This is important, because it is becoming apparent that one quality engaged employees have in common - and something more and more actively sought by HR recruiters - is "positivity," or a generally positive and optimistic attitude about life and work. In addition, more and more companies are evaluating "character" which, when it comes to some companies' hiring, is now even more important than credentials. What matters most in predicting the effectiveness of a new executive, says one commentator, is "how they behave, the values they hold dear, and what it's actually like to work with them, side by side, day after day."

What matters to your company is having effective, capable, motivated employees. But what matters to the employee is having a fulfilling, happy life. And recent research by the highly productive behavioral economist, Daniel Kahneman, has shown fairly conclusively that money just can't buy happiness. People living in poverty will tend to be less happy, but once a person's basic needs are met, additional money doesn't buy additional happiness. Studies of major lottery winners, paraplegics, and the wealthy have repeatedly documented the fact that a person's happiness seems to be much more the result of innate attitude and predisposition, rather than external situation.

So if you want engaged employees - truly motivated employees - then positivity matters, even more than money.