Employee Engagement and Employee Ownership

He's Just Not That Into You: What Employees Really Think of Their Employers discusses how a recent survey found that less than one third of employees are engaged in their work. It compares the employee engagement issue to parenting young children:

Our emotional needs and issues, it seems, go back to our earliest years. Research and experience seem to make clear that what our four-year-old at home wants and what our forty-year-old at work wants is: a) to feel that they are part of an important, worthwhile group – something larger than themselves; and b) to feel appreciated, valued and respected within that group for their contributions as a teammate. The discussion around the topic of employee engagement, it seems, dances around these twin aspirations. Truly engaged employees feel that they are part of an organization whose purpose, vision and conduct they truly respect, and who also feel that, within the organization, they are appreciated and respected both as a person and for the work they do there.

The article then discusses the connection between employee ownership and employee engagement:

Still, employee ownership has attributes that inherently foster employee engagement. If we think of employee engagement in terms of the two considerations noted above – being part of an organization you respect, and feeling respected by the people of the organization – we can see that employee ownership contributes to both of these dimensions. When you own an interest in a business and you are empowered to help shape the fortunes of that business through participative practices like open-book management, you tend to see greater significance in the organization and how it fares – a greater sense of purpose in your work and your team's work. In contrast, playing the role of hired help who is brought in to do work for the benefit of an organization owned by others is less likely to leave you feeling that you are contributing to a cause that you see great purpose in.

It is equally apparent that employee ownership tends to foster a sense that employee-owners are respected within the organization. Being an owner, after all, is inherently a role that carries an enhanced sense of dignity and status relative that of a mere employee. It represents a kind of citizenship in the organization that is frequently denied to those in traditional employee roles. And, if legal ownership is enhanced with participative involvement – practices that keep employee-owners well-informed of business activity and call for their input – employee-owners will likely feel that they matter to the organization, and that they are respected as contributing partners.