If not, you should be. Hewitt recently released startling figures from their Global Engagement Database that show employee engagement is continuing to decline, even as the economy recovers. In fact:
“For the first time in a decade, the percentage of organisations with decreasing Engagement now exceeds the percentage with increasing engagement."
Can you blame employees? They are working harder, longer and for less. Telling them “your pay is your thanks” just isn’t cutting it any more. Employees understand why their companies needed to cut-back, but that doesn’t change their need to be told, “Thanks. You did a great job. They way you handled the project really demonstrated our commitment to quality and integrity. Well done.”
And the fallout from not giving that appreciation is real. Talent Management magazine recently reported on our own “Restarting Recognition during the Recovery” research, highlighting:
“One survey respondent said that when a monetary recognition program was removed, employee satisfaction went from 72 percent to 32 percent. The majority of companies (71 percent) that held steadfast in their employee recognition programs and increased spending saw an uptick in employee engagement, whereas 59 percent of companies that decreased spending saw a dip in employee engagement. …What are you doing to show your employees the appreciation they deserve?
“In a recent Deloitte survey asking employees about factors that would cause them to stay at or leave their current organization, 25 percent of employees cited nonfinancial recognition from supervisors or managers as a reason to stay, while 20 percent cited the lack of this recognition as a reason to leave.
“However, organizations also realize that money talks. So it’s no surprise that organizations that increased their investment during the downturn realize that the recovery is no time to let up on these efforts. A majority (53 percent) of these companies plan to increase their investment in recognition.”
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At September 24, 2010 1:53 PM, Doug Shaw said...
Interesting? Yes, but not a surprise sadly. I'm getting increasingly angry and definitely fed up with people using economic uncertainty as a means of turning off the politeness tap. Bad behaviour like this just sucks. We don't put up with it from friends, our customers won't tolerate it but hey, you look lucky to have a job, I'll treat you badly because I think I can get away with it.
Increasingly I'm seeing bright people realising that hey, I don't have to stick this, I'm off. Of course the ones you really want to keep are always the first to leave in these circumstances.
Right - I'm off to burn my soapbox!
At September 24, 2010 2:52 PM, Derek Irvine said...
Agreed, Doug -- not a surprise. Gallup research that I plan on blogging more about soon has now found causality (not just correlation) between engagement and financial success. Interestingly, highly engaged employees create financial success to a much higher degree than financial success creates engaged employees.
Leadership had better start paying attention.