Exclusive HR research from HR.com’s Research Institute. The study, The Future of Employee Engagement 2021-22, was conducted to better understand the current trends regarding employee engagement practices to give insight to HR professionals as they strive to improve employee experience, worker motivation, productivity, and retention for their organizations
The “Future of Engagement 2021,” conducted by the HR Research Institute, reveals that Covid-19 packed a wallop on employee engagement — with many organizations reporting low levels of engagement. A full 31% of respondents reported that engagement sagged over the past two years, with 7% saying it plummeted by more than 10% as more employees retreated to their homes and businesses shut down. About half indicate that engagement is higher and 18% say engagement has not changed in either direction.
“Managers on the front lines were not prepared to foster engagement and, even after two years of trial and error, the survey shows that much of these processes have yet to be worked out for a lot of organizations,” says Eric Mosley, CEO, Workhuman. “Even more telling is that while engagement drives value across the organization, leaders aren’t making it a priority. That may be why we’re seeing the great resignation — people simply aren’t feeling the love from their companies.”
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Other major findings include:
- Companies recognize the value of employee engagement, but do not prioritize it. While participants think that engagement positively impacts customer service (76%), well-being (74%), company brand (73%), retention (72%), and productivity (72%) to a high or very high degree, just 30% indicate senior leaders prioritize engagement, and only 24% say they invest enough in engagement-related resources.
- Although a majority of organizations measure and share engagement, more than a third do not, and there is no consensus on the best way to measure it. A full 88% think there are reliable ways to measure engagement, but only 63% measure it and most commonly rely on performance management system metrics (55%).
- Managers lack appropriate training to coach and develop employees toward a positive working culture. Only 31% train their managers in how to boost employee engagement, 43% provide career growth advice and associated opportunities to high degrees, and about half (48%) say managers spend the time coaching employees to develop strengths to a high or very high degree.
- Organizations with high levels of employee engagement are more likely to adopt sentiment analysis as an engagement metrics tool. They are more than three times more likely to say most of their managers are highly skilled at fostering engaged individuals and teams and more than twice as likely to say their leaders prioritize engagement.
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“The research shows that organizations that perform better in employee engagement practices are more likely to create a caring/positive work culture and make engagement a partnership across all job levels and departments,” says Debbie McGrath, CEO, HR.com. “When it comes to engagement, most employees care about themselves and where they fit in the organization — but it’s not what you think — their career growth (45%), fit into organization’s culture (44%), relationship with supervisor (42%) and a sense of purpose (40%) are more important than pay, safety and remote work.”
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