"There is nothing more important for a person or an organization than full engagement."

That quote from Rudy Karsan, CEO and Chairman of Kenexa (Salary.com's parent company), is the basis for his book We: How to Increase Performance and Profits Through Full Engagement. Full engagement differs from happiness in that it means employers have motivated fully engaged employees to want to go the extra mile to achieve goals. But how often do you really think about the engagement of your employees?

In this podcast, Karsan talks to Aaron and Wendy (the hosts of Salary Talk) about the significant implications engagement has on employees and businesses. With smartphones and the Internet, the days of punching a time clock and leaving your work at the door when you go home are over, Karsan says. Instead of a Career-Life Balance, most people are headed towards a Career-Life Blend, in which your work and home lives are forever intertwined. That's why employers need to know that a bad work situation can spill over at home and create marital angst, poor parenting and other problems. The employee then takes those personal problems to the office, at which point productivity suffers, the bottom line decreases and eventually you have to pay the turnover costs associated with hiring a new person for the job.

Also, by focusing on what Karsan terms the "cultural fit" of a business, companies can use things like flex scheduling and telecommuting to make themselves more attractive to potential employees and increase employee retention.

If you're still harboring delusions that your employees work in a vacuum and their personal lives have nothing to do with work, you need to listen to this podcast.