It’s been interesting this week reading HR Magazine’s article about the Growth Perspectives survey from ORC International.
The low engagement scores that we see here are not a surprise to us at Engage for Success. We have been saying for several years that organisations need to improve the level of engagement and although we are seeing pockets of improvement and change there is plenty of work still to be done. Surely another survey that demonstrates the poor levels of employee engagement in the UK is a clear sign that organisations of all sizes and sectors need to make this their number one priority. It doesn’t take much to do it, either.
Our research suggests that 2/3 of employees are not actively engaged by their organisation. Great engagement is linked to higher profit, better performance for customers, higher levels of innovation as well as lower staff turnover & absence rates and higher quality of life for employees.
With the engagement gap in the UK worth an estimated £26bn it is, quite frankly, astounding that organisations aren’t pursuing better employee engagement; especially in the current climate where economic conditions are so tough. Employee engagement scores are increasingly important to analysts who have identified that employee engagement is a better predictor of future performance than previous business performance. It’s likely that this is because more engaged employees are willing to give more of their discretionary effort as well as the fact that better engagement is linked to better innovation and customer performance.
We believe that any organisation can improve their levels of engagement through the use of four enablers; setting and communicating a strong strategic narrative, having engaged & engaging managers, giving employees a voice and organisational integrity (no say-do gap). Anyone who is interested in learning more can visit www.engageforsuccess.org to find out more about the four enablers, see the evidence and find tools and tips to deliver the four enablers in their organisation.
