Employee communication historically has been based on mass media. Organizations needed to craft compelling communications that helped employees match their work to their business goals and commit to the brand. Much has changed in the last 10 years. Employee expectations have jumped, trust in leadership has been repeatedly challenged, social software has become routine, and employee engagement has fell to perilously low levels. Great articles and other content are still important, but they're no longer enough. Equally important to connect employees to the company is the awareness of what people do in their project teams, and line-leadership relationships. As communicators we need to re-engage our employees by tailoring our communications to fit the more social and Web 2.0 lifestyle of our employees. We have to humanize our brand and relate to them on their turf and on their terms.

Through their session during Ragan Communication's Social Media for PR and Corporate Communications Conference in Disney World, Shel Holtz of Holtz Communicaton + Technology and Erin Grotts, Communications & External Relations Director at ConAgra Foods, spoke about what will happen for companies if they continue to disengage employees.

Engaged employees are commonly physiologically committed to their jobs, feel a profound connection to the company, are likely to be making positive contributions, work with passion, and make discretionary effort.

Not engaged employees lack motivation, are unlikely to make discretionary effort, and are essentially "checked out" of any tie to the company and their work. These people lack motivation and are ultimately just coming to work for a paycheck.

Actively disengaged employees are unproductive and are not just unhappy, they act out on their unhappiness. These people undermine what colleagues have accomplished and they actively try to spread negativity.

But why does engagement matter? There is a strong link between engagement levels, job performance, and market share growth. The correlation says high engagement will lead to higher employee productivity and lower turnover and therefor causing an operating income growth. Companies that communicate effectively are four times more likely to have engaged employees.

Communication and engagement in a corporation go hand-in-hand. Communicators that develop a strategy to transform the way they communicate with their employees will see improved interactions between employees and leadership, greater trust between employees and their leadership, greater understanding of the company, improved efficiency and better performance of employees due to being interested in their work, and enhanced gratification of employees by being publicly recognized.