The economy has been rolling along of late to the point where many industries are finding themselves looking to hire but finding the available talent scarce. The challenge, however, has always been a matter of retention. It is the retention, or lack of it, that will cause employees to flee. The recent Wrike Employee Engagement Survey should serve as a wake up call for many small businesses. The following are direct excerpts from the report:
- Despite a majority of US workers saying they are engaged in their workplace, only a quarter claim to be productive 90% of the time. The report surveyed more than 5,000 employees in the U.S., UK, France, Germany and Australia. In it, the employee engagement statistics revealed that only 44% of U.S. employees feel ‘very engaged’ standing third following Germany (46%) and Australia (45%) respectively. British employees are rank as the least enthusiastic, with just 33% of respondents feeling ‘very engaged’. Only 2% of US employees admit to being ‘very disengaged’.
- Over 60% of disengaged employees say they are productive less than 50% of the time. Nearly a quarter (22%) of disengaged employees say they are productive less than 10% of the time. By contrast, 56% of engaged employees are productive over 75% of the time. Only 58% of businesses conduct regular surveys to measure employee engagement. Of these, a little more than half (51%) of employees believe companies are making changes because of the results of the surveys.
- The primary cause of disengagement is feeling the job workers do is undervalued or unrecognized at 43%. Not making enough money (35%) and not having a way to grow/improve their career skills (29%) are second and third respectively.
- On the flip side, among those who feel engaged, 46 % say enjoying their role within the company is the biggest reason. Being able to collaborate well with colleagues (38%) understanding how their work fits into the wider business (29%) are also factors. Surprisingly, less than a quarter (23%) see fair compensation as a primary motivation for their engagement.
- Nearly half (49%) of respondents cited higher pay or an improved job title could increase morale. While 28% say better work/life balance and greater recognition for their accomplishments can help improve their engagement.
-Written by Kevin Sawyer
