According to Bersin by Deloitte “employee engagement has become the top issue on the minds of business leaders, directing us to a new model of management”.

Peter Wakefield of Loving Mondays talked about engagement being about connections. So when connections are lost, things go wrong for both the person and the employer.

But how many employers actually have engaged a tribe of people? It’s one thing to say you’re doing it – it’s another to actually be doing it. Great culture and engagement doesn’t just happen. And it starts at the beginning of the journey. In fact, the hiring process often gives an accurate reflection of the business itself. So in the workplace, who has the power to engage? Engagement has to come from the start and from the top. But on a day to day basis it also has to come from your manager. Studies tell us that people don’t quit a job, they quit a manager. So conversations to stimulate engagement shouldn’t be seen as an extra in a manager’s role – they are an integral part of the manager’s role and this must be valued by the organisation.

A couple of key points to note:

• Engagement isn’t a project, it’s a principle
• 80% of the UK mental health problems start at work – so what can we do to prevent this? The cost of this to a business is significant (£38bn annually in the UK)
• People are engaged by people primarily, not things
• 80% of an employee’s engagement is down to their relationship with their manager