Whether you are a leader or an employee, you know it’s important to get along with your colleagues, personally and professionally. Good relationships at work lead to action-driven collaboration. According to recent research by Temkin Group, employee engagement has become an increasingly powerful driver of business success in U.S. organizations.

In a survey of more than 2,400 U.S. workers at for-profit companies, 57 percent of employees described themselves as moderately or highly engaged in 2012, up from 47 percent in 2011.

Who are these engaged employees, and what sets them apart from others? Most tend to be financially secure, in good health, and generally upbeat. And what benefits do they bring to your business? Some key results from the study:

Stability: The study found a relationship between a company’s financial performance and employee engagement. “Three-quarters of employees in companies with significantly above average financial performance are moderately or highly engaged, compared with less than half of firms with subpar financial results,” the study noted. Salary is a major factor: 63 percent of respondents said that a salary above $100,000 per year encourages engagement.

Work ethic: Engaged employees are twice as likely to stay late at work, help colleagues, and recommend improvements. Impressively, 96 percent of engaged employees say they always or almost always put forth their best effort for their employer, CMSwire reported.

Job retention: Employees in companies with great customer service are half as likely to look for other jobs than employees who work at companies that provide a poor customer experience. Not only that, engaged employees are six times as likely to recommend that a friend or relative  apply for a job in their company.

How can you improve employee engagement? The Temkin Group suggests the “Five I’s”: inform, inspire, instruct, involve, and incentivise.

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