Most Employees Claim to be Engaged, Only a Quarter Feel Productive

Despite a majority of US workers saying they are engaged in their workplace, only a quarter claim to be productive 90% of the time. The Wrike Employee Engagement Survey report points to the need for business to work on employee engagement. In it Wrike advises employers must be careful because low engagement could lead to a loss in productivity in the long term.

Employee Engagement Statistics

The report surveyed more than 5,000 employees in the U.S., UK, France, Germany and Australia. In it, the employee engagement statistics revealed that only 44% of U.S. employees feel ‘very engaged’ standing third following Germany (46%) and Australia (45%) respectively. British employees are rank as the least enthusiastic, with just 33% of respondents feeling ‘very engaged’. Only 2% of US employees admit to being ‘very disengaged’.

Over 60% of disengaged employees say they are productive less than 50% of the time. Nearly a quarter (22%) of disengaged employees say they are productive less than 10% of the time. By contrast, 56% of engaged employees are productive over 75% of the time.

This highlights the need for companies to draw parallels between engagement and productivity within their workforce. “A lot of organizations talk about the customer experience, but the employee experience is equally important,” says Andrew Filev, founder and CEO of Wrike.

Only 58% of businesses conduct regular surveys to measure employee engagement. Of these, a little more than half (51%) of employees believe companies are making changes because of the results of the surveys.

Engaging Your Employees

The report findings point to two types of long-term employee engagement tactics by employers. The first one offers promotions and new opportunities. And the second one stagnation, boredom, and the feeling of being undervalued.

The report shows that employee engagement statistics reveals that disengaged staff are clearly less productive. With 54% of disengaged employees reporting feeling disengaged at work for over a year, it is a big concern. Thirty-seven percent of those surveyed have been with their current employer for 10 or more years. If we look at only disengaged employees, it would amount to almost half of them (49%). This means that disengaged employees are 32% more likely to have been employed for 10 years on average.

The primary cause of disengagement is feeling the job workers do is undervalued or unrecognized at 43%. Not making enough money (35%) and not having a way to grow/improve their career skills (29%) are second and third respectively.

On the flip side, among those who feel engaged, 46 % say enjoying their role within the company is the biggest reason. Being able to collaborate well with colleagues (38%) understanding how their work fits into the wider business (29%) are also factors. Surprisingly, less than a quarter (23%) see fair compensation as a primary motivation for their engagement.

Managers also highlight effective team collaboration as being the most important factor for direct engagement (40%). Other influential factors for managers include work/life balance (39%); positive work culture (30%); recognizing accomplishment (28%) and having the right tools (25%).

Improving employment engagement

Nearly half (49%) of respondents cited higher pay or an improved job title could increase morale. While 28% say better work/life balance and greater recognition for their accomplishments can help improve their engagement.

Among U.S. employees (50%), the ability to work effectively from anywhere can improve their engagement level.  Getting the right tools to do the job is next. In fact, more than two in five claim their organization has put in place technology to streamlines workflows, communication and efficiencies. On the other hand, 18% believe their company still lags using slower and older tools like to-do lists, spreadsheets, meetings and emails.

The Value of Keeping Your Employees Engaged

Positive employee engagement is responsible for staff retention, productivity, profitability and customer satisfaction.

Engaged employees go the extra mile to contribute to the success of your organization. They make the extra effort, learn more and faster, and are more creative. This, in turn, helps businesses to deliver better performance and gain a competitive advantage.

An engaged workforce will concentrate on the goals of the business and on the results the employer expects from them. Empowering your employees gives them the feeling they really can contribute to the success of the company and they are fulfilling potential.

Businesses need to make employee engagement a key pillar of their overall HR policies. This is especially important in today’s highly competitive job market.

In the press release for the survey, Andrew Filev, founder and CEO at Wrike, addresses this very point. Filev says, “A lot of organizations talk about the customer experience, but the employee experience is equally important.”

Adding, “Most employees are engaged at work but still feel that their productivity is suffering because technology is creating barriers within their team rather than tearing them down. This trend is certainly concerning but also presents a huge opportunity for businesses to increase both engagement and productivity by unifying systems and empowering execution.”

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This article, "Most Employees Claim to be Engaged, Only a Quarter Feel Productive" was first published on Small Business Trends