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The HR consultancy Towers Perrin had published its latest Global Workforce Study and, once again, it makes interesting - and sobering - reading for internal communicators. 

The survey - of more than 90,000 workers  in 18 countries - reveals that many employees still do not believe their organizations are doing enough to motivate them and feel that senior managers do not communicate in an open and honest way.

Of the 5,000 UK employees surveyed, less than a third believe that senior management communicates  openly and honestly with them and two-thirds feel that senior leaders "treat us as just another part of the organization to manage" or "as if we don't matter".  Just 29% feel their leaders have a sincere interest in their well-being and satisfaction. For all the talk about engagement, it seems many organizations are still a long, long way from achieving it.

The study highlights the importance of senior leadership in the engagement mix - having highly effective line managers is one thing, but the top team also has a critical role to play in setting the tone, providing direction, being visible and accessible and demonstrating and rewarding the right values and behaviors.   

The good news is that many employees now want and expect a rich and honest dialog with their bosses - the problem is that far too few get it. Until we can create a conversation culture inside our organizations, disengagement and apathy will remain strong. 

The study also reveals that employees are increasingly concerned about the reputation of the organization they work for - a factor that is having a bigger impact on engagement than ever before. Indeed, an organization's reputation for social responsibility was found to be one of the top five engagement drivers here in the UK. 

This underlines that employee engagement is as much about 'external' policies and communications, as it is about the internal workings of an organization.  I've always held that internal and external communications should be closely aligned (if not joined at the hip) and findings like this demonstrate just why that is so important.

TOP FINDING: A SIGNIFICANT ENGAGEMENT GAP


Just 21% of the closes to 90,000 respondents worldwide are engaged in their work, meaning they're willing to go the extra mile to help their companies succeed. What's perhaps more troubling, 38% are partly to fully disengaged. The result is an "engagement gap" between the discretionary effort companies need and people actually want to invest, and companies' effectiveness in channeling this effort to enhance performance. The study also found that companies with the highest levels of employee engagement achieve better financial results and are more successful in retaining their most valued employees than companies with lower levels of engagement.

Lee Smith is co-director with Gatehouse Group, an internal communication agency, consultancy on internal communications, internal comms, employee communication, research, audit, jobs, change management and employee engagement.

Article Source: ArticlesBase.com - Global study highlights communication issues