Narrator: What if the single greatest act of employee engagement a company ever achieved happened after it announced it was shutting down for good? In 2013, the employees at the GM Holden car manufacturing plant in Australia received devastating news: in four years, the plant would close, and their jobs would disappear. In most companies, this would trigger an immediate collapse in morale, quality, and productivity. But at Holden, something remarkable occurred. Local leaders rejected the idea of a slow, painful decline. Instead, they doubled down on engagement, treating their people with unprecedented respect and transparency. The result was astonishing. Key metrics for production and engagement actually improved, and the very last car to roll off the assembly line was of the highest quality the plant had ever produced.

This counterintuitive success story poses a fundamental question about the nature of work. It suggests that engagement isn't a product of circumstance, but a direct result of how people are treated. In their book, Build It: The Rebel Playbook for World-Class Employee Engagement, authors Glenn Elliott and Debra Corey argue that stories like Holden’s are not anomalies. They are the outcome of a rebellious mindset that rejects standard corporate practices and instead builds a workplace on a foundation of trust, honesty, and purpose.

Narrator: The authors argue that the most common misconception about employee engagement is that it depends on favorable conditions—a growing company, a fun industry, or generous perks. The book dismantles this idea by showing that engagement can be cultivated in any environment, no matter how challenging. The GM Holden plant closure is a prime example. By choosing to treat employees with dignity and purpose even in the face of job loss, the leadership team unlocked a powerful sense of pride and commitment.

A similar principle is illustrated by the story of Lei, a roulette table operator at the El Cortez Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas. Working in a highly competitive market, Lei understood that his personal engagement directly impacted the casino's success. For 25 years, he didn't just operate the game; he created an experience. He smiled, wished customers luck, and built relationships. He chose to be engaged because he understood his role in the organization's survival and genuinely wanted it to succeed. The authors use these examples to establish their core thesis: engagement is a choice made by both the organization and the individual, and it is the most potent competitive advantage a business can have.

Narrator: At the heart of disengagement is a breakdown of trust, often caused by a culture of opaque, risk-averse communication. The book points out that many HR and legal departments, in an attempt to mitigate risk, create policies and communications that treat employees like adversaries. This fosters an "us and them" culture that is toxic to engagement.

The authors advocate for a rebellion against this norm. Glenn Elliott shares a powerful story from his time as CEO of Reward Gateway. He discovered that the company, like many others, had a policy of never explaining why an employee was terminated, often due to restrictive settlement agreements. This created an information vacuum filled with fear and rumors. Elliott implemented a new rule: the company would never sign away its right to explain, honestly and respectfully, why someone had left. This commitment to transparency, even in difficult situations, was fundamental to maintaining trust with the remaining staff. As Richard Plepler, former CEO of HBO, famously said, "The building knows the truth." Pretending otherwise is an insult to employees' intelligence and a direct assault on trust.

Narrator: To move from abstract principles to concrete action, the book introduces a framework called the Engagement Bridge™. This is a 10-part model that provides a practical playbook for building a better workplace. The authors stress that company culture is not an input you can control directly; it is the output of your collective actions and inactions across these ten areas.

The model is divided into two types of elements. The "underpinning" elements—Pay & Benefits, Workspace, and Wellbeing—are the foundational pillars. They must be fair and functional to prevent disengagement. The "connecting" elements—Open & Honest Communication, Purpose & Mission, Leadership, Management, Job Design, Learning, and Recognition—are what actively build the bridge between the organization and its people. The book provides a cautionary tale of a large retailer whose CEO launched a "Delight your customer" initiative. While the message was inspiring, the company's internal systems and rigid rules prevented sales associates from actually helping customers, leading to frustration, disengagement, and ultimately, failure. This illustrates a broken bridge, where the leadership's vision was disconnected from the reality of management and job design.

Narrator: Many organizations have a set of values displayed on a wall, but these values rarely influence daily behavior. The authors argue that for values to be meaningful, they must be deeply embedded in the most critical organizational processes: hiring, promoting, and firing.

Netflix is presented as a prime example of this principle in action. The company is famous for its culture of "freedom and responsibility," but this culture is upheld by a strict adherence to its values. One of their unwritten rules is a "no brilliant jerks" policy. A high-performing employee who is a poor team player and undermines the company's values will be let go, often with a generous severance package. This sends a clear message that how you work is just as important as what you accomplish. Similarly, Amazon doesn't just list its 14 Leadership Principles; it uses them as a rigorous filter in its recruitment process. Candidates who cannot provide concrete examples of living these principles are not hired. This ensures that values are not just aspirational statements but are the very fabric of the organization.

Narrator: The book argues that many modern jobs are fundamentally broken, designed for an industrial era of efficiency rather than an information age of engagement. Using the Demand-Control model, the authors explain that the most engaging jobs are those with high demands and high levels of employee control and autonomy. In contrast, high-demand, low-control jobs lead directly to burnout and stress.

A vivid example of poor job design is the story of an airport gate agent yelling at a passenger. When asked why she was so aggressive, the agent explained that she was terrified of getting in trouble for not following the rules precisely. Her job was designed with low autonomy and high-stakes consequences, forcing her to prioritize rigid rules over human empathy and customer service. To counter this, the book highlights companies like Atlassian, which fosters innovation through practices like "ShipIt" days. These are 24-hour sprints where employees can work on any project that inspires them, giving them complete autonomy to create and innovate. This high-control, high-demand environment leads to breakthrough ideas and deeply engaged employees.

Narrator: Employee recognition is one of the most powerful tools for engagement, yet it is often one of the most poorly executed. The authors reveal that a staggering 87% of recognition spending goes toward tenure awards—celebrating longevity rather than performance or behavior. This approach is fundamentally flawed because it rewards staying, not contributing.

The book advocates for a system of recognition that is continuous, timely, fair, and personal. The authors argue that the thought behind the recognition is far more important than any monetary value. A simple, handwritten thank-you note from a leader can be more meaningful than an expensive, impersonal gift. Elliott shares a personal story of creating an innovative system early in his career. A year after his boss nominated him for an award, he received a generic letter and a gift card from an HR person he’d never met. The impersonal and delayed gesture felt hollow and actually diminished the value of the initial praise. The key is to train and empower everyone, especially managers, to say "thank you" frequently and authentically, linking praise to specific company values and behaviors.

Narrator: The ultimate message of Build It is that creating a world-class workplace is not about implementing a new program or a series of superficial perks. It is about a fundamental, rebellious shift in philosophy: treating people better gets better business results. The Engagement Bridge™ is not a checklist to be completed but a holistic system where every element is interconnected. A failure in communication undermines leadership, poor job design negates recognition, and inauthentic values make a mockery of the entire effort.

The book serves as both a guide and a challenge. It asks leaders to stop managing their employees and start leading them, to dismantle the bureaucratic systems of mistrust, and to build an organization where people are not just a resource to be managed, but the very purpose of the enterprise. The most challenging idea is also the simplest: what is the one rebel action you can take tomorrow to start building a stronger bridge between your company and its people?