Employee engagement is a big topic for business leaders around the globe. Why? Studies show that high work engagement is linked to higher productivity and greater profits for the industry. Work engagement is an employee’s personal commitment to the organization’s goals and overall success. Surveys show that highly engaged employees result in 21% greater profitability; disengaged employees cost companies between $450 and $550 billion annually; and over-engaged employees cost corporate America $150 billion a year, due to absenteeism and burnout. How can big business strike a healthy and profitable balance?
Engagement: Clicking On
The “Employee Engagement Survey: The Productivity Gap”of a cloud-based work management platform found that 91% of the global sample reported being engaged at work which is higher than previous studies which showed lower engagement rates. A 2018 Gallup survey of employee engagement found a lower rate of 34% engagement. The survey consisted of 65% of respondents in leadership positions. Typically, managers report higher engagement rates than individual workers anyway. Engaged employees were 33% more likely than disengaged employees to say they had the tools, resources and support needed to work effectively. The report also showed that workers are more engaged when they enjoy their positions, collaborate well and understand how their work contributes to overall company goals.
Disengagement: Clicking Off
According to the Wrike report, 13% of workers reported being disengaged, compared to 5% of managers and 3% of executive respondents. Workers tend to be disengaged when they feel unrecognized, undervalued, underpaid or burnt out. Disengaged employees say their productivity is compromised, they do less work than usual, care less about the quality of their work and vent to coworkers, with the potential of poisoning the work culture for others.
Studies show that disengagement peaks at certain times of the year. According to a Peakon survey of the United States, Germany and the U.K., more than half of the global workforce reports a fall in productivity as they wind down to celebrate during the holidays. The decline starts early with 7% to 10% of employees “clicking off” before December 1, followed by a decline in productivity by 50% of wage earners between December 16 to 17, according to the report.
Over-Engagement: ‘Always On’ And The Road To Burnout
Many Americans are working harder instead of smarter. Studies have shown that 45% of U.S. workers consider themselves to be modern workaholics. And a recent Gallup study of nearly 7,500 full-time employees found that 67% of employees reported feeling burned out at work sometimes, very often or always. Burned-out employees were 2.6 times as likely to be actively seeking a different job. Even if they stayed with their current employers, they typically had 13% lower confidence in their performance and were half as likely to discuss how to approach performance goals with their managers.
A new report from Doodle found that Americans are working harder, accomplishing less. Doodle surveyed 500 U.S. executives at the VP level up and employees at Fortune 500 companies to discover why Americans are working harder, not smarter. The research showed that while business leaders and top employees feel they are expected to be present and available at all times—joining meetings or calls while on vacation, answering emails or signing on after hours to show availability—there is little impact on actual work results. The impact of an “always on” work ethic revealed some startling statistics for the American workforce, resulting in major consequences to life beyond the office:
- Ninety-three percent of executives admitted to missing major milestones in their lives due to work. More than a quarter of these respondents shared that they’ve missed their child’s first words because of work obligations.
- Eighty-five percent of employees in the U.S. acknowledged they’ve joined a work meeting during an observed holiday.
- Forty percent of executives experience tremendous pressure to work beyond normal business hours to advance their careers.
- Nearly all (99%) of executives and 85% of employees have joined a meeting on a day off, with 57% of executives and 40% of employees acknowledging they’ve joined a meeting from a vacation.
- Just over a quarter of employee respondents say they’ve been in meetings where colleagues watched videos, took selfies (17%) or fell asleep (33%).
A separate report from Okta reported a trend of Americans working through the holidays, struggling to unplug from work—even on Thanksgiving and Christmas Day. Okta’s data shows that on and near big holidays in 2018 workers were signing back in as they start to prepare for work the next day. New Year’s Day showed that workers try to get a jump on the new year with a 30% increase of logins at 5:00 p.m. versus 8 a.m.
Finding A Healthy Balance: It’s A Package Deal
In the final analysis, it’s all about balance. Disengagement and over-engagement share some of the same negative work qualities because they’re both extremes: loss of interest, exhaustion and burnout, lack of collaboration, compromised productivity and pessimistic attitudes. Finding a healthy balance of worker engagement is not a profit versus humanity proposition, but finding it will continue to be a problem for the American workforce in 2020 unless significant changes are made in work practices, overtime demands and inefficient meetings. The challenge will be for companies to create work cultures that blend productivity and profitability with humanity and physical and mental wellness. Ultimately, it’s a package deal.