There may not be a bigger disconnect in the workplace than the number of companies that cite employee engagement as a high priority and the ones actually doing something about it, as Deloitte found in its recent "Global Human Capital Trends" report:

• Lack of employee engagement is the top issue currently facing 87 percent of HR and business leaders (up from 79 percent last year).

• The number of HR and business leaders who cited engagement as being "very important" doubled from 26 percent last year to 50 percent this year.

• Sixty percent of HR and business leaders surveyed said they do not have an adequate program to measure and improve engagement.

• Only 12 percent of HR and business leaders have a program in place to define and build a strong culture.

• Only 7 percent rated themselves as excellent at measuring, driving and improving engagement and retention.

Why the disconnect?

"Engagement is hard," Masarech says. "Most companies spend way more time and money on measuring engagement than on improving it. Those who are `doing something' often create action plans or organizationwide initiatives that get shelved when the day-to-day work heats up. They lose momentum, despite their good intentions. Some may actually be doing something — but they haven't made those actions overt, so their workforce thinks nothing is being done."

Heightened importance

As the economy climbs out of the recession and employees have more career opportunities, engagement takes on added importance.

"Employee engagement is such a hot topic right now," Kaplan says. "According to our trends report, it's the No. 1 thing on business leaders' minds. Their most important asset is their people. Employees are becoming more mobile. If they are dissatisfied, they have options to get out.

"When you are running a business, you want to retain key talent. The biggest taboo is losing top talent, even in a bad economy. Businesses are starting to use their cash to invest in their businesses and people."

In tough times, many employees are happy just to have a job. However, as options increase, they have a better hand to play.

"As demand for talent picks up, the balance of power in business is rapidly shifting from the employer to the employee," says Josh Bersin, principal and founder of Bersin by Deloitte, Deloitte Consulting LLP. "Moreover, workers are becoming more mobile, contingent and autonomous, and as a result, harder to manage and engage. In this new world of work, organizations need to re-imagine the way they manage people and come up with new, out-of-the-box ideas to make themselves relevant."

It may sound counterintuitive, but it some ways it is easier to engage employees during slow periods, Masarech says.

"During difficult times, leaders can rally employees to perform heroics," she said. "We saw this in the recession. The workforce latches on to a sense of purpose. As times get better, they may be tired and might be re-evaluating what they are getting from the company in comparison to what they are giving.

 "As the labor market improves, they may be thinking about trying something new. When you focus on employee engagement, you create a culture of meaningful work."

Another misconception is that the entry of millennials into the workforce requires a new approach to engagement. Generational differences are more a matter of style than of substance, Masarech says.

"For the most part, all the hoopla about what millennials want vs. baby boomers is a red herring," she says. "Our research over the last decade into career and employee engagement shows that millennials tend to be less engaged.

"There are two reasons for this: They are new to the workforce and are not yet clear on what they want or what they do well. They have aspirations of `a career' but don't know what it looks like. Second, they tend to be in roles that have limited control of their work and more distance from strategy and organizational decisions. Engagement goes up in most organizations as you go up the corporate food chain."

Closing the gap

What can businesses to do to close the gap between their aspirations and reality?

"The first thing is to have real leadership to do something about it," Kaplan says. "You want to focus on it and put resources behind it. You have to collect both quantitative data and qualitative data to understand your workforce."

Include everyone in the survey, Masarech says.

"This is in addition to the typical cascading communications," she says. "Encourage managers and employees to determine follow-up actions within their control and influence. Weighing the cow doesn't make it any heavier."

Sometimes, that may require outside assistance. Masarech suggests three key indicators:

• "If you keep running surveys and nothing is changing."

• "If you anticipate a difficult business environment and want to be proactive."

• "If you have been talking about engagement but aren't sure where to start."

Use survey results to develop a plan and follow through.

"Strategies will differ by organization," Kaplan says. "Figure out what motivates your employees, whether it's awards and recognition, proper leadership, workplace simplification or workplace environment. What is feasible for a 400-year-old company may not be the same as what is feasible for Google.

"Have a roadmap and understand that engagement may take a year or two to move the needle. Be able to say, `these are the three things we have decided to focus on that will give us the most bang for our buck'."

One common mistake is for businesses to bite off more than they can chew.

"Many companies launch a large, aggressive imitative that eventually gets shelved because no one has time to implement it," Masarech says. "It may be better to simply do small things each day to promote engagement."

If there is one point that she and Kaplan want to drive home, it's that no one employee or department alone can make employee engagement work.

"I think engagement should be a year-round priority that is owned by every member of the workforce," Masarech says. "Too many companies make engagement a leadership burden, and employees wait around to be engaged. Make sure your managers and executives are engaged. Dead batteries can't jump-start others."