In 2008, ASTD partnered with Dale Carnegie Training and the Institute for Corporate Productivity (i4cp) to assess the relationship between workplace learning and employee engagement. A survey evaluating learning's role in employee engagement was completed by 776 respondents.

Engaged employees can be described in many ways but this study defines engaged employees: those who are "mentally and emotionally invested in their work and in contributing to their employer's success." The factors in the study that were closely examined to determine their impact on engagement were: factors influencing employee engagement, analyzing survey data combined with a wider literature review to discover the best ways of engaging workers, and discussing learning's role in employee engagement. \[more\]The goal of the study was to gain an overview of engagement in today's workplace and to find out how organizations can boost engagement levels, with a particular focus on learning's role in the process.Interestingly, this study found that on average, respondents viewed only about a third of employees as highly engaged, whereas nearly one in four were seen as minimally engaged or disengaged. The largest portion of employees - about four of 10 - were viewed as only moderately engaged, suggesting that there is a lot of room for improvement in this area.

Source: Learning's Role in Employee Engagement (ASTD/Dale Carnegie Training/i4cp)

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