12 Statistics You Should Know About Employee Engagement

Employee engagement. Whether you’re sick of hearing it or haven’t heard enough, it’s here to top your blogosphere searches. So before you get too anxious to say, “We can’t afford a new program right now,” or, “We don’t have time for that,” think about the return on investment and read the following 12 statistics that support employee engagement.

 

#1 The good: Your candidates will thank you

More than 42% of job seekers consider rewards and recognition program opportunities when searching for a new job. You’ll stand out to job seekers from your competitors who don’t market or don’t implement employee recognition by promoting your use of reward systems and employee appreciation.

#2 The bad

77% of employees say they feel underappreciated at work and would be open to working harder if they were more recognized. Can you blame them? Who wants to painstake for someone that doesn’t show interest in their hard work? My guess is, not many.

#3 The ugly

A leader is a knowledgeable, driven and experienced employee for others to professionally look up to. It’s hard to ask advice from someone who is disinterested in work; 80% of senior managers are not passionate about their work.

#4 The outcome

88% of employees don’t have a passion for their work. Lack of passion for something you do every day for 8 hours a day is a lot of strain on general happiness.

#5 No experience? Not a problem!

51% of sales and talent and 52% of employees are already experiencing some sort of involvement program to boost engagement and work ethic in their current organization. While this number is small, it’s important to note because it shows a decent number of job seekers have already been introduced to sale-boosting programs.

#6 The common misconceptions

An overwhelming 89% of employers to believe their employees leave because they’re not satisfied with their income. In reality, however, only 12% of employees resign from their roles for monetary reasons. Reconsider your job marketing strategies and veer toward company satisfaction and engagement.

#7 Numbers talk

Gallup researchers have been tallying up the numbers over the years and the outcome is ugly. 51% of U.S employees reported “not engaged” in 2014 and 17.5% employees reported they were “actively disengaged.” Hold onto your chairs for the cost on those lacking engagement in their daily line of work…

#8 “We don’t have the budget for that”

Remember what I said about considering your return on investment? Disengaged employees cost over $500 billion per year to the U.S. economy.

#9 Wait! There’s hope

Who ever imagined bringing games to work would boost engagement? Almost 90% of e-learners say they would be more motivated if the tech-learning platform incorporated a point system.

#10 It’s not just about the praise

While company culture is important, it’s also important to educate your employees. This part of the process can slip through the cracks leaving only 41% of the workforce knowing what their company stands for. How useful is an employee who hardly knows what you and your company stands for?

#11 How does this engagement game work?

Despite the 90% of leaders that believe an engagement strategy is important, only 25% of these leaders are forming and pushing the strategy. In order to make this work, CEOs and other higher-ups have to be engagement advocates. Your employees will take you seriously once you show seriousness in what matters most to your organization.

#12 Common complaints

Here it is. Sometimes it hurts to hear what people are saying about your leadership behind your back. Nobody wants to be told what they’re doing wrong when they work so hard, but take the negatives and turn them into positives. Job Advisor supplied us with the most common complaints from employees. They include:

• Lack of trust
• Low morale, impersonal
• Poor management or use of micromanagement
• Workspace politics
• Unachievable targets

It’s best to be honest and open with your employees. Tell them what they’re doing wrong, what they can improve and praise them when they’re doing the right thing so they know to move forward. Nearly half (43%) of highly engaged employees receive  feedback from their employers at least once a week compared to 18% of employees with low engagement.

 

Don’t wince the next time someone proposes the idea of employee engagement systems to you; be open with yourself, your organization and your employees to beat these statistics of low engaged employees. Raise the numbers of highly engaged employees and see the difference in sales, general happiness among employees and clients and build a more collaborative office.