Introduction
The relationship between employee engagement and retention has long been assumed but inconsistently validated. Organizations invest significant resources in engagement measurement, yet voluntary turnover rates remain elevated even in companies reporting high engagement scores.
Research conducted by Best Practice Institute across thousands of organizations suggests a more reliable predictor exists: emotional connectedness. This construct, measured through the Love of Workplace Index (LOWI), captures dimensions of the employee experience that traditional engagement surveys miss.
The Measurement Problem
Standard engagement surveys typically assess transactional aspects of the employment relationship: manager effectiveness, role clarity, resource adequacy, and satisfaction with compensation and benefits. While valuable for operational diagnostics, these measures capture a snapshot of job satisfaction rather than the deeper psychological attachment that predicts long-term commitment.
The distinction matters. Recent findings from the Yale Center for Emotional Intelligence indicate that 1 in 5 highly engaged employees remain at risk of burnout. Engagement, as traditionally measured, reflects how people feel about their current jobs. It does not reliably predict whether they intend to stay.
Emotional Connectedness: A Different Framework
Emotional connectedness describes the degree to which employees feel psychologically bonded to their organization. Unlike satisfaction, which is largely transactional, emotional connectedness reflects identity alignment, value congruence, and genuine investment in organizational success.
The Love of Workplace Index measures five core dimensions:
- System Alignment: The degree to which employees believe in the organization’s direction and strategy.
- Positive Future Vision: Whether employees can envision a future for themselves within the organization.
- Feeling of Respect: The extent to which employees feel valued as individuals.
- Emotional Connection: The psychological bond employees feel toward organizational success.
- Killer Achievement: Whether employees feel they are doing meaningful, impactful work.
Validation Data
Analysis of LOWI data across certified Most Loved Workplaces reveals consistent patterns:
Organizations scoring in the top quartile on emotional connectedness report voluntary turnover rates 40 to 60% below industry averages. This relationship holds across sectors including healthcare, hospitality, technology, and financial services.
The relationship between traditional engagement scores and turnover is weaker and less consistent. Organizations can achieve high engagement while experiencing elevated attrition, a pattern that emotional connectedness measurement explains.
The Action Gap: Why Measurement Without Follow-Through Backfires
Research on survey effectiveness reveals a critical finding: data collection without action undermines the very engagement it attempts to measure.
Huebner and Zacher’s systematic review of employee survey follow-up practices found that when organizations fail to use survey results to drive change, the effectiveness of the survey process is severely limited. Subsequent survey participation and engagement both decline.
This phenomenon, often mislabeled “survey fatigue,” is more accurately described as action fatigue. The fatigue stems not from being asked, but from providing input that produces no visible change.
Organizations measuring emotional connectedness address this by embedding action planning into the measurement process. The output is not a score but a set of prescribed actions, tracked and communicated to employees.
Implications for Practice
These findings suggest organizations should expand their measurement approach. Traditional engagement surveys provide useful operational data. But they should not be expected to predict retention with high accuracy.
Adding emotional connectedness measurement provides the missing dimension. For HR leaders seeking to justify investment in culture initiatives, LOWI data offers a more defensible case: it connects directly to retention outcomes that impact financial performance.
For a practical application of these findings, see the Most Loved Workplace blog: The Hidden Crisis in Your ‘Engaged’ Workforce.
Frequently Asked Questions
How was the Love of Workplace Index validated?
The LOWI has been validated across thousands of organizations and over 1.4 million employees. Validation studies examined predictive validity (correlation with retention outcomes), construct validity (distinctness from traditional engagement measures), and cross-industry reliability.
What distinguishes emotional connectedness from employee engagement?
Engagement measures involvement, motivation, and satisfaction with current work conditions. Emotional connectedness measures deeper psychological bonds: identity alignment with the organization, investment in collective success, and the feeling that one’s work matters. Engagement can be high while emotional connectedness is low.
How do organizations measure emotional connectedness?
The Love of Workplace Index is administered as a survey instrument assessing the five dimensions described above. Organizations can also start with a quick assessment that analyzes public employer brand data to see if they qualify.
