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Chapter 5
Recommendations
What needs to happen now
1 We were asked by Ministers to describe what employee engagement is and how it
can help organisations improve their performance. We were asked to make
recommendations on what the government could do to help extend levels of
employee engagement across the economy as a whole.
2 The evidence is clear: engagement levels across the economy need to be higher to
meet the future challenges of international competition and of providing public
services with constrained resources. We are not proposing that this should be
remedied by a top down, heavy handed government intervention. In our view
extending employee engagement is not an issue for legislation or regulation: it
requires culture change. More people need to ‘get it’ – and more people need to
do it.
3 The major task ahead therefore is to raise the profile of the issue with leaders
in all sectors of the economy. Key to this will be extending understanding of the
business case for employee engagement, and ensuring that the necessary advice
and assistance is available. Government could and should use its unique power to
convene debates on matters of national significance, and its ability to bring
together all the interested parties to develop solutions designed to meet their
specific needs. We are therefore, in summary, making three broad recommendations.
4 Firstly, in order to meet demand, more tailored support and help needs to be made
available for companies and organisations wanting to develop engagement. We
suggest that by March 2010 a series of practical aids, provided by both government
and non-government sources, should be put in place including web-based support
(for example utilising businesslink.gov.uk) and easy access to best practice and
experience as well as coaching and advice. These new sources of support will need
to be accessible, and to be articulated and delivered in a way that meets the needs
of the potential users, particularly those in the SME sector. Where this additional
support is provided by government it should be aligned with Solutions for Business,
the government’s streamlined portfolio of business support.
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