Here is a brief excerpt from an article by David Zinger for Halogen Software’s TalentSpace blog. To read the complete article, check out others, learn more about the firm, and sign up for email alerts, please click here.

When did you first hear the phrase employee engagement? What did you think those two words mean to you? What is your current experience with employee engagement?

In our race for solutions to quarterly problems we often fail to gain perspective on where we have been, where we are, and where we are headed.

This post will outline the evolution of employee engagement, examine the current state of employee engagement, and offer suggestions for authentic and healthy employee engagement into the future.

This post is not an historical treatise on engagement. Rather it offers the opportunity to stand back, gain perspective, and discover some markers on the road to robust and authentic employee engagement for the benefit of all.

“Progress, far from consisting in change, depends on retentiveness…Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” – George Santayana

What contributes to employee engagement?

The first use of the term employee engagement occurred in a 1990 Academy of Management Journal by William A. Kahn. Kahn’s article on the Psychological conditions of personal engagement and disengagement at work (PDF) examined the conditions at work which contribute to engagement and disengagement. He discovered that the individual and contextual sources of meaningfulness, safety, and availability had a significant impact on engagement.

This study of camp counselors and members of an architecture firm is still a valuable study to read. Some of Kahn’s work has been rediscovered or repackaged by Daniel Pink twenty-one years later in his work and book on drive.

The growing interest in employee engagement

During the mid-1990′s Gallup started to refine and extend their Q12. The Q12 is a twelve question copyrighted survey asking such questions as, do you know what is expected of you at work? And, do you have a best friend at work? Gallup has asked these questions millions of times and created a significant database and spawned the industry of employee engagement. Gallup’s questions were simple and the implications of a more engaged workforce were compelling.

In the 2000′s engagement gathered speed, depth and breadth. Google searches of the term in the early 2000′s offered about 50,000 results and now the same search term offers 47,500,000 results. Twitter tweets on employee engagement would appear about every 30 minutes five years ago and now occur just about every minute.

The last decade also seemed to be the golden age of surveys. Everyone seemed to have a new survey and a new definition of engagement. Technology advanced and SurveyMonkey lead us to believe that any monkey could create a survey.

On a less flippant note more people were taking notice of employee engagement and the very compelling business case for engagement developed. The UK lead the world in their work on employee engagement with two Prime Ministers supporting and encouraging employee engagement work through the development of the Engage for Success movement.

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Here is a direct link to the complete article.

David Zinger believes engagement is both a right and a responsibility. He is devoted to advancing the New Employee Engagement. The ABCs of the new engagement are Achieve results, Build relationships and Cultivate wellbeing through daily actions and interactions focused on results, performance, progress, relationships, recognition, moments, strengths, meaning, wellbeing, and energy.

David has worked on engagement from Singapore to Saskatoon, Wales to Winnipeg, and Oman to Ottawa. He has devoted over 18,000 hours to engagement which included 4 books on work and over 1500 blog posts on engagement. David is the founder and host of the 7000+ member Employee Engagement Network.