Around six thousand employees from 83 Slovenian companies were surveyed as part of the most extensive research in Southeast Europe, Golden Thread, which also declares the best employers. This is the eighth year that the research has been conducted. The findings of the research are that those companies which invest most in quality relationships achieve double the amount of profit and a nine times higher added value per employee.

The research was conducted within the ORVI consortium, made up of 15 manufacturing, telecommunication and insurance companies. It shows that companies which lack vitality at an organizational level, and where relationships and communication is poor, are at a yearly loss of around two thousand euros per employee. The opportunity costs of bad relationships are highest in the service companies, where they amount from three to five thousand euros annually per employee.

According to the Gallup research report around 70 percent of Slovenia's employees are not engaged at work (63 percent in Southeast Europe). 15 percent of the employees are engaged at work, while another 15 percent are actively disengaged, destroying mutual relationships and negatively influencing business results.

Companies with a high degree of engagement record an average income growth of 19 percent. Those with a low degree of engagement record an average drop in income of around 32 percent, said Zvezdana Lubej from Profiles International, which conducted the research among 90 companies worlwide.