The authors wrote in Industrial and Organizational Psychology that employees will feel — and act — engaged when their employer creates conditions that permit them to do so. The key condition for feeling engaged is fair treatment, which creates a feeling of trust and, in turn, feeling safe to be engaged.

They feel that some people confuse engagement with satisfaction and/or commitment and consider retention and turnover to be indicators of engagement. However, Macey and Schneider said employee engagement concerns both feelings of engagement, focus and enthusiasm, as well as engagement behavior, proactivity and persistence.

Engagement is not equal to satisfaction. Engagement connotes energy and not satiation, while satisfaction connotes satiation and contentment but not energy.

The authors contend that employees come to work ready to be engaged, and the challenge for organizations is to create conditions that will release that energy. I agree. Do you?

Cheers!