Minneapolis: Although economic recovery in the U.S. remains uncertain and is far from complete, Modern Survey's measurement of the U.S. workforce shows that employee engagement has risen steadily during the last twelve months. The level of employee engagement recorded in late August is now back to where it was in August of 2007, following a precipitous decline from August 2007 to August 2008. All five components of Modern Survey's Employee Engagement Index show further improvement since the February 2009 measurement, resulting in statistically significant gains on all components since August of 2008. The most dramatic improvement is in the number of employees who say they intend to stay with their company, which rose by 11 percentage points, from a low of 52 percent in August '08, to 57 percent by February '09, and now stands at 63 percent. Modern Survey’s data shows that employees are feeling more optimistic about their jobs now than they were six months ago. A Modern Survey study of the Financial Services industry published in June 2009 found that fear of losing income was unrelated to employees' engagement levels. Five specific drivers of engagement that employers must provide for employee engagement to thrive, have been identified in the survey. These five elements are: recognition/appreciation, personal accomplishment, career development, confidence in company, and compensation. Modern Survey's most recent study of employee engagement shows that not only do more employees intend to stay with their company now than in either August of 2007 or 2008, but the percentage of employees that report taking pride in their work has risen from 71 percent in 2008 to 79 percent now. Even if a fundamental shift in the attitudes of American workers has occurred, as this latest study suggests, this does not mean that organizations can ignore the drivers of engagement. There's no guarantee that employees will maintain their heightened sense of appreciation when economic conditions improve and job opportunities become more plentiful. When the economy turns around, organizations can expect a hiring surge to occur. While employees may currently be more appreciative of what your company provides, they may begin to re-evaluate just how good they have it once attractive alternatives begin to open up. To retain top talent, organizations need to focus on doing whatever they can to enhance employees' experiences and perceptions of engagement drivers at work, validating and reinforcing employees' newfound levels of appreciation. It is clear that the recession has made enhancing compensation a difficult or nearly impossible strategy for organizations to use in driving engagement, but each of the other four drivers can be attended to with little or no monetary investment. In a recession environment, business leaders should pay special attention to things they can do to increase their employees' engagement levels for free. Given that the U.S. workforce appears to be feeling much more appreciative, active efforts to drive engagement now should go an extra long way in achieving desired business results.