Everyone hopes their employees are engaged in their work. However, according to a recent poll, they probably aren’t.
Engaged employees are great! They are genuinely more likable, more committed to their work, and are often more optimistic about the companies they work for. While everyone can appreciate employees who are engaged, few companies understand the huge impact that employee engagement has upon their business.
Let’s look at the numbers (according to a recent Gallup Meta Analysis):
- Only 29% of employees are engaged in the average US company (globally the number drops to 17%).
- 71% of employee are disengaged at work.
- 24% of employees are actively disengaged, meaning that they are consciously working against the best interest of their companies.
This is essentially stating that at any given moment, at any given company, half the employees don’t care about the work they are doing or the success of their employer, and another quarter of all employees are actually hindering their company’s success. These numbers are abysmal! How can any company accept such terrible performance from their team members?
The answer to this question is quite simple: Complacency.
Companies have become complacent in their hiring, on-boarding, and in their expectations of employees. When did companies begin to accept mediocrity as an acceptable level of performance?
So can employees half-heartedly complete their work? Yes, sort of, but at a huge cost to the organizations.
In the same Gallup analysis, a comparison was made between the top and bottom 25% of the companies with the most and least engaged employees. They found that companies with more engaged employees were:
- 22% More Profitable, with
- 48% Fewer Safety Incidents
- 28% Less Theft
- 10% Higher Customer Ratings
All this because the employees at these companies are engaged. The people who work there actually care about the organizations that employ them and are committed to their success.
Research conducted by SHRA found that committed employees have 20% better performance and are 87% less likely to leave. According to research conducted by the HAY Group, in professional service firms engaged employees are 43% more productive!
If you want an extraordinary company, the only way you can ensure success is to focus on obtaining and retaining engaged employees!
The question now becomes: What are the Drivers of Engagement and how do we keep our employees engaged?
