Employee engagement ‘centre of business plan’

Engagement of employees about the future of a business is an essential step for employers to take, a new report has said.

The MacLeod Review of employee engagement noted that strong relationships within a company are at the centre of a successful business plan.

Such practices support the potential of individuals, with employee engagement critical to innovation and competitiveness, particularly in a downturn, David MacLeod – a non executive director of the Ministry of Justice and the Department for International Development – stated.

"Employers in all parts of the economy can make a success of employee engagement through culture change, rather than investing significant financial resources," he added.

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One of the recommendations in the report is that by March 2010, a range of practical support should be given to those organisations which want to improve levels of employee engagement.

Reassuring employees through engagement about their future at a company could be important, after recent figures from the Office for National Statistics showed that the unemployment rate continued to climb at the start of this year.