Employee engagement is when employees are committed to their jobs and to the company's goals to the extent that they are willing to put the extra effort in. It is when an employee wants to be part of the organization she is with, is proud of what she and the company do and strives to do the best she can with work. Companies that have high employee engagement consistently perform higher in terms of business results.

What are the drivers of employee engagement? Not surprisingly, the top drivers are the areas that personally affect an employee day to day and not individuals or communication from individuals who are far removed. The top drivers include 1. the manager whom the employee reports to and the relationship between the two 2. organizational (such as policies, organizational infrastructure, job content and stability, and compensation), and 3. self

Some companies conduct a formalized employee engagement survey on a regular basis and follow up with actions from the results of the survey. Instead of a waiting for a formal program to be rolled out, why not be proactive and start assessing engagement for the teams you're responsible for? Gather views from your employees on how engaged they are and what they would recommend. Allow employees to provide honest feedback without being penalized. Probe and go beyond the surface of the issues to find out what actions your team needs to take to drive engagement.

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