Seaworks boss makes his point with a chainsaw : Bill Day keeps physical and metaphorical barriers at bay

Purpose – Considers how Bill Day, owner of ocean‐salvage company Seaworks, deals with issues of trust and employee disengagement. Design/methodology/approach – Incorporates findings from an interview with Bill Day and literature on the areas of trust, employee disengagement and the need for a personal sense of control. Findings – Reveals that key determinants of employee engagement are a sense of trust between employees and their managers as well as a sense of personal control. Trust must be communicated through the firm's culture and must start from the top of the organization. A major barrier between employees and managers is the managerial reluctance to delegate authority and devolve power. Practical implications – Postulates that there may be a direct correlation between managerial reluctance to delegate decision‐making and employee disengagement. This defensive posture by management may harm employee‐management trust and reduce employees' sense of control in the workplace. Social implications – Suggests a practical means of reducing the incidence of employee disengagement and thereby increasing productivity and performance, to the benefit not only of the organization but also of society as a whole. Originality/value – Advances ideas for organizational improvement that could reduce workplace conflict and absenteeism and increase economy of effort, thereby lowering costs and improving profitability.