The employee engagement pandemic – why we need “5.0”

Abstract

Purpose The purposes of this paper are (a) to associate poor workplace health and organizational performance as functions of inferior employee engagement, (b) to present and promote all of the “5.0” initiatives as our best, and perhaps final, hope of redirecting organizational attention and priorities toward improving the human condition, and (c) to provide actionable and substantive methods organizations can use to move closer to a future that values employees as critical stakeholders. Design/methodology/approach This paper represents decades of the author’s own professional work experiences as a consultant working with over 50 organizations, global employee engagement data from Gallup, and thorough research involving numerous peer-reviewed publications. Findings Improving organizational performance requires that the topic of employee engagement be elevated from being an underfunded human resources (HR) issue to the full C-Suite or Boardroom. Holistic solutions and the exemplar of the many “5.0” initiatives offer validation and guidance in the journey toward improved organizational performance via improved employee engagement. Originality/value The value of this paper is twofold. First, it draws attention to two topics that most executives are likely ignorant of, and possibly apathetic to, employee engagement and the suite of 5.0 initiatives. Second, it makes the critical connection between improved levels of overall organizational performance with improved levels of employee engagement – something many executives struggle to embrace.