UK Business Leaders: "Effective Employee Engagement is Central to Business Success"

LONDON, March 23, 2010 - Business leaders today highlighted how an engaged workforce means
increased productivity, innovation and competitiveness - as the Government
launched new guidance to help bosses engage their employees.

Leaders from the public and private sector have contributed to the
package of advice developed by the Department for Business, Innovation and
Skills (BIS) to help employers put the principles of employee engagement into
practice - and improve business performance as a result. They include:

    - Justin King, Chief Executive of Sainsbury's, who said, "Our colleagues
      are key to the success of our business. Employee engagement is about
      making sure that the 150,000 people we have working at Sainsbury's
      understand what it is we are trying to achieve for our customers and
      why we are trying to achieve it."

    - Philip Green, Chief Executive of United Utilities, comments, "Employee
      engagement is one of the key drivers of the success of any business. I
      can't imagine having high levels of customer or shareholder
      satisfaction without high levels of engagement."

    - Richard Lambert, Director General, CBI, says, "One of the things that
      has become really clear in this past recession is that employee
      engagement and trust between employer and employee has made it easier
      for people to come through the tough times in better shape."

    - Representing the Civil Service, Sir Gus O'Donnell comments, "The more
      engaged our workforce the more likely employees are to be thinking
      about creative, innovative ways of helping people who need it the
      most."

The new guidance - published on
www.businesslink.gov.uk/employeeengagement - is designed to help
employers reap the benefits of effective engagement. These include greater
productivity, higher levels of innovation and lower rates of sickness and
absence. The guidance has been developed with input from a range of business
leaders, employers and employee engagement practitioners and follows the
publication of the independent report to Government last year, 'Engaging for
Success', co-authored by David MacLeod and Nita Clarke.

Employment Relations Minister Lord Young said:

"Engaging for Success showed how a more considered approach to employee
engagement can improve the performance and competitiveness of both individual
businesses and the UK economy as a whole.

"With the help of the new guidance on the BusinessLink.gov website, we
hope even more employers will take the simple steps that can make a real
difference - to their employees' job satisfaction and commitment, and the
bottom-line of the business."

David MacLeod, employee engagement adviser to BIS, said:

"The body of research on engagement is compelling. It shows how engaged
employees are far more committed and productive than disengaged ones. With
the country emerging from one of the toughest economic periods in living
history, it is now more important than ever that organisations realise the
full potential of their people."

The package of material on
www.businesslink.gov.uk/employeeengagement contains:

    - five guides, containing practical ideas on how to address the key
      enablers of employee engagement, as identified in 'Engaging for
      Success';

    - written and video case studies on exemplars of good practice on each of
      these areas;

    - downloadable tools and templates that employers can use to put
      principles into practice; and

    - video testimonies from business leaders on the benefits of employee
      engagement.

    Notes to Editors

    - 'Engaging for Success' was the report to Government which focuses on
       the potential benefits of employee engagement for companies,
       organisations and individual employees.

    www.berr.gov.uk/whatwedo/employment/employee-engagement/index.html

    - Other evidence which demonstrates the impact of effective employee
      engagement includes:

    - The Hay Group identified that engaged employees generate 43% more
      revenue than disengaged ones;

    - if organisations increased investment in a range of good workplace
      practices which relate to engagement by just 10%, they would increase
      profits by between GBP1,083 and GBP1,568 per employee per year
      according to The Work Foundation; and

    - the cost of disengaged employees to the economy was between GBP59.4
      billion and GBP64.7 billion in 2008 according to Gallup.

    - Case studies of employers who have successfully engaged their employees
      to deliver business success are available.

For media enquiries, please contact:

Farimah Saadat: farimah.saadat@fishburn-hedges.co.uk

Judith Moore: judith.moore@fishburn-hedges.co.uk

For media enquiries, please contact: Farimah Saadat: farimah.saadat at fishburn-hedges.co.uk +44(0)20-7544-3126; Judith Moore: judith.moore at fishburn-hedges.co.uk +44(0)20-7544-3054