TORC

Business Secretary, Lord Mandelson, commisioned the MacLeod Report

Employee engagement has been the subject of two major recent research studies:

1. The MacLeod Report: Engaging for Success – Enhancing Performance Through Employee Engagement (commisioned by the UK government), and

2. The Blessing White Employee Engagement Report  2011 – an international survey of 11,000 HR Leaders & Line Managers.

Some of the more interesting findings to emerge from Blessing White include:

1. Fewer than 1 in 3 employees worldwide (31%) are Engaged. Nearly 1 in 5 (17%) are actually Disengaged.

2. Employees who are older or in positions of power or with the organisation for more than 7 years or who work in departments closest to strategy decisions and customer relationships tend to be the more Engaged.

3. Trust in the higher leadership has more than twice the impact on engagement levels than trust in immediate managers does.

4. A manager’s relationship with his/her staff trumps his/her skills in promoting Engagement.

5. Creating an environment that supports high performance is key to Engagement – the corollary is also true: Engagement is essential for high performance.

6. Engagement surveys without visible follow-up action may actually decrease engagement levels.

MacLeod throws up some similarly thought-provoking findings:

1. Comparing top quartile and bottom quartile engagement levels across 24,000 business units, it is found that the top quartile averaged:

 -  31-51% less employee turnover, 51% less inventory shrinkage, 62 % less accidents, 12% higher   customer satisfaction, 18% higher productivity & 12% higher profitability.

2.  Comparing earnings per share growth across 89 organisations, it is found that those scoring in the top quartile for engagement had an EPS growth rate 2.6 times that of those in the bottom quartile.

3. Engaged employees in the UK take an average of 2.69 sick days per year; the disengaged take 6.19.

4. 78% of engaged employees would recommend their company’s products or services against 13% of the disengaged.

5. 12% of UK public sector staff are highly engaged and 22% are disengaged.

6. 70% of engaged employees have a good understanding of how to meet customer needs; only 17% of non-engaged employees say the same.

In endorsng the MacLeod findings, Lord Mandelson is quoted as saying:

“The lessons that flow from the evidence … should shape
the way leaders and managers in both private and public sectors
think about the people who work for them. Because competitive
strengths in a global econmony will be built on strong,
innovative … and confident employees, there has
never been a more important time to think
about employee engagement.”

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PS. For related Torc articles, please click on the following links:
1. Employee Engagement Summit
2. Employee Engagement – An Unlikely Role Model
3. Employee Engagement Seminar
4. Delivering on a corporate strategy
5. Core Values & Decision-Making
6. Rebuilding Trust & Responsibility

PPS. For related training programmes, please click on the following links:
1. Engaging Managers With Engagement
2. The Leader as Teacher
3. Change Management For Managers
4. Leading With Influence & Persuasion