Continuing the trend of some good news for small business I started here this week, I thought I would share this feel-good article (in my mind, at least) by our friend Ann Meyer at the Chicago Tribune.

Here are some of the good omens Meyer points to when it comes to the payoff of employee engagement in small organizations, which, as she writes, are a leading indicator of economic recovery:

• HR consulting firm Vantage Solutions is "seeing more interest in training and other pro-active approaches to human resource development, instead of pay reductions, furloughs and layoffs."
• She cites a recent study by the Kauffman Foundation that I wrote about late last year, which finds that firms younger than 5 years old have created about two-thirds of all new jobs as late as 2007.
• She quotes a senior researcher at Kauffman, who says despite the recession, "hundreds of thousands" of startups have emerged which will look to add jobs as they grow.
• At least in Illinois, according to a state management association, the percentage of companies that plan to reduce their workforce dropped from 66% to 15% over the past year.
• SBA loan programs, spurred by the defense appropriations bill that President Obama signed in December, are expected to generate over $4 billion in additional small business lending.

When I think of all the new, small, smart companies out there and their innovative team building and other strategies for greater workforce effectiveness – some of which are already competing to be named a Top Small Workplace in Inc. Magazine this summer – I can't help but smile when I come across an article like Meyer's.

Related: Check out Meyer's write-up on two of our 2008 Top Small Workplaces and two of that year's finalists for the award.