Employee engagement for a sustainable enterprise 1

Considerable evidence exists that employees welcome the chance to exercise autonomy and creativity when given the opportunity. The importance of employee concerns is underscored in the 2007 American Management Association (AMA) Sustainability Survey in Creating a Sustainable Future . In their well-known book The Leadership Challenge , J. M. Kouzes and B. Z. Posner say that employee engagement has to build on a foundation of creating a climate of trust, listening in depth, and sharing information and resources. The value generally derived from employee engagement can be further amplified in organizations that aspire to sustainability management. Most executives in such organizations will articulate the vision of an enterprise that is prospering economically, contributing to social values in-house and in the world, and encouraging environmental stewardship, or, taken together, the triple bottom line. Employee engagement for Eileen Fisher begins with its leadership and the enterprise&s;s values, vision, and performance standards.