Kevin Liebenberg, managing director of marketing consultancy Actuate, speaks to Margaret Harris about the value of employee engagement

What is employee engagement? There are numerous definitions; some emphasise the underlying cognitive requirements, some focus on the underlying emotional issues and others the motivational aspects of an employee.

Practically, employee engagement is the heightened emotional connection that employees feel for the company, together with a broader understanding of the business that influences employees to exert greater discretionary effort to their work.

An engaged employee understands the company better, has a greater affinity for it and is therefore more likely to contribute fully to the company's success.

What are the benefits of engaged employees for companies ?

According to a recent report by research association The Conference Board, there is good evidence that higher levels of employee engagement correlates to better personal, group and company performance in areas such as staff retention, turnover, productivity, customer service and loyalty.

The report also shows that highly engaged employees can outperform their disengaged counterparts by between 20% and 28%.

How does an engaged employee differ from one who is disengaged?

Engaged employees have a sense of personal attachment to their work and their organisation. They are motivated and able to give of their best to help the company succeed.

Employees who are said to be disenchanted, or disengaged, are either getting by doing the minimum, or could be displaying behaviour that is destructive and value destroying.

What role can managers play to ensure employees are engaged?

The direct relationship with one's manager is a very strong driver of employee engagement. Good managers work hard at understanding their employees' needs, values, motivators and contexts and "market" their required outputs better. The same effort put into understanding the customer, must be practised regarding employees.

Senior managers' ability to show that they are genuinely interested in employee's wellbeing is a key positive influencer and can be as important as the impact of the direct manager.

Can employees who have repetitive, low-skilled positions also feel engaged?

Engagement can be enhanced with the correct approach. Informal recognition, a safe and aesthetically pleasing work space, integrated communication and internal marketing programmes, as well as greater context and line of sight between the employee's tasks and the company's performance can increase employee engagement at all levels.

How does a company ensure that all its workers are engaged?

The larger the company, the more difficult it is to drive consistently high levels of engagement.

One factor that can have a significantly positive influence is a well-formulated and considered internal marketing and communications programme driven from the top of the organisation.

Equipping managers at all levels to communicate and manage for engagement is also a vital input.

We have seen great success in creating manager's tool kits to enable consistent and compelling communication of important issues such as business strategy, progress, innovation, values and the like.