Preface

The author suggests that "employee engagement" has become a fashionable term, and as with many fashions in business, there's very little clarity on what it means, nor does there seem to be much genuine interest. Managers want employees to be engaged, but are not sure what that means, and are certainly not willing to devote any time or budget to it.

The value of enthusiastic employees is clear: those who have enthusiasm are highly productive, meet quotas and deadlines with little supervision or encouragement, and remain with firms for longer. Those who are not enthusiastic are less productive, do not meet work deadlines, require constant management attention, and have shorter tenure. The financial incentive to have an engaged workforce is clear.

However, in his own experience in various roles in human resources, the author has observed that some employees are highly enthusiastic about their work whereas others are not. This doesn't seem to be related to anything specific about their role or organization - some people are very enthusiastic about work that seems quite mundane, whereas others seem unenthusiastic about work that would seem to be quite exciting.

The question he seeks to answer in this book is: what is the difference between the two? This requires understanding engagement, the reasons some are engaged while others are not, how it can be managed, and how it can be fostered.