ARE YOUR EMPLOYEES engaged? Are they motivated to
help the company meet its goals, and do they know
what to do to make that happen? Your bottom line
depends on communicating with—and engaging—
all your employees, regardless of race, gender, orien-
tation, ability or age. A study by the Corporate
Leadership Council found that “by increas-
TOP 50 BEST ing employee engagement levels, organiza-
tions can increase performance up to 20
percentile points.” And the study found
that engaged employees have an 87 percent
chance of staying with the company.
“Many of the same principles [of diversi-
PRACTICES
GET IN SYNCH
WITH YOUR
EMPLOYEES
BY WOM KIM
ILLUSTRATION BY EDDIE GUY
ty and inclusion] carry over to most areas in which a
company hopes to have employees fully engaged—
strategic direction, culture, etc.,” says Tammy
Edwards, director of inclusion and diversity at Sprint
Nextel, No. 39 on The DiversityInc Top 50
Companies for Diversity® list.
At the most progressive companies, employees are
engaged at high levels, regardless of race or gender.
For example, at one Top 50 company that asked
to remain anonymous, white, black and Latino
employees showed almost no difference in the index
scores measuring questions regarding engagement.
Here are four best practices, based on surveys
of the Top 50 companies, to keep all your
employees engaged:
