What are the key factors for employee engagement? I and others havewritten at length on this topic. I believe one key factor for employeeengagement is creating an environment in which employees want to engagethrough strategic appreciation of employee efforts. But there are manyfactors that feed a truly engaging environment.

Recent research completed by Right Managementshows how well change is managed in an organization is also asignificant contributing factor. In fact 94% of employees who saychange is not handled well in their organizations also report beingdisengaged. On the other hand, of those who believe leadership managechange well, only 40% are disengaged.

Among other key findingsin the report, best performing organizations were reported to managechange nearly four times more effectively, while organizations that donot manage change well are four times more likely to lose talent.

Clearly,change is a powerful force within any organization. Lack of or unclearcommunication of objectives and expectations is one major reason forchange to fail within in organizations. Employees need to know whereyou’re headed and how they contribute. Such simple messages are oftenlost in all the other talking points around any change initiative.

Strategic recognition is a powerful communication mechanism in a change management process,serving as a tool to positively and clearly communicate what isexpected and desired from employees and then encouraging them to repeatthose behaviors. Recognition of effort also conveys to employees howmuch they are valued and appreciated, especially during a potentiallyconfusing and frightening change.

What are other key factors yousee contributing to employee engagement? Do you agree with the findingsof this research (of nearly 30,000 employees in 10 industries in 15countries) that failure to implement change well is a significantcontributing factor to disengagement? Have you recently gone through amajor change in your organization? What was your experience?