BOSTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--WeSpire, the employee engagement platform company that empowers forward-thinking global organizations to reach their greatest potential, today released its survey on the changing employee engagement landscape. The report, “The Evolution of Employee Engagement,” is the fourth iteration in a series based on research conducted since 2009 to assess how organizations engage employees. Based on a survey of more than 400 respondents, the report reveals that only 27 percent of organizations have an official employee engagement policy. Further, 76 percent of employees under the age of 30 want to see their employer do more around employee engagement.
With the problem of employee disengagement reaching critical levels, the survey aims to shed light on the direct and indirect factors impacting employee engagement across organizations including the role of the manager, corporate transparency, and employee choice and collaboration.
“Employee engagement and corporate culture have become top-level business priorities for senior management, as there is no arguing that an engaged workforce is a higher performing one. But the disconnect between intent and execution is widespread,” said Susan Hunt Stevens, founder and CEO at WeSpire. “Many organizations don’t know how to tackle the problem of engagement, and are often unaware of how technology and internal advocates can champion the effort. Our annual survey highlights how employee engagement is changing today’s corporate environment and what employers can do to engage workers, implement business-focused initiatives and drive positive impact across volunteering, corporate responsibility, well-being and sustainability.”
Other key findings from the report include:
- Employee uncertainty around policies is often driven by inconsistent ownership of engagement initiatives within organizations. Survey respondents cited employee engagement ownership across Human Resources (31%), Employees (28%) and Management (25%).
- When it comes to employee engagement, organizations often aren’t doing enough. Fifty-nine percent of respondents said they hope their employer will change their stance on employee engagement, and of those, 57% said they wanted their employer to do more.
- Age plays an important role in employee engagement. While 50% of survey respondents said they were interested in becoming more involved in their organization’s volunteer, sustainability, well-being or social responsibility programs, 71% of employees under the age of 30 expressed a desire to be more involved.
The survey also revealed three key trends for more successful employee engagement initiatives:
- Great Managers: Managers are a critical component to employee engagement. Eighty-nine percent of “very engaged” employees say their superiors care about them, while only 28% of “not at all engaged” employees answered positively. Beyond that, 97% of “very engaged” employees said they’re making meaningful contributions to their organization.
- Transparency: Transparency between management and employees results in a more engaged workforce. Specifically, in organizations with official employee engagement policies, 55% of workers are engaged, while only 40% of employees are engaged at organizations without official policies.
- Choice and Collaboration: Workers who have a choice in the types of programs they can positively impact or have the ability to collaborate on company outreach activities are more likely to be engaged. In addition, peer collaboration is becoming increasingly more important, with 62% of respondents being interested in learning more about the sustainability efforts of their co-workers.
A full copy of “The Evolution of Employee Engagement” can be downloaded from the WeSpire website. WeSpire is also releasing this data at the Sustainable Brands Conference 2015 in San Diego from June 1 – 4, and a complete report can be picked up at Lounge B, Workplace of the Future.
About WeSpire
Headquartered in Boston, Mass., WeSpire is the employee engagement platform company that empowers forward-thinking global organizations to reach their greatest potential. With the only configurable library consisting of hundreds of action-based programs backed by applied behavioral science, WeSpire enables individuals and entire organizations to drive measurable, positive impact. The company works with some of the most notable brands in the world including Unilever, MGM Resorts International and Sony to encourage engagement across corporate sustainability, social responsibility and well-being programs. For more information, visit www.wespire.com, contact us at info@wespire.com, or follow us on Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook.
