Search Results for: employee engagement

March 21, 2016

Staff value engagement and culture but many feel let down by employers ⁰

by Mark Eltringham • News, Wellbeing, Workplace

Real estate consultancy JLL has issued a survey to explore the results of its January 2016 report into workplace engagement. The new study reveals – perhaps unsurprisingly – that there is a mismatch between employee’s positive attitudes towards the issues of engagement and culture and their negative experience of them in their current roles. So, while 87 percent of respondents agree that engagement and culture are key drivers of organisational performance, 42 percent don’t believe that their employer effectively capitalises on the workplace to enhance employee engagement, 46 percent do not think that their workplace is used as a key competitive differentiator to attract and retain talent and 41 percent do not agree that their workplace is used as a tool to generate a positive company culture. The study highlights the issues associated with lack of engagement and suggests a number of solutions to help employers engage with staff.

March 3, 2016

Open plan offices linked to low engagement and workplace satisfaction levels ⁰

by Sara Bean • Comment, Flexible working, News, Wellbeing, Workplace design

As we’ve pointed out before, while open plan working can bring cultural benefits such as improved communication and collaboration; the continuing popularity of the open plan office is largely down to cost. The reason the UK has more than twice as many open plan workers as the global average is primarily due to high real estate costs. Now a new report from Steelcase suggests that space and cost-saving strategies such as open plan offices and hot-desking could be impacting workplace satisfaction and engagement. UK employees are falling below the global average for almost all workplace satisfaction metrics, reporting a lack of control over their work environment (59 percent), difficulties concentrating (43 percent) and an inability to work without being interrupted (50 percent). These three factors were found to be central to fostering an engaged and satisfied workforce. Only 29 percent of UK workers are engaged, compared to 34 percent globally.

February 2, 2016

Stress is now a fact of life for the vast majority of employees ⁰

by Mark Eltringham • Flexible working, News, Wellbeing, Workplace

Excessive stress threatens the wellbeing of employees across the UK and the rest of Europe, with 88 percent of British workers regularly experiencing stress at work, according to research by payroll software firm ADP. Nearly half (43 percent) of UK employees go further to say that stress is a constant factor in their roles and that they feel stressed ‘often’ or ‘very often’. In fact, just 12 percent of employees feel that they never experience workplace stress while 79 percent of UK workers feel that their employer is trying to help them manage stress levels. The report, The Workforce View in Europe 2015/16, surveyed 11,257 working adults across Europe, including 1,500 employees in the UK. It found that many employees now believe flexible working will help them deal with stress and achieve a better work life balance while over three-quarters (79 percent) of UK respondents feel their employer is trying to help them manage stress.

January 27, 2016

Employers embrace workplace engagement, but find it hard to measure ⁰

by Sara Bean • Flexible working, News, Technology, Workplace

Businesses may appreciate the benefits of workplace engagement, but quantifying these remains a challenge. According to new research of European employers by Oracle, 93 percent acknowledge employee engagement is strategically important to their company and a majority say it positively impacts collaboration (65 percent), helps boost business performance (61 percent), and contributes to improved customer service (60 percent). Yet nearly two thirds (31 percent) say it’s difficult to measure the return of investment on their wider business, and 30 percent say boardroom decision-makers cannot easily understand its impact. And despite the availability of advanced analytics to measure engagement, the report also claims that current processes are not being optimised to drive engagement, as 68 per cent of businesses still rely on standard staff surveys to gauge engagement levels, with only 37 percent using more sophisticated methods.

January 6, 2016

Third of employees did not feel motivated or engaged at work last year ⁰

by Sara Bean • Flexible working, News, Workplace

Just over a third (34 percent) of UK employees could not name a single occasion that motivated them at work last year, new research claims. The ‘Employee motivation: Who came out on top in 2015?’ report suggests that despite a quarter (24 percent) of staff saying ‘yes’ they felt motivated at work in 2015, nearly half of the UK workforce collectively felt neutral or negative feelings towards their job over the course of the whole year. The survey was commissioned by Red Letter Days for Business, to explore one of the building blocks affecting the low engagement and productivity rates in the UK – employee motivation. It found that 25-34 year olds were the most motivated at work last year, as this age group are likely to be working their way up the career ladder. And unsurprisingly, when asked what would be most likely to motivate them at work, nearly half of respondents, whatever the age, suggested a good work/life balance.

November 25, 2015

This might be the reason why firms are failing to fully engage their employees ⁰

by Matias Rodsevich • Comment, Knowledge, Technology, Workplace

One of the enduring quests organisations continue to undertake is that for the fully engaged employee. They do this for very good business reasons. Managers who understand the benefits of employee engagement can expect to reap the substantial benefits of a more collaborative work environment. In turn, this will lead to an engaging and productive workspace. However, in a majority of organisations, employee engagement remains lower than 35 percent. In light of this principle, Impraise has conducted a study based on over 30 000 feedback interactions between hundreds of managers and employees to see how they would differ from each other when asking for feedback. The results that were found resulted to be interesting and gave a better understanding of the how engaged employees are, and what firms can do to address the chronic levels of disengagement.

November 19, 2015

Stalled career progression could prompt rise in employee turnover ⁰

by Sara Bean • News, Workplace

A lack of career opportunities is resulting in more people leaving their job and this increase in employee turnover is costing organisations thousands in lost productivity, finds a CEB survey of more than 12,000 employees worldwide. Traditional, linear career paths where employees climb the corporate ladder one promotion at a time are a thing of the past, but the resulting flat organisational structures mean employees spend more time at each level – roughly three more years than in 2010. This stalled progression has caused 70 percent of employees to be dissatisfied with their opportunities, leading to greater turnover. Rather than encouraging an environment where promotions are the measure of career progression, companies should build growth-based cultures where moves across functions are not only planned but encouraged says CEB. Doing so not only improves engagement but also helps improve the bottom line.

September 16, 2015

Employees exhausted by a culture of continuous change at work ⁰

by Sara Bean • News, Workplace

A culture of continuous change may be standard practice within larger organisations, but it can have a negative effect on employees, a new report claims. The seven-country Liquid Change Survey of senior executives at large corporations, commissioned by Ketchum Change, found that some leaders are unaware of the effects of so-called change fatigue, despite their employees struggle to keep up. Among partners and board-level executives, only 28 percent think change fatigue is highly prevalent. The survey suggests that to succeed in an environment of continuous change, a more collaborative approach must replace the old top-downmodel. Outlining a clear strategy and goals (43 percent) and engaging with leaders across the organization to co-create the new environment (41 percent) were cited as the most effective ways to get leaders to believe in and actively lead through change.

August 2, 2015

Female bosses enhance workforce engagement and motivation

by Gill Buchanan • Comment, Flexible working, Wellbeing, Workplace

As businesses begin to ease out of recession they are starting to feel more confident in the economy and look at how they can increase spend. But while companies adjust to their new found growth they must ensure that their employees are reassured that they have a voice and, more importantly, are listened to. At Pure, we’ve recently taken a look at the wider impact which employee engagement can have on businesses big and small using an analysis of some key research. This included some illuminating data on gender roles, which included the fact that employees who work for a female manager are 6 percent more engaged, on average, than those who work for a male manager; female employees who work for a female manager are the most engaged, at 35 percent and male employees who work for a male manager are the least engaged, at 25 percent.

July 2, 2015

Employees prefer diverse working experiences to traditional career ladder

by Sara Bean • Flexible working, News, Workplace

Employees value a varied working experience and flexibility over traditional, linear career progression, a global study published by the Top Employers Institute claims. The Career & Succession Management Report identifies the global developments forcing employers to rethink career and succession management strategies. These include skill shortages resulting in a global competition for best talent and an increased risk of losing business-critical knowledge due to the ageing of the workforce. There is also a new generation of workers seeking diverse work assignments and flexibility, who are taking greater responsibility for their own career management, resulting in less loyalty to employers and less interest in the traditional step-by-step climbing of career ladders. The findings suggest that HR needs to move from assuring the smooth succession of leadership to concentrate more on wider long-term staff engagement and retention.

April 15, 2015

Office location key factor for staff engagement, with home working preferred ⁰

by Sara Bean • Facilities management, Flexible working, News

It might be disheartening to learn that despite an employers best efforts to design an engaging and inspiring workplace, for many employees it’s where the offices are located that matters most. In a recent UK poll by ClickSoftware over half (57%), said office location was the most important reason why they’d stay in their job ahead of both pay (52%) and job security (33%). However, the most preferred place to work is at home, with 60 percent of people identifying this location to be ‘very comfortable’. The survey also looked at the factors that affected job performance, and found one in five people (20%) believe their productivity at work has been negatively affected by the location of their job. This increases further in the capital with over a quarter of Londoners (26%) feeling that their productivity would suffer by working in a ‘horrible location’. More →

March 30, 2015

Gamification remains a mystery to employees and unused by many firms

by Mark Eltringham • News, Wellbeing, Workplace

Although it’s currently one of the most talked about workplace ideas, gamification remains a mystery to many workers and even HR professionals keen on the idea are probably not doing much about it. Those are two of the findings of a report from consultancy Penna based on interviews with 2,000 HR directors and employees. The study set out to explore how well senior HR professionals understood gamification, its uses and their perception of the barriers to adoption. Researchers also asked employees about their level of ‘everyday engagement’ with gamification and whether they recognise it as a concept. Over half (52 percent) of HR directors claim to be ‘massively interested’ in the idea although 44 percent also agreed that their organisation was ‘not at all interested’. Remarkably the survey also found that 89 percent of employees don’t even know what it is.