The first step for any organisation on the path to greater employee engagement is for management to recognise the need for it. This often has to start at the top. The business benefits of engagement are clear, from productivity and innovation, to reduced absenteeism and industrial action, better recruitment and retention to greater wellbeing. The IPA has collected a wealth of evidence on all these topics, which you can find in our research publications section, or in our collection of case studies, which can be valuable in helping you make the case internally for the importance of a greater focus on engagement.

However, organisational change is often difficult, no more so then when trying to change the culture of an entire organisation from top to bottom and move to a high-engagement style of working. Middle managers in particular, can often be afraid to 'let go' of the top-down, command and control approach to management, and replace it with the high involvement, high autonomy style of management needed for engagement to flourish. Without this crucial buy-in from managers themselves across the organisation, transformation of culture will not be possible.

The IPA can help in several ways. Our Director, Nita Clarke OBE, can deliver a personal speech to your organisation, either senior leadership, all management team, or the entire workforce, through which she will make a powerful case for greater employee engagement. See our speakers page for more details. We also offer in-depth diagnostic work, to help your organisation understand where specific, targeted improvements could be made to your working practices. The information about engagement on this page can also help you in putting together your own internal presentations on the subject. Finally the IPA offers a range of training packages to help managers at all levels transition their organisations to higher engagement working.