Nineteen years in the corporate world, and I've seen that rank and file workers are the people who know how a (large) organization works, what's wrong, and how to fix it.
That's true in the public sector and the private sector.
The gist from the Gallup report:
The world's top-performing organizations understand that employee engagement is a force that drives business outcomes. Research shows that engaged employees are more productive employees. They are more profitable, more customer-focused, safer, and more likely to withstand temptations to leave the organization. In the best organizations, employee engagement transcends a human resources initiative -- it is the way they do business. Employee engagement is a strategic approach supported by tactics for driving improvement and organizational change. The best performing companies know that developing an employee engagement strategy and linking it to the achievement of corporate goals will help them win in the marketplace.
From a really good summary:
What I am saying is that the major reasons employees:
- Enjoy being at work
- Are willing to give more effort to work
- Feel good when they tell their friends and family about their work
...are that they:
Enjoy working with the people they work with
- Feel pride in the workspace that they occupy
- Feel that the work they're doing is important and meaningful
- Relate to the work they do and identify with it on a deep level