Employee engagement and a strong reputation: you can't have one without the other, says Aon Hewitt/Queen's School of Business

Employee engagement and a strong reputation: you can't have one without the other, says Aon Hewitt/Queen's School of Business Research Study

TORONTO, Dec. 5, 2012 /CNW/ - It's no coincidence that the top 35 organizations identified as 2013's Best Employers in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA) also have the most highly engaged employees. Employee engagement and reputation are directly linked, according to recent research conducted by Aon Hewitt, the global human resources and outsourcing solutions business of Aon Corporation (NYSE:AON), and Queen's University School of Business.

"Organizations with the strongest reputation also have the most highly engaged employees, a finding that holds true no matter the size of the organization," said Neil Crawford, Aon Hewitt's study leader. "Our study bears out the notion that engaged employees offer organizations a competitive advantage, not just in the ability to attract and retain talent, but also in terms of driving reputation with customers and other stakeholders."

Average employee engagement was 77 per cent among the organizations identified as 2013's Best Employers in the GTA. For the best rated small and medium organizations, average employee engagement was slightly higher at 80%. (For a complete list of Aon Hewitt's Best Employers for the GTA, see the chart below.)

"Employee engagement drops to an average of less than 67% for employers who did not make it to the Aon Hewitt's Best Employers list," noted Einar Westerlund, Director, Project Development at Queen's Centre for Business Venturing at Queen's School of Business. "This underlines how important employee engagement is to an organization's overall reputation, and may offer a roadmap to those firms who wish to drive improvements in reputation and other key metrics of success."

Employee engagement is not simply having happy or loyal employees, noted Aon Hewitt's Crawford. "A highly engaged workforce translates into lower turnover, less absenteeism, greater employee productivity, increased customer satisfaction and higher revenue growth. It will also help an organization attract and retain talent."

The Aon Hewitt/Queen's research study measured employee engagement through three areas - say, stay and strive:

    --  Say:   Employees speak positively about the organization
    --  Stay:  Employees have a strong desire to be a member of the
        organization
    --  Strive:  Employees exert extra effort to do the best job
        possible to contribute to the organization's  overall success

"Human resources can be a dominant competitive lever for businesses today. 
With talent scarcity projected to continue well into the future, it is 
critical that employers understand what it takes to attract and retain 
the people needed for success," added Crawford.

To learn more about the Best Employers studies and register online to 
participate, visit the Best Employers Web site at 
www.hewitt.com/bestemployerscanada.

About Queen's Centre for Business Venturing (QCBV)
Based at Queen's School of Business, Canada's leading business school, QCBV's 
mandate is to be the leading and definitive source of knowledge and expertise 
in the creation, leadership and management of new ventures. Further, it 
strengthens and helps build Canadian SMEs by focusing its efforts on serving 
the broader SME community through research, providing advisory services and 
support, and creating and delivering innovative curriculum. QCBV administers 
the annual Best Small & Medium Employers in Canada study. We are dedicated to 
increasing the odds of success for Canadian organizations and their leaders. 
Please visit www.bsmestudycanada.com.

About Aon Hewitt
Aon Hewitt is the global leader in human resources solutions. The company 
partners with organizations to solve their most complex benefits, talent and 
related financial challenges, and improve business performance. Aon Hewitt 
designs, implements, communicates, and administers a wide range of human 
capital, retirement, investment management, health care, compensation and 
talent management strategies. With more than 29,000 professionals in 90 
countries, Aon Hewitt makes the world a better place to work for clients and 
their employees. For more information on Aon Hewitt, please visit 
www.aonhewitt.com.

About Aon Aon plc NYSE:AON is the leading global provider of risk management, 
insurance and reinsurance brokerage, and human resources solutions and 
outsourcing services. Through its more than 62,000 colleagues worldwide, Aon 
unites to empower results for clients in over 120 countries via innovative and 
effective risk and people solutions and through industry-leading global 
resources and technical expertise. Aon has been named repeatedly as the 
world's best broker, best insurance intermediary, reinsurance intermediary, 
captives manager and best employee benefits consulting firm by multiple 
industry sources. Visit www.aon.com for more information on Aon and 
www.aon.com/manchesterunited to learn about Aon's global partnership and 
shirt sponsorship with Manchester United.

Best Employers in the Greater Toronto Area 2013 
(400 or more employees)

Rank   Organization                   Rank   Organization

1      Cisco Systems Canada           19     Novotel Canada

2      EllisDon Corporation           20     Gowling Lafleur Henderson
                                             LLP

3      Bennett Jones LLP              21     Delta Hotels and Resorts

4      Marriott Hotels of Canada      22     Aecon Group Inc.

5      Chubb Insurance Company of     23     G&K Services Canada Inc.
       Canada

6      McDonald's Restaurants of      24     National Bank
       Canada Limited

7      Flight Centre                  25     Allstate Insurance company
                                             of Canada

8      Keg Restaurants Ltd.           26     Golder Associates Ltd.

9      Edward Jones                   27     GlaxoSmithKline Inc.

10     LoyaltyOne Inc                 28     Earl's Restaurants Ltd.

11     PCL Constructors Inc.          29     Amex Canada Inc / Amex
                                             Bank of Canada

12     Hatch                          30     Dillon Consulting Limited

13     The Co-operators               31     Procter & Gamble - Market
                                             Development Organization

14     SAP Canada                     32     Miller Thomson LLP

15     Stikeman Elliott               33     The Cadillac Fairview
                                             Corporation Limited

16     Starwood Hotels and            34     Morguard Corporation
       Resorts Canada

17     OMERS Administration           35     Fraser Milner Casgrain LLP
       Corporation

18     TD Bank Group                        

Best Small & Medium Employers in the Greater Toronto Area 2013 
(50-399 employees)

Rank   Organization                   Rank   Organization

1      Arrow Professional             14     TIC Travel Insurance
       Services                              Coordinators Ltd.

2      iGATE Global Solutions Ltd     15     Furlani's Food Corporation

3      Intelex Technologies Inc.      16     Gibraltar Solutions Inc.

4      Achievers                      17     Wakefield Canada Inc.

5      IHG                            18     Vital Insights Inc.

6      Intuit Canada                  19     SOCAN - Society of
                                             Composers, Authors and
                                             Music Publishers of Canada

7      Klick Inc.                     20     Pinchin Environmental Ltd.

8      OPTIMUS I SBR Inc.             21     Phonak Canada

9      CAAT Pension Plan              22     Ryan ULC

10     C.S.T. Consultants Inc.        23     CWB Group - Industry
                                             Services

11     peopleCare Inc.                24     Mitsubishi Motor Sales of
                                             Canada, Inc.

12     Geo. A. Kelson Company         25     MasterCard Canada
       Limited

13     99 bottles Inc. o/a                    
       beerbistro

 

Media Contacts: Alexandre Daudelin  │  +1.514.982.4910  
│  alexandre.daudelin@aonhewitt.com

SOURCE: AON Hewitt

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CO: AON Hewitt
ST: Ontario
NI: ECOSURV 

-0- Dec/05/2012 14:47 GMT