Learning Influences Employee Engagement

While it is widely accepted that employee engagement is vital to business success, there is no obvious path in pursuit of it. Many organizations have started to rely heavily on the learning function for engagement support. As a result, employee engagement has become a salient topic for many workplace learning and performance professionals.

ASTD addressed the link between employee engagement and learning in an online survey conducted in October 2007 in conjunction with Dale Carnegie and Associates and the Institute for Corporate Productivity (i4cp).

According to the executives surveyed, roughly one-third of their employees meet the criteria for high engagement, but nearly one-quarter are minimally engaged or disengaged. Learning through stretch assignments and frequency and breadth of learning opportunities also were highly rated factors influencing engagement.

Respondents from organizations with both high and low levels of engagement considered learning through job rotations and communities of practice as the least influential factors in engagement. Comments included in the survey clearly indicate that leaders within organizations strongly acknowledge the importance of an engaged workforce.

The respondents agreed that workplace learning processes play an important part in their strategies to influence employee engagement.