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The State of Employee Engagement in 2019Finding: Engagement has the biggest impact oncustomer serviceHR professionals tend to believe that engagement has a positiveimpact on a number of performance indicators. Customer serviceis the area most commonly identified as having a very high impact.If we add high and very high impact, then productivity is nearly asimpactful. Overall, HR professionals tend to believe that employeeengagement has a positive impact on a variety of issues.Survey Question: In your organization, to what degree do higher ratesof engagement have a positive impact on the following areas?41%Customer serviceProductivity31%Product quality32%43%Company brand34%39%21%Financial performance0Very high12www.hr.com hcopyright HR.com 2019Over 40% of HRprofessionalssay employeeengagement has avery high impacton customerservice

The State of Employee Engagement in 2019Finding: Most HR professionals (60%) feel employeeengagement should be at or near the top of their list of prioritiesThe emphasis HR typically places on engagement is backed by an honestbelief that it matters. Ninety-six percent feel engagement is crucial orimportant. HR leaders should check to see if their belief in the importanceof engagement is shared by management. If managers don’t believe in theimportance of engagement, then that will limit HR’s ability to improve it.Survey Question: Which of the following best describes the way youfeel about the subject of employee engagement? (select one)?It's crucial and should beat or near the top of ourlist of priorities60%It's important but it's justone of multiple factorsthat concern us36%It's moderately importantbut tends to be overhypedas a concept3%It's basically a scamperpetrated by consultantslooking for money1%It's way oversold and does notdeserve nearly as muchattention as it gets1%013www.hr.com 877-472-664810Only 5% of HRprofessionalssay employeeengagement hasbeen overhyped,oversold or is ascam2030405060copyright HR.com 2019

The State of Employee Engagement in 2019What Drives Engagement?Finding: More than anything else, leadership and immediatesupervisors drive employee engagementAround 80% of respondents believe engagement is highly linked to trustin leadership and the relationship with the immediate supervisor. However,the importance of these two factors should not overshadow the othercontributors such as a sense of purpose and organizational culture, both ofwhich are seen as highly linked to engagement by about three-quarters ofparticipants.Survey question: Which of the following factors are most highly linkedto employee engagement in your organization? (Select all that apply)81%Trust in leadersRelationship withimmediate supervisor79%A sense of purpose75%Organizational culture74%Belief in the organization69%Opportunities forcareer growth68%Enjoyment of work68%Relationship with colleagues67%Physical environmentof the workplace37%Sense of psychological safety35%Other5%014www.hr.com 877-472-664820406080100copyright HR.com 2019

The State of Employee Engagement in 2019Finding: HR professionals are most likely to view immediatesupervisors and leaders as being responsible for engagementAnother survey finding supports the notion that leaders and supervisorsbear most of the responsibility for improving employee engagement.What’s interesting is that top leaders bear about the same responsibilityas immediate supervisors, which challenges some of the conventionalwisdom in the area of engagement. Typically, managers say that employeesdo not leave jobs; they leave bosses. But that only scratches the surface.Employees need to feel not only that they have an environment wherethey can thrive but that their top leaders are taking the organization and itspeople in the right direction.HR professionals, however, view themselves as bearing less responsibilitythan leaders or employees themselves. Why? It’s probably because theyare not directly overseeing employees. On the other hand, HR professionalsare often in charge of conducting organizational climate surveys and runningprograms that influence engagement.It’s also worth noting that 70% of respondents say employees bear a highor very high degree of responsibility for engagement. This result points tothe need for a culture that emphasizes individual responsibility, and that inturn presumes a degree of empowerment. It also points to the importance ofhiring people who are likely to be engaged.15www.hr.com 877-472-6648copyright HR.com 2019

The State of Employee Engagement in 2019Survey Question: To what degree are the following groups responsiblefor employee engagement in your supervisorsTop leadershipVery high degree16www.hr.com 877-472-6648High degreecopyright HR.com 2019Just onethird of HRprofessionals sayHR departmentsbear a veryhigh degree ofresponsibilityfor employeeengagement

The State of Employee Engagement in 2019How Do Organizations Measure Engagement?Finding: Just over half of organizations measure engagementIf employee engagement is closely related to organizationalperformance, it follows that measuring it and finding ways to improveit should be a priority for a large majority of companies. In fact,however, only slightly more than half of respondents say theirorganizations measure engagement. On the other hand, if we focusin on large organizations, we find that most (72%) do.Why don’t more organizations measure engagement? Leadersof smaller organizations may feel that they are in touch with theiremployees and do not need surveys or other measurements to tellthem what they already know. Others may feel that engagement islow and do not want to call attention to it.Survey question: Does your organization measure employeeengagement?28%54%46%Almost threequarters of largeorganizationsmeasureengagement72%YesAll organizations17www.hr.com 877-472-6648NoOrganizations with 1,000 orMore Employeescopyright HR.com 2019

The State of Employee Engagement in 2019Finding: Conducting formal surveys is still the go-to method ofmeasuring engagementEmployee surveys have been with us since the 1930s, and they have a longhistory of both use and misuse. An annual survey can be a very useful andorganization-changing tool if used correctly, but they often try to capture toomuch data all at once. In reality, it can take months to analyze and formulatea response to the findings. By that time, the silence may have already leftemployees wondering if anybody cares.Organizations are experimenting with new ways to acquire more frequentand better-focused employee feedback. The use of more frequent surveysis receiving much attention, but organizations must find the right balance.They don’t want to cause survey fatigue. Trying to perfect this is an area ofexperimentation and innovation in some of today’s organizations.The 5% of organizations that answered “Other” use a variety ofmeasurement methods such as 360-degree assessments, stay interviews,and employee usage of internal social media.Survey Question: How does your organization measure employeeengagement? (select all that apply)73%Annual surveysExit interviews59%45%Retention rates42%One-on-ones with managers41%Performance management system36%Pulse surveys29%Customer satisfaction rates26%Employee productivity13%Product and service quality ratings4%Work done outside normal working hours5%Other01810www.hr.com 877-472-664820304050607080copyright HR.com 2019Almost 60% oforganizations useexit interviewsto measureengagement

The State of Employee Engagement in 2019Finding: Of those that measure engagement, most (83%) usemultiple methodsMany organizations use multiple measurement methods to assessengagement. In general, the more angles one has on the topic ofengagement, the more likely one is to have an accurate picture of thesituation. That said, we find the use of exit interviews troubling. Althoughthey can capture valuable data, they are difficult to administer in a waythat will make a departing employee comfortable with being truthful. Werecommend thorough validation before using them to gauge engagement.Some companies are beginning to experiment with continuously assessingengagement, sometimes by using an artificial intelligence (AI) to monitorsentiment in emails. Privacy is an obvious concern, and some vendorsoffering these AI tools indicate that they spend as much effort on protectingprivacy as they do on assessing engagement. This approach is clearlyexperimental but could lead to an easy and accurate way to continuouslymonitor some of the dimensions of engagement.Survey Question: How does your organization measure employeeengagement? (select all that apply)Number of Measurement Methods Used16 to 1017%19%Only 17% oforganizationsthat measureengagement relysolely on a singlemeasurementmethod2 to 564%19www.hr.com 877-472-6648copyright HR.com 2019

The State of Employee Engagement in 2019Finding: Of those organizations that measure engagement, wellover half do it annually or less frequentlyIn recent years, there have been more stories about how manyorganizations are moving toward more frequent employee engagementmeasurement methods. The theory behind this trend is that engagement isnot a constant that we can capture in a once-a-year snapshot. It fluctuatesfor every individual over time.Indeed, some organizations have moved in this direction. Ten percent of HRprofessionals say their organizations measure engagement continuously,and nearly a quarter of respondents measure it monthly, quarterly, or everysix months. However, this still means that well over half of respondentsmeasure it once a year or less often. In other words, the trend towardfrequent measurement of engagement is still not a mainstream one.Survey Question: How often is employee engagement formallymeasured? (select the one that best applies)Few organizations(10%) hly9%Quarterly13%Every six months47%Once a year12%Once every two or three years4%Only when we think it's relevant3%Other020www.hr.com 877-472-66481020304050copyright HR.com 2019

The State of Employee Engagement in 2019Finding: Almost a third of organizations have seenengagement improve by 1% to 10%One of the more positive findings in this study is that, on balance,organizations have been more likely to see engagement improve(38%) than decline (23%)—the remaining 39% felt engagementstayed the same. Of course, a less optimistic way of looking atthis data is that a majority of respondents (62%) believe thatengagement in their companies has either been stagnant ordeclined.Survey Question: Based on your metrics, how has the level ofemployee engagement changed over the last two years?39%403531%30A small slice oforganizations(7%) have seenengagementlevels move up bymore than 10%252017%15107%6%50Down bymore than10%21Downbetween 1%and 10%www.hr.com 877-472-6648About thesameUpbetween1% and10%Up bymorethan 10%copyright HR.com 2019

The State of Employee Engagement in 2019How Do Organizations Respond to EngagementMetrics Data?Finding: Most organizations (55%) share engagement resultswith the entire organizationSharing the results of employee surveys is essential to building trust in theorganization and its leaders. Whether you share feedback—and how youshare it—can have an effect on organizational culture.Just over half of the participants said their organizations communicateresults to the entire organization. Fewer, however, review results with entiredepartments or division teams. Since, as this study shows, engagementis largely driven by immediate supervisors, this may be something moreorganizations should consider. The trick is to communicate wisely andeffectively. Determining how best to do this is HR’s opportunity to influencetwo-way communication in the organization.Survey question: How do you share employee engagement data?(select all that apply)Communicate overallresults to the entireorganization55%Review of results atdepartment/division levelwith individual leaders55%Review of results withentire departmentsand/or division teams33%Communicate some butnot all of the data to theentire organization30%5%Other02210www.hr.com 877-472-66482030405060copyright HR.com 2019Only 33% of HRprofessionalssay theirorganizationsreview resultswith entiredepartments ordivision teams

The State of Employee Engagement in 2019Finding: Less engaged organizations are less likely to takespecific and forceful actions based on the engagement dataHighly engaged organizations are more likely to take specific actionsto boost engagement after engagement data are discussed within thecompany. Whereas 63% of highly engaged organizations take such actionsto a high or very high degree, the same is true for only 36% of engagedorganizations.Why? Perhaps there is a disconnect between HR and business leaders inless engaged organizations. If HR conducts an engagement survey andleaders do not act on it, then engagement may become worse than if thesurvey never happened.Most of the responsibility for action on engagement rests on senior leadersand immediate supervisors. Without communication and follow-up, theresult will be low trust in top leaders, frustrated supervisors, and disengagedemployees – and, as we have seen, lower organizational performance.Survey Question: After discussing engagement data, to what degreedoes your organization take specific actions to increase engagement?Highly engaged55%32%6%Less engaged36%02040%406023%80100Degree of ActionHigh/Very High23Moderatewww.hr.com 877-472-6648Low/VeryLowcopyright HR.com 2019It’s rare (6%) forhighly engagedorganizationsnot to act onengagement data

The State of Employee Engagement in 2019How Can HR and Management InfluenceDiscretionary Effort?As part of the analysis process, respondents were divided into two cohorts: Highly engaged organizations: These are organizations whereHR professionals agree or strongly agree that employees in theirorganization give discretionary effort, which is the level of effort aboveand beyond the minimum required to get the job done. Less engaged organizations: These are organizations whereHR professionals neither agree nor disagree, somewhat disagree,disagree or strongly disagree that employees in their organization givediscretionary effort, which is the level of effort above and beyond theminimum required to get the job done.Comparing these two cohorts provides insights into what actions mightinfluence discretionary effort.Finding: Highly engaged organizations are more than twice aslikely to be top financial performers in their industriesPerhaps before one asks how to improve discretionaryeffort, it is worth asking if discretionary effort matters. Thedata implies it does. The survey asked respondents abouthow they fared in terms of performance in their most recentfiscal years. Among highly engaged organizations, 19%report having far above average performance comparedto competitors in their industries. Among less engagedorganizations, the number was only 8%.Although this relationship between discretionary effortand financial performance may not be causative, it doeslend some support to the view of many HR professionalsthat there is a causal chain leading from engagement todiscretionary effort to financial performance.24www.hr.com 877-472-6648copyright HR.com 2019

The State of Employee Engagement in 2019Survey Statement: Please rate your organization’s performance in themost recent fiscal year compared to competitors in your industry.[% Far above average]Highly engagedorganizations19%Less engaged8%051015Only 8% oforganizations withless engagementhave “Far aboveaverage” financialperformance20Finding: Highly engaged organizations are more likely tomeasure engagementThe value of measuring engagement shows up in the fact that highlyengaged organizations are more likely to measure engagement than thosethat do not. This finding also reinforces the hypothesis that there is a causallink from measuring engagement to managing engagement to improveddiscretionary effort.Survey Question: Does your organization measure employeeengagement? (% “Yes”)6062%5041%40302010025Highly engagedorganizationswww.hr.com 877-472-6648Less engagedcopyright HR.com 2019Fewer than half oforganizations withless engagementmeasureengagement

The State of Employee Engagement in 2019Finding: Highly engaged organizations are more likely than otherorganizations to measure engagement more than once a yearNot only is measuring engagement associated with discretionary effort,measuring it often is associated as well. Highly engaged organizations aremore likely than other organizations to measure engagement more thanonce a year, and less likely to measure it less often than once a year.It appears that the greater the focus on engagement, the more likely theorganization is to get discretionary effort from employees. Over one-quarterof less engaged organizations measure engagement less often than once ayear or “as needed”.Survey Question: How often is employee engagement formallymeasured? (select the one that best applies)40%More thanonce a year34%30%44%Once a year47%39%On average,less engagedorganizationsmeasureengagement lessoften13%Less than once a yearor “as needed”16%27%010Highly engaged organizations26www.hr.com 877-472-664820All304050Less engagedcopyright HR.com 2019

The State of Employee Engagement in 2019Finding: Highly engaged organizations are far more likely torecognize employees for a job well doneHighly engaged organizations score considerably higher than less engagedorganizations on many different factors. Eye catching findings include thefact that most highly engaged organizations recognize employees for a jobwell done and provide meaningful work whereas fewer than half of lessengaged organizations do so. Another notable finding is that highly engagedorganizations are more than three times as likely to have leaders whoprioritize engagement.Since leaders almost certainly valu

annual study on the state of employee engagement. The main goals of this study were to: Gather information on engagement levels and current practice The majority of the Gauge how effective engagement programs are Glean some insights on what has led to more successful engagement programs About this Survey The survey, called "The