Maintaining employee engagement is vital

The Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development has claimed that maintaining employee engagement during the current tough economic conditions is of vital importance

Ahead of its annual conference, which will take place in Manchester in November, CIPD noted that successful organisations are reliant on switched-on, fully engaged staff members who will go the extra mile.

The CIPD Annual Conference 2011 will take its inspiration from successful employee engagement and cover topics that will help businesses retain highly-skilled members of staff and use them to achieve their companies' aims.

As well as theoretical seminars, the conference will offer real-world insights into staff management and motivation from some of the UK's leading private sector employers - including BSkyB, Crossrail and Marks & Spencer.

The conference will be driven by recent research conducted by CIPD, which shows that 26 per cent of those attending have had experience mentoring young people as a means of keeping them engaged.

CIPD claims that mentoring - as well as being a hugely successful flexible benefit - can help tackle the current problem of unemployment.

"Youth unemployment ... is a high priority for government," the organisation claimed.

It added that Transport for London's and Hilton Hotels' youth employment and apprenticeship programmes were just two of the private sector initiatives that were helping ministers tackle the issue, which has become more apparent in the wake of gloomy economic forecasts.