Public employee engagement hinges on feeling valued.

Only 47 percent of state and local government employees are fully engaged in their jobs, according to the 2014 IPMA-HR Employee Engagement Survey. The question of employee engagement is important because most organizations are still working with fewer financial and personnel resources than they had before the recession.

The survey executive summary, which is available online, outlines key drivers of employee engagement: feeling a sense of accomplishment in one's job; being focused on serving the public with integrity, which includes feeling like one's job makes a difference and having clearly defined goals and objectives; being proud to work for one's employer; and feeling valued.

Ways to improve employee engagement involve addressing threats to satisfaction in the workplace, according to the survey summary. "The public sector should implement practices for making employees feel valued and giving them recognition such as conducting ongoing reviews, providing not only annual recognition and awards but also on demand to recognize excellence in the workplace," according to the summary. Survey respondents indicated that they are concerned about adequate compensation, proper distribution...