Chester County profits are going up in smoke as corporate bosses dictate their demands.

“It’s a pretty dire picture,” Exton business insight firm Workplace Dynamics President Dan Kessler said in a Daily Local News report. “Only 30 percent are actually engaged in what they do.”

And on the other end of the spectrum, “18 percent are actually disengaged, a state of affairs that is costing American businesses a half-trillion dollars a year,” the article stated.

The solution?

“Shut up and listen to your employees, then act on what you hear.”

Taking that feedback to heart was the advice Kessler provided to a gathering of Manufacturing Alliance of Chester & Delaware Counties members on Wednesday — especially because “it can be more challenging in the manufacturing environment to maintain engagement among the workforce,” he said.

The businesses that top the list of Workplace Dynamics’ Best Workplaces rankings typically enjoy 68 percent employee engagement.

“‘There is a real opportunity here to make a difference’ if management uses the results to improve communication within the organization,” Kessler said in the article. “‘This really matters to the bottom line performance.’”

Read more about Workplace Dynamics’ findings in the Daily Local News here.