Not Much Has Changed In Levels Of Employee Engagement Over The Past 11 Years

Posted by Rick DeMarco on 16 April 2015

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So what should organizations do differently?

In 2004, Stephen Covey released the book, The 8th Habit:  From Effectiveness to Greatness.  You will remember Covey as the bestselling author of the 7 Habits of Highly Effective People.  He identifies the 8th Habit as additive to the other 7 and calls it “Find Your Voice and Inspire Others to Find Theirs”.  Take a look at some of the results he quotes from a study conducted by Harris Interactive on the ability of an organization to focus and execute their highest priorities.  This study includes results from 23,000 U.S. residents employed full-time within key industries and key functional areas.  All of these results are reflective of the level of employee engagement.

  • Only 37% said they have a clear understanding of what their organization is trying to achieve and why
  • Only 1 in 5 workers said they have a clear “line of sight” between their tasks and their team’s and organization’s goals
  • Only half were satisfied with the work they have accomplished at the end of the week
  • Only 17% felt their organization fosters open communication that is respectful of differing opinions and that results in new and better ideas
  • Only 20% fully trusted the organization they work for

Now turn the clock ahead 11 years and look at some of the key findings from a report issued by Modern Survey in October 2014, “The State of Employee Engagement”. 

  • Only 16% of participants are fully engaged, with 22% totally disengaged
  • The percentage of employees who say they want to leave has grown to 28%
  • When asked if the company inspires them to “go above and beyond” normal job duties to help the company succeed, about ½ of participants said no
  • Only about 60-65% trust their direct manager and about 50% trust their senior management
  • Only 62% have an intent to stay at their current organization
  • Only 56% are inspired by their company
  • 51% are willing to refer friends and relatives to their company

Although these are not the exact same metrics measured by Harris and by Modern Survey, the conclusion is clear….despite investments and programs aimed at increasing employee engagement, there has been little improvement in over 10 years.  One particular result that confirms this conclusion is that per Harris, in 2004, only 20% of workers had a clear line of sight between their tasks and the team and organizational goals.  In 2015, that number has not changed one bit… it is still sitting at 20%.

This lack of progress is interesting, but it’s only compelling if it’s coupled with an understanding and acknowledgement of the importance and impact of having a culture of high employee engagement.  So let’s take a look at the results of three other studies. 

Earlier this year, The Conference Board released a report, CEO Challenge 2015, in which human capital was identified as the top challenge facing CEO’s around the world and employee engagement was identified as a top priority and strategy to address that challenge. 

In March 2015, Deloitte issued the results of a survey on Human Capital conducted with more than 3,300 HR and business leaders in 106 countries.  The survey revealed that employee engagement is the top issue facing 87% of these leaders, up from 79% last year.  However, 60% of the participants said they do not have an adequate program to measure and improve engagement, only 12% have a program in place to define and build a strong culture, and only 7% rated themselves as excellent at measuring, driving, and improving engagement and retention.

 In another study conducted by SHRM, 82% of participants admit failing to improve employee engagement.

It’s clear from these reports, as well as a number of other surveys and assessments, that the awareness of the importance of employee engagement continues to increase.  The problem is that for well over a decade now, organizations seem to be stuck on knowing that engagement is important, but not knowing what to do about it or they spend time and money on initiatives that are just not having a big impact.

So despite an increasing awareness of the importance and impact of employee engagement, why are we not moving the needle?  The problem is that many organizations still look at employee engagement as a program rather than as a commitment to a culture.  An organization may invest in a one-off like an employee recognition and reward program or rallying event or an all hands meeting with the CEO and then wonder why employee engagement does not increase.  A culture of employee engagement requires a long term commitment to insure that the organization is aligned with consistent messaging and policies and procedures that reinforce and support that culture.  Those of us who are passionate about employee engagement long for the day when we no longer use that term, but have moved to the point at which engagement is just a part of our culture. 

To truly improve employee engagement, there has to be a strategy and a comprehensive program that moves employees through the journey of awareness, understanding, commitment, and changed behavior. 

There are ten essentials for rolling out a successful employee engagement program:

  1. Senior level endorsement and sponsorship
  2. Objectives, deliverables, and timetable
  3. Research that provides insights and prescriptions for meaningful messaging and creative tactics that are fun and experiential
  4. A codified process and framework that is proven functional
  5. A dedicated, cross-functional internal project management team that has clear mandates, budgets, and deliverables
  6. Alignment among HR, communications, and marketing
  7. A comprehensive adult learning training program
  8. Brand ambassadors or advocates who promote the brand internally
  9. Internal social media for employees to exchange ideas for living the brand behavior, enhancing communications through internal social networking and websites
  10. Reinforcement of behavior through organized, transparent reward and recognition programs

So how many of these essentials does your organization address in your journey to improve employee engagement?   We would love to start a dialogue on your successes and failures in building a culture of engaged employees.  And share some best practices and ideas on how to move the needle on your employee engagement efforts.  Every investment in an organization needs to yield a return and help meet goals and objectives.  There is plenty of evidence today that ties a highly engaged workforce to better business performance and improved metrics.  So why not make sure that the investment you make to improve employee engagement is yielding the return it should?