statistically significant higher work engagement scores than the employees under the age of 50. Statistically significant scores were also found to be higher in absorption and dedication.

The workforce is aging with older employees becoming larger populations in organizations. Understanding how age influences employee work engagement supports human capital management strategy within organizations. HR professionals can also use the findings to develop targeted employee engagement to leverage the dedication and talents of older employees.

The paper draws from the ORC Putting it in Perspective Report, which annually presents the findings of employee research projects from a vast benchmarking database. This provides an insight into the key factors that influence employee engagement, with comparisons across different sectors.

The paper describes some of the key findings from the 2007 Putting it in Perspective Report and offers suggestions as to how employee engagement can be improved.

The key finding of the paper is that while employee engagement is stable in the UK overall, organizational pride and satisfaction levels are markedly lower in public sector organizations. Similarly employee loyalty in this sector is low, highlighting that there is work to be done for managers within this sector. Furthermore, the report has shown that engagement takes a hit across all sectors during times of change.

A well‐crafted employee engagement survey enables an understanding of current levels of engagement. To improve employee engagement levels, and help combat the challenges of change management, the principles of say, stay and strive can act as a basis for assessing the level of employee engagement, whether through surveys or other means. Another key element for organizations to bear in mind is the “Employee Lifecycle”, which can be a useful tool for understanding the workforce.

This paper provides an insight into the key factors that influence employee engagement, with comparisons across different sectors.

This paper aims to examine the key drivers for employee engagement within an organization. It seeks to answer the question: what are the keys to improving the level of employee engagement?

A case study illustrates a strategy for employee engagement that was based on research on the key drivers of engagement.

The paper presents practical case study material from Kia Motors – the South Korean automotive manufacturer. It shows how Human Resources (HR) worked to develop a strategy to address very poor levels of employee engagement. A clear set of engagement measures was developed to assess the impact of the engagement strategy.

This paper ascertains some of the key drivers of employee engagement as illustrated by the case study. It demonstrates a number of practical tools HR professionals can utilize to build employee engagement within their organizations.

In the organizational behaviour literature, psychological capital (psycap) has been identified as a significant variable affecting the engagement level of employees. Relying on this, this study aims to examine the association between psycap sub-constructs and employee engagement (EE) using systematic review and meta-analysis techniques.

The study analyzed 28 primary studies (selected through a systematic review of literature by incorporating inclusion and exclusion criteria) via meta-analysis techniques conducted using Meta-Essential Software (1.5). Along with this, the Cohen Kappa reliability test and the trim and fill technique have been applied, followed by moderator analysis.

The results of the study contribute to the extant literature in three ways. Firstly, the study confirms the positive association between psycap sub-constructs and EE. Secondly, it looks into the individual constructs of psycap and shows that hope is the primary component that influences EE, followed by optimism, efficacy and resilience. Thirdly, the country acts as a moderator between psycap and EE.

The study’s result highlights numerous implications, suggesting that organizations should focus on bringing out the latent “HERO” (hope, efficacy, resilience and optimism) qualities of their employees to make the workplace more engaging. Lastly, the study concludes by pointing out the limitations and highlighting future directions.

Being the first systematic review and meta-analytical study focusing on psycap sub-constructs and EE associations, this study contributes to the engagement literature.

Military values/virtues are a subset of ethical values. The purpose of this study is to examine the effect of military virtues on job performance, either directly, or indirectly through mediation by, loyalty, patience, respect, employee engagement, job performance, military ethics, courage, self-discipline, caring, military virtue, Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF) employee engagement.

Military virtues were conceptualized as a collective construct, consisting of loyalty, courage, patience, respect, self-discipline and caring. Using a sample of 254 military officers in the SLAF, the authors measured the effect of military virtues on job performance. The first model was a direct measurement of the influence of military virtues on job performance. The second model measured the influence of military virtues on employee engagement, followed by measurement of the influence of employee engagement on job performance. Structural equation modeling was used in data analysis.

Both direct effects and mediated effects of military virtues on job performance were significant. However, the direct effect was stronger, suggesting that military virtues in and of themselves resulted in superior performance, more effectively, than by first increasing employee engagement with the task or the organization.

This may be an initial empirical examination of the effects of military virtues on job performance.

Highly committed, motivated and engaged employees assure organizational success and competitiveness. The study aims to examine the association between human resource development (HRD) practices and employee engagement with organizational commitment as a mediating variable.

Data were collected from 760 employees of 13 star-rated hotels comprising 5 (five-star) and 8 (four-star). The data supported the hypothesized relationships. Structural equation modeling was used to evaluate the proposed model and hypotheses. Construct validity and reliability were established through confirmatory factor analysis.

The results indicate that HRD practices and affective commitment are significantly associated. HRD practices and continuance commitment were shown to be non-significantly associated. HRD practices and normative commitment were shown to be non-significantly associated. Employee engagement and organizational commitment are significantly associated. The results further show that organizational commitment mediates the association between HRD practices and employee engagement.

The generalizability of the findings will be constrained due to the research's hotel industry focus and cross sectional data.

The study's findings will serve as valuable pointers for stakeholders and policymakers of the hotel industry in the adoption, design and implementation of proactive HRD interventions to keep highly engaged and committed employees for organizational competitiveness and sustainability.

By evidencing empirically that organizational commitment mediates the nexus between HRD practices and employee engagement, the study extends the literature.

In response to the lack of connection between employee development and employee engagement, this study explores the existing empirical findings regarding these two concepts. Based on the conservation of resources theory, the authors propose a novel theoretical framework that can better leverage the identified antecedents and relationships for future research.

An integrative literature review of 64 empirical studies published in peer-reviewed journals was conducted.

Three different levels of antecedents, including the work environment, social exchange and individual characteristics, are identified. Employee development and employee engagement exhibit reciprocal relationships. Considering the role of job performance as a catalyst, the authors propose an upward gain spiral model to advance both research and practice.

This integrative literature review aims to facilitate discussions based on three distinct sub-dimensions: physical, emotional and cognitive energies, relevant to both employee development and employee engagement. Through this distinction, a more comprehensive understanding of the connection between employee development and employee engagement can be cultivated.