It's natural to want your employees to be happy. When people come to work with a spring in their step, chances are they do their jobs with more gusto, stick around an hour longer, go that proverbial extra mile--all of which boosts productivity and filters to the bottom line. Right?
Yes, says the burgeoning field of employee engagement, a movement that aims to quantify what, exactly, a company gets when it puts money into bonding with its workers. Consultancies such as Towers Perrin, Watson Wyatt, Hewitt Associates and the Gallup Organization measure how "engaged" workers are and then counsel companies on...