The point is made in the recent report “Creating an Engaged Workforce” publishing findings from the Kingston Employee Engagement Consortium Project (KEECP). The preferred view of KEECP, along with most of the academic community, is that engagement is something that is experienced by employees – “a state of being” rather than something which is done to employees.

I also noticed that feeling connected is a key component of the KEECP’s preferred definition of engagement (as experienced by employees) as:

“being positively present during the performance of work by willingly contributing intellectual effort, experiencing positive emotions and meaningful connections to others.”

Arguably, experiencing meaningful connections to others is the most important part of the KEECP’s definition, for surely making the connections gives rise to the willingness to contribute intellectual effort and to the experience of positive emotions.