Respect For Employee Role Is Key To Engagement

Philadelphia, PA – November 10, 2009 – Senior management respect for worker contribution has been found to be the top leadership factor promoting engagement, according to a global survey of 28,000 employees in 15 countries by Right Management. Other senior leadership behaviors that correlate highest with employee engagement include implementing and communicating organization strategy. Right Management is the talent and career management expert within Manpower, the global leader in employment services.

Right Management analyzed dozens of leadership practices and behaviors in order to determine which are most strongly related to employee engagement. Those with the highest correlations are:

1. Senior leaders value employees
2. Senior leaders have the capability to make my organization successful
3. Senior leaders effectively implement my organization’s strategy
4. Senior leaders effectively communicate my organization’s strategy to employees

“Implicit in our main finding is that senior management must do more than simply say they value employee contribution. They need to make it real and demonstrate it,” said Deborah Schroeder-Saulnier, Senior Vice President for Global Solutions at Right Management. “To maximize employee contribution, top management has to show employees that they really count. This includes their ideas, contributions, values and commitment. It has to be ongoing, not an annual event.”

Schroeder-Saulnier said the findings also show that senior leaders are valued almost as much for communicating with employees as they are for acting effectively. “This doesn’t mean putting action in second place, but points to the need to bring employees along with you.”

The senior leadership behaviors that seem to matter least for engagement are “senior leaders ensure that projects are completed” and “senior leaders are visible to employees.”

Employee engagement is not a vague abstraction, said Schroeder-Saulnier, but substantive and real. “We’re not talking about people’s morale or their motivation, but genuine commitment to the job. Without high engagement, organization performance, productivity and profitability are jeopardized. This is why organizations are seeking to define the core leadership challenge and how to bring about superior engagement at all levels.”

Right Management surveyed 28,810 employees across 10 industries in 15 countries (Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, Denmark, France, Germany, India, Japan, New Zealand, Norway, South Korea, Sweden, United Kingdom and the United States). The data was collected between November 2008 and January 2009.

About Right Management

Right Management is the talent and career management expert within Manpower, the global leader in employment services. Right Management helps clients win in the changing world of work by designing and executing workforce solutions that align talent strategy with business strategy. Our expertise spans Talent Assessment, Leader Development, Organizational Effectiveness, Employee Engagement, and Workforce Transition and Outplacement. With offices in over 50 countries, Right Management partners with companies of all sizes. More than 80% of Fortune 500 companies are currently working with us to help them grow talent, reduce costs and accelerate performance.

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