The Future of Engagement

Thought Piece Collection

Engagement has been a live issue in the management and HR world for around ten years now. It has definitely gone beyond ‘fad’ status to become embedded in many organisations’ approaches and in people management research.

But equally, it has not developed in a single direction and we are no closer to an agreed definition of employee engagement. So it seems a good point at which to take stock. Where have we got to with employee engagement? And more importantly, where will we take it in the future, both as a concept and area of practice?

The authors of our thought pieces offer different perspectives, based on their area of activity: HR practice (in both private and public sectors), consultancy and research (both academic and practical). What they all have in common is that they are experts in their field, and have engagement as a focus of their work.

Their varied contributions illustrate the breadth and complexity of ‘employee engagement’ – a term that is easy to understand strategically, yet slippery when it comes to the detail of analysis and implementation. The authors are:

• Rob Briner
• Gary Cattermole
• Peter Cheese
• Richard Crouch
• Linda Holbeche
• John Purcell
• Martin Reddington
• Michael Silverman
• David Smith
• Paul Sparrow
• Katie Truss

The collection is also available to download from the Engage for Success website. You can download each thought piece as an individual article.