As the economic recession took its toll on employee salaries and unemployment, employee engagement became critical as small businesses were forced to ask their employees to work more, while getting paid less. To assist business owners in keeping their employees happy, Small Business Trends cites the recently released Employee Engagement Report 2011 from leadership development firm BlessingWhite.

Their research found that around 31 percent of the employees surveyed were engaged, while 17 percent were not. Generally employees that were older and had been with the company longer were more engaged. Commonly cited reasons for engagement or non-engagement included: career advancements, job conditions, financial opportunities and co-worker interaction.

BlessingWhite found that overall, career development was the top factor for employees of all ages. In fact, the workers who were motivated by money were generally less engaged. As the study sums it up, “Engaged employees stay for what they give; disengaged employees stay for what they get.”

So what can you do to keep your best employees engaged? BlessingWhite offers two suggestions for you and your key managers:

1. Coaching, relationships and dialogue: Managers must understand each person’s talents, interests and needs and match those with the company’s objectives. They also need to build personal, trusting relationships with employees. And they need open and frequent dialog with employees to head off problems that can lead to disengagement.

See the remaining tip on Small Business Trends.