Employee Engagement
It’s rare to find an executive today who says employee engagement is not a priority. Yet despite more than a decade of work, most studies show that the average level of employee engagement in recent years is essentially unchanged. The business case for continuing the pursuit of employee engagement, however, has only become stronger, with credible data emerging to demonstrate the superior performance and earnings of organizations who achieve significant employee engagement gains.
According to Dale Carnegie Training’s study, the U.S. loses $11 billion a year due to employee turnover. The cost of hiring is said to be about 1.5 times an annual salary. Disengaged employees are 2.5 times more likely to change jobs than engaged employees, even if they earn only 5% more per year. While pragmatic rewards such as raises, bonuses, and flexible work hours were thought to be the means to engage employees, it became clear that emotional relationships were the most important factor. 90% of organizations say that engagement levels have an impact on business success, but 75% of organizations are not taking any action. 62% of engaged employees say their immediate supervisor is a good role model. For disengaged employees, only 25% say they were good role models. Highly engaged organizations perform 40% - 200% better than their peers.
Proven Factors Driving Employee Engagement
While there are many studies that show the percentage of engaged and disengaged employees, few studies have identified the actual factors that increase employee engagement. Dale Carnegie Training, along with MSW Research, examined the operational and emotional factors that influence employee engagement. After surveying a sample of 1500 employees across the US, we found the following three main factors influence employee engagement.
- Relationship with immediate supervisor
- Trust in senior leadership
- Pride in the organization they work for
Why is employee engagement training in Tokyo critical today?
Executives in Tokyo consistently ask: “How can we keep our best people motivated, engaged, and loyal?”
Recruiting is difficult, but retention is even harder. Many companies invest heavily in training, only to see talent leave — wasting enormous amounts of time, effort, and money. In a zero-sum game for talent, failure to engage and retain staff can be fatal for business performance.
According to Dale Carnegie research:
- Disengaged employees are 2.5 times more likely to quit for even a 5% pay raise
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- Replacing an employee costs up to 1.5x their annual salary
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- Highly engaged organizations outperform others by 40% to 200%
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- Engaged employees take less than half the sick days compared to disengaged peers
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Yet, despite more than a decade of effort, average global engagement levels remain stagnant. Only 31% of employees say engagement is a true priority in their company
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For Tokyo firms fighting to retain scarce talent, this is a critical blind spot.
Q&A
Q: What role does the immediate manager play?
A: The relationship with the immediate manager is the single biggest factor. Engagement is triggered when employees feel their manager genuinely cares about them as people — not fake care, not lip service, but authentic concern for their growth and wellbeing
Q: How important is senior leadership?
A: Employees engage when they believe in senior leaders’ vision and trust their direction. Without visible, trustworthy leadership, engagement collapses
Q: Does pride in the organization matter?
A: Yes. Employees proud of their company’s purpose, culture, and values are far more likely to stay, perform, and recommend it as a great place to work
Q: What emotions truly drive employee engagement in Tokyo?
A: Engagement is not just rational — it is deeply emotional. According to Dale Carnegie’s original research (The Emotional Drivers of Employee Engagement), there are four key emotional drivers: feeling valued, confident, connected, and empowered
Why choose Dale Carnegie Tokyo Training?
- ISO 9001 Certification and Rigorous Trainers
We are ISO 9001 certified for global training quality. Becoming a Dale Carnegie Trainer takes 1.5 years on average, and every trainer must:
- Attend annual refreshers.
- Pass formal recertification every 3 years.
- Demonstrate excellence against professional structures and observable behaviors.
This rigor ensures training that directly moves engagement scores — measured by VOC and NPS results.
- Specialists in Engagement Training
Employee engagement is a highly specialised field that few rivals in Tokyo can deliver well. Dale Carnegie Tokyo Training is different:
- We have 150+ CBDS modules to design tailored engagement solutions for every client.
- We are experts in human relations, communication, and leadership, giving us unmatched capability to make engagement work in practice.
- Our trainers focus on authentic human connection, building cultures where employees feel cared for, valued, and inspired.
- Unique Dale Carnegie Reinforcement System
Employee engagement fades fast if training is “one and done.” We defeat the forgetting curve (50% forgotten after 1 hour, 70% after 1 day, 90% after 1 week
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) with:
- Pre-work: 3 videos, 3 audios, 3 articles.
- Half-day sustainment session at 30 or 60 days.
- 28-week reinforcement program.
- AI-powered access to 450+ on-demand videos and 100+ years of Carnegie IP, available from the moment of registration.
- Psychologically Safe and Human-Relations Based
Our training uses the Good/Better feedback system, ensuring a psychologically safe environment where participants grow in confidence and engagement.
Because we are experts in human relations, communication, and leadership, we bring all of these strengths into engagement training. No competitor in Tokyo has this integrated expertise.
- Unique Dale Carnegie Resources
No other training partner in Tokyo provides this level of depth:
- Books: Japan Leadership Mastery (English) and its Japanese edition 現代版 人を動かすリーダー; How to Win Friends and Influence People; How to Stop Worrying and Start Living.
- Podcasts:
- The Leadership Japan Series – 600+ weekly episodes on Apple Podcasts.
- ビジネスプロTV and ビジネス達人の教え – Japanese podcasts with 100+ episodes each.
- White Papers & eBooks: covering topics such as The Dynamics of Employee Engagement, The Emotional Drivers of Engagement, Managers Matter, and People-Centered Engagement.
This library demonstrates our knowledge, experience, and capability to lead the engagement conversation in Tokyo.
Making Engagement a Daily Priority for Leaders
Supervisors who say they think about, plan for and work on engaging their employees every day, were more than 3.5 times more likely than all others to say their employees are always willing to do what it takes to get work done, even if it means going above and beyond. In order to see noticeable financial benefits for the company, all organizations and leaders must make employee engagement a top priority in their everyday work.
