Majority of firms lack a coherent approach to employee engagement

In spite of the fact that the overwhelming majority of employees worldwide are disengaged at work, most organisations still don’t think they take a strategic approach to the issue. A new study by technology consultancy Altimeter claims that just 41 percent of organisations believe they take a strategic approach to employee engagement, while only 43 percent believe they have an organisational culture of trust and empowerment with many unable to use technology as part of the solution. The authors of the report cite another study published by Gallup in 2013 which found that 87 percent of employees globally are engaged, rising to 70 percent in the US. The report is based on a study of 114 organisations but mirrors the findings of Deloitte in their report from earlier this year which studied 2,500 organisations and found the same mismatch.

Other findings of the Altimeter work include:

Most organisations don’t have a coherent employee engagement strategy — only 41 percent of organisations believe the have a holistic and strategic approach to employee engagement and advocacy.

Authentic employee engagement only happens when there is trust in the relationship — only 43 percent of survey respondents believe they have an organisational culture of trust and empowerment that supports employee engagement.

Part of the problem is that there is no natural owner of employee engagement. In 41 percent of organisations, HR leads employee engagement efforts, while 17 percent and 11 percent have Employee/Corporate Communications and Marketing leading efforts, respectively.

There remains significant untapped opportunity to use digital tools to enhance employee engagement. Only 36 percent and 25 percent of respondents have organisations where many employees use their internal collaboration platform and enterprise social network, respectively.

“While many organisations believe that employee engagement should be a shared responsibility, there were many employee engagement initiatives happening that rarely coordinated with each other. HR has a programme to increase employee feedback, while communications wants to make sure employees read the latest company news,” the report concludes. “There remains significant untapped opportunity to use digital tools to enhance employee engagement. Only 36 percent and 25 percent of respondents have organisations where many employees use their internal collaboration platform and enterprise social network, respectively.”

Altimeter is hosting a webinar on this subject on January 20, 2015