In the human capital management space (HCM), employee engagement is everywhere—in marketing efforts, as a feature on new products—and most HCM or HR technology companies offer promises to increase it. There are so many tools out there to help you improve employee engagement, but what is it exactly? Is it just another buzzword? The latest HR craze? Or maybe it’s something that, if focused on, creates true business value.

Let’s set the record straight about what employee engagement truly means, and then we’ll examine what to do about it.