East Midlands Development Agency (emda) is set to play an important role in implementing the recommendations in the MacLeod review of employee engagement, which has just been launched.

Mike Carr, Executive Director of Business Services at East Midlands Development Agency (emda) has been appointed to the national, high level sponsor group on behalf of England's Regional Development Agencies. The role of the sponsor group is to raise awareness of the benefits of employee engagement and to provide support for businesses that want to implement new ways of engaging employees.

Other members of the sponsor group include 30 directors and chief executives from organisations including the likes of Microsoft, Toyota, Financial Times, HSBC and Sainsbury's.

The employee engagement report suggests that those organisations where employees enjoy an open, two-way relationship with leaders and where they are involved in decision making, perform much better than those where relationships tend to be one-way.

Mike Carr said: "I am delighted to have been invited to join the employee engagement group. During my time in business, I was always a strong supporter of the principle of employee engagement and the benefits that it can bring both to the performance of the business and to the morale of the staff.

"I am looking forward to working with the group to explore the ways that RDAs can work to promote the advantages of employee engagement to the many businesses and organisations that they are involved with across the country."

For more details about the employee engagement report, visit http://www.bis.gov.uk/macleod-review