The Connection between Employee Engagement and the Bottom Line

Best Bosses - Five leaders who use innovative strategies and rewards to motivate employees notes that 14 of the 18 Best Bosses are employee-owned and provides a link to five examples:

"You can offer all the benefits in the world, but the one that matters most to employees is a piece of the action. Of the 18 honorees in Winning Workplaces' fourth annual Best Bosses competition, 14 run companies partly or completely worker-owned."

The results of the Winning Workplaces' fourth annual Best Bosses competition, which were announced in September of 2006, found that open-book management and financial education were found in 17 of the 18 winners:

"When employees have a sense of ownership and know that they can contribute directly to the outcome, it is easier for them to become directly engaged," says Mary Corbitt Clark, Executive Director of Winning Workplaces. "The Best Bosses understand the connection between employee engagement and the bottom line." Revenue growth jumped on average 40% last year among the 17 for-profit honorees. What's more, the Best Bosses are pulling back the curtain on financial and operating results for employees. Of the 18 winners, 17 Bosses practice "open-book management" and are teaching employees how to read and understand financial documents.

Elaine Pofeldt, senior editor of FORTUNE Small Business, notes the wide range of Best Bosses' attributes and the common-sense practices they promote. "They are listening carefully to their workers and giving them what they want: opportunities to educate themselves continually; the chance to work alongside the best people in their fields; benefits that ease the complex demands of their lives outside of work and a chance to give back to the community in more than a token way. These bosses k how to recognize their teams' achievements in creative and memorable ways."

According to the Winning Workplaces website, The Best Bosses Award program ran from 2003-2006 and has been replaced with the Top Small Workplaces program. We most recently discussed the 2007 Top Small Workplaces in this post: More Top Small Workplaces Coverage/Employee Ownership Month