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How to improve engagement: summary of research findings
The Mercer report found that employees are significantly less engaged than five years ago; workers feel vulnerable and lack confidence, due to a range of factors worsened by the recession e.g. pay cuts and freezes, job losses and fewer development and promotion opportunities.
Even as the economy strengthens, workers with such feelings can be a danger to organisations with possible lower morale, poorer performance and talent loss.
This need to improve employee engagement was emphasised by a further challenge: Mercer's findings showed that staff have become more varied e.g. with financial expectations and working styles, in a multigenerational workforce.
"The complex dynamics have forced today's employment relationship to a critical inflection point: An engaged workforce is more neccessary than ever, but at the same time, more difficult to achieve, due in part to ongoing financial pressures that limit organisations' investments in potential solutions" - Mercer
Mercer's survey findings can enhance our understanding of how employees are feeling, helping organisations to find more innovative approaches to improving engagement, in accordance with the wider needs of a more diverse workforce.
With many employees feeling disengaged and considering leaving their job, one thing was transparent: employers need to act now or risk losing valuable talent.
Key UK findings
- 36% of UK workers are seriously considering leaving their organisation, including 41% of managers compared with 33% of non-managers.
- 23% is neither committed to staying nor leaving, a group which also had the lowest engagement levels.
- Younger workers are more likely to seriously consider leaving, at 46% for those aged 24 and under, and 40% of those aged 25-34 contemplating leaving. In correspondance, the number of those not seriously considering leaving also decreased with age.
- When comparing the 2010 results with those in 2005, key indicators of engagement such as feeling of personal accomplishment, strong sense of commitment, pride to work for organisation and feeling treated fairly, were all found to have decreased (at 9%, 7%, 5% and 7% respectively).
Pay:
- Base pay is the most important element of employee value proposition, yet in terms of what engages employees most it ranked seventh, beneath areas such as feeling treated with respect, work/life balance and type of work.
- In terms of employees feeling paid fairly, 49% felt they were when compared with others performing similar jobs in their organisation and 48% felt they were according to their contribution and performance.
- The results drew attention to the importance of factors other than pay, with more participating in incentive plans and 61% feeling personally motivated by these (an 11% increase).
Career:
- 56% of employees claimed that long-term career potential has either an extremely or very important influence on their motivation and engagement at work, with a similar influence from L&D opportunities (52%).
- In addition, 48% feel that their manager assigns them tasks that support their development.
- In general, results have worsened from those in 2005.
Job:
- 73% of employees are satisfied with the type of work they do, but less than half believe that managers exhibit concern for employee well-being (47%) or feel managers understand their job-related problems (45%).
Life:
- For the majority (73%) of employees work/life balance is either an extremely or very important influence upon their work motivation and engagement, and 54% attribute the same importance to flexible working.
Company:
- One area that has improved is senior management communication, for example higher numbers of employees feel that senior management communicates a clear vision of the organisation's future direction (49%, +2) does a good job confronting issues before they become major problems (41%, +3), can be trusted to always communicate honestly (41%, +5).
- However the number feeling that their organisation treats employees with dignity and respect is down from 60% to 54%.
If you'd like to speak to LCP about learning & development consultancy, call us on 01273 590232 or email enquiries@lcp.org.uk. |
