Employee engagement is holding up under the pressure of the global recession, but with many workers beginning to question their leaders’ competency and direction. Employers who take the current state of affairs for granted do so at their peril, a recent survey reveals.
According to Towers Perrin’s Workplace Watch survey of more than 650,000 participants, employee engagement has not yet been affected by the current crisis. This is, in part, due to the fact that employees are actually clearer about their job responsibilities and have more confidence in their long-term career opportunities now than they did a year ago.
At the same time, the survey points to a drop in employees’ understanding of their company’s goals and perceptions of leadership’s overall effectiveness. Both of these signs, warns Towers Perrin, could be harbingers of a downturn in engagement levels.
The good news
The first quarter of 2009 saw favourable scores increase mildly on issues such as organizational efficiency, communication, company reputation and frontline supervisors—all of which contribute to positive engagement. Almost three-quarters (74%) of employees agree their company’s structure facilitates efficient operations, up from 66% in the last quarter of 2008 and 58% in the first quarter of the same year. These data suggest the latest rounds of restructuring have been executed well with minimum impact on staff.
Ninety-one percent of respondents understand how their work helps the company achieve its immediate objectives, a measurement that has remained roughly the same for the past six quarters. Sixty percent feel their company offers long-term career opportunities for them—up from 60% at the beginning of 2008—while 77% agree their company is highly regarded by customers, up from 73% the prior year.
“These results show that many employees get it, in terms of what the company has to do in the short term to weather the economic downturn,” says Dan McCauley, a principal with Towers Perrin. “They understand that the recession has required sacrifices, and they’re willing to do what’s needed to help their employer succeed. The fact that companies don’t yet face a growing gap in engagement is welcome news, particularly given the strong relationship between high engagement and high performance.”
“That said, even the existing gap remains troubling since an ‘all hands on deck’ mindset is essential right now,” adds McCauley. “Complacency about current engagement levels opens a company to significant risk that it will fall behind competitors, both in performance and talent retention, as the economy starts to rebound and it shifts to more of a growth mode.”
As one would expect, the chilly economic climate has put a lid on the number of people actively looking to change jobs. Seventy-one percent agree they’re not seriously considering leaving their current job, up from 64% in the last quarter of 2007 [should this be 2008?]. However, McCauley points out that such numbers mean that 29% of employees are still open to moving elsewhere. So if engagement doesn’t improve before the job market does, this talent will lead the charge out the door.
Warning signs
Other areas of the survey paint a less favourable picture of workplace environments, particularly on leadership.
This top driver of employee engagement is down significantly, to 63% from 71% in the fourth quarter of 2008. In addition, only 69% of employees agree that they clearly understand their company’s broad goals, down from 79% in the fourth quarter of 2008.
“These trends are disconcerting and represent a wake-up call for leaders,” says Michel Tougas, a managing principal with Towers Perrin. “Especially since we didn’t start out with stellar marks on leadership in the first place.” He explains that positive perceptions of overall leadership effectiveness—a critical driver of engagement—are down, and that people need their senior leaders to provide a clear picture of where the company is going and what their role should be.
“While the results of our analysis indicate that leaders have stepped up to the challenge of communicating more and being more visible during this period of crisis, our findings also suggest leaders could be losing sight of the long-term vision and purpose that remains essential in encouraging and energizing the workforce,” he says.
Sustaining momentum
Tougas suggests five actions organizations should take in order to maintain engagement:
1. Get leaders out front to talk with employees about the business environment and how the organization is responding. 2. Involve employees in efforts to manage costs. This will help them feel like active contributors. 3. Communicate consistently and candidly about both short- and long-term objectives. 4. Listen and gather input from employees. 5. Promote development opportunities so people can see there is a future for themselves within the company that is worth working toward.
To comment on this story, contact us.