Why Do I Keep Seeing The Same Research Data On Employee Engagement?

Posted by Rick DeMarco on 27 October 2015

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Employee engagement is on everyone’s mind lately, and with the increased focus on this critical driver of performance and the customer experience, research and consulting companies are releasing results of surveys and studies on a very regular basis. Gallup conducts an annual survey on engagement levels. Deloitte released the results of a study that addressed the gap between acknowledgement of the employee engagement challenge and the effort to address it. And Melcrum just released a white paper with nine observations on common practices by Internal Communications professionals to improve employee engagement. Add research by Gartner, the Conference Board, and others, and it can become quite overwhelming to absorb and process the data. And yet it all supports the same conclusion: employee engagement is a major challenge facing companies today and we have not successfully moved the needle for the past 15 years.

Gallup just released 2015 data on levels of employee engagement for U.S. workers and the percentage of engaged employees remained relatively stagnant at around 32%. Take a look at a summary of their findings.  http://www.gallup.com/poll/186212/employee-engagement-steady-september.aspx?g_source=Employee%20Engagement&g_medium=newsfeed&g_campaign=tile

There are countless white papers, research reports, and surveys that not only present the current state of employee engagement, but also suggest ways to improve it. The following are a few key reports worth reading.

Many of you may have seen this data before, but the problem is that it just hasn’t changed much over the years. 

So how do we move the needle? First of all, we have to acknowledge that improving employee engagement will in fact drive higher performance and increase customer loyalty and satisfaction. In fact we know that when employee and customer engagement are at high levels, it can translate to a 240% increase in business related outcomes according to Gallup. And it’s hard to dispute the evidence.

What should you do?

  • Engage the most senior people in the organization to support it and make it a priority. Demonstrate to them that it has a significant ROI and can improve performance
  • Commit the resources and time to invest in a program that will address the root causes of lack of engagement at their organization.
  • Make it a long-term commitment to move that needle. Not by simply conducting an annual employee engagement and satisfaction survey or having an occasional one-off activity or event.
  • Organizations should dedicate people process and sufficient budgets to engagement activities and give them the same priorities as HR or marketing
  • Establish brand ambassadors who advocate for the company
  • Recognize and reward behavior that supports these efforts
  • Make engagement a cultural trait and hold people accountable for adopting these behaviors

If you would like to learn more about a proven process to creating a culture of high engagement that drives exceptional performance and customer experiences, we would be happy to schedule a call.