Surprising Statistics: Has Workforce Engagement Declined with the Economy?

Posted by Pamela Wong

During difficult economic times, when people are being laid off, struggling to meet goals and quotas, and fearing the worst, most people might expect workforce engagement to decline…a lot! The Criteria for Performance Excellence defines engagement as “the extent of workforce commitment, both emotional and intellectual, to accomplishing the work, mission, and vision of the organization. … An engaged workforce benefits from trusting relationships, a safe and cooperative environment, good communication and information flow, empowerment, and performance accountability.” It is often trust, cooperation, communication, and empowerment that are the first to disappear when things get difficult.

According to recently-released research by Gallup, workforce engagement stayed surprisingly stable through the deepening recession in 2008 and 2009. By tracking a large sample of employees, the organization found only a 1% change in overall engagement: from 31% in July 2008 to 30% in March 2009. What might explain this unexpected outcome?

Gallup surveyed Americans on a broad range of measures of employee engagement, and although overall engagement changed little, Gallup found that specific elements of engagement changed more. These include increased worry and stress, decreased time socializing, and rising obesity. In addition, “This likely has to do with the fact that engagement is based on very local, everyday, worker experiences,” says James K. Harter, Gallup’s chief scientist of workplace management and well being, in the Gallup Management Journal. “Engagement can serve as an anchor during troubled times.”  

I recently had the opportunity to speak with leaders of Los Alamos National Bank, a 2000 Baldrige Award recipient. They are happy to report that their workforce’s engagement, too, has remained stable. Workforce members are grateful to be employed, and they recognize that customers are more stressed, less trusting of the industry, and feeling economic pressures. It’s become more challenging to serve them. In response, Los Alamos National Bank is providing its workforce with training on factors affecting its customers. It is also stepping up training on its products, so that employees are prepared to answer customers’ increased questions and are equipped to “hold their hands” as they serve them.

I’d like to hear how your organization is faring through these difficult times. What are you doing to support the engagement of your workforce?

Comments

[Tim]

Imagine the positive growth in our economy if leaders would do what is necessary and improve engagement to 50%.

[Mark]

That's an excellent question, Pamela. The nonprofit I work for, Winning Workplaces, does an annual workplace recognition award with Inc. Magazine, and in surveying our 2010 applicants (roughly 500) we've seen that overall engagement has gone up. It has for one of the reasons you mentioned -- employees being grateful to still have a job in this economy -- but also, more importantly, because these companies have used this down economy as a time to retool and revamp with the input of their people, which has made them more committed and productive. Some of the strong business metrics that have been achieved through this focus by the leadership of these companies are a 42% average revenue growth rate from 2007-2009, average employee tenure of 4 years, and the ability to fill 1/5 of open positions from within (saving on recruiting costs) in 2009.

[William Scherkenbach]

I've spent most of the past two years in China. Costs are low, but the seeds for future improvement are inhibited by a culture that blocks engagement. Indeed, engagement is the only way that the US can compete in this new economic age. And yet instead of investing and encouraging engagement, US management opts for short-term cost reduction ploys that destroy our only competitive edge.

[Jeff Lucas]

Pam, this is a really thought provoking post. There is an article in this month's Atlantic by Don Peck How a New Jobless Era Will Transform America ( http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/201003/jobless-america-future )that presents a really chilling forecast for what the recession is going to mean to the long term social fabric of the US. I wonder if any of the things we have learned about workforce engagement from folks like those at Gallup can help mitigate any of the predictions that Peck makes.

[Brian Lassiter]

I agree with Jeff: a great post, Pam. However, I just published an article last week that showed contrastingly different statistics from the Gallup numbers. A Conference Board survey last month indicated that only 45% of American workers were satisfied (and if that's the case, their engagement levels were likely much lower). This was 4% lower than Conference Board's numbers last year and the LOWEST in 22 years of the survey (the artice is at http://councilforquality.org/newsletter/v02/Feb2010.html if you're interested). There are many reasons cited in the article, but the bottom line: US workers are not happy.

And I tend to agree with the Peck article that Jeff Lucas posted: this does not bode well for our economy moving forward in the short-term or longer-term (remember that most economists predict a severe labor shortage as Baby Boomers finally begin the retire -- it's been delayed a few years, but it's still out there). The combination of a labor shortage and worker dissatisfaction could have significant consequences on productivity, innovation, customer satisfaction, and overall performance in our economy -- all forming a solid case for strong leadership and systematic improvement (as the Baldrige Criteria would urge).

[sildenafil citrate]

Economics is the social science that studies the production, distribution, and consumption of goods and services. The term economics comes from the Ancient Greek οἰκονομία (oikonomia, "management of a household, administration") from οἶκος (oikos, "house") + νόμος (nomos, "custom" or "law"), hence "rules of the house(hold)".[1] Current economic models developed out of the broader field of political economy in the late 19th century, owing to a desire to use an empirical approach more akin to the physical sciences.

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An economy consists of the economic system of a country or other area, the labor, capital and land resources, and the economic agents that socially participate in the production, exchange, distribution, and consumption of goods and services of that area.

[Bob]

Pamela: We just completed a workforce climate survey of a service company. Great leaders, strategic plan, esprit de corp, and communication processes. 93.3% participation, 88% overall satisfaction, 66% Engagement. OFIs: Performance Management Feedback, Professional Development, work/personal life balance.

[Pamela Wong]

Thanks for sharing. If you have previous data, it would be interesting to see if a trend is developing, and if it could be affected by the economy.