While employee engagement levels year-over-year appear relatively stable, engagement has varied greatly from quarter to quarter, reflecting the turbulence of the world events that have had a significant impact on workers around the globe, according to the 2022 Kincentric Report on Global Trends in Engagement.
The Kincentric report looks at employee engagement trends over the past three years based on input from 12 million employees in more than 125 countries.
The report finds that employees' engagement rates peaked at 73% in Q2 2020, before falling to 67% by Q4. After maintaining rates ranging from 65%-69% in 2021, employee engagement fell to 62% in Q1 of 2022.
“Notably, workers' desire to stay within their current organization continues to decrease, indicating that turnover may remain a persistent challenge – and middle managers are feeling more pressure than ever, with a 10-point decline in work-life balance compared to 2019,” says the report.
"The last few years have seen an unprecedented amount of disruption, from the ongoing pandemic to global social unrest; to that end, we've also seen a huge shift in how, when and where people work," said Jeff Jolton, Managing Director, Research and Insights at Kincentric.
Another key result from the global study is a concern about lack of support among employees. Only 50% of employees feel their organization has sufficient staffing to get work done.
The report adds that having a “compelling vision of the future is a game changer.” Employees reported eight times higher engagement when senior leaders made them feel excited about the future.
In addition, the report indicates that employees want to know how they fit in. “As employees deal with a changing environment, they want to better understand where they fit into the future of the organization. However only 59% feel recognized for their efforts and just 54% believe they have future career opportunities at their company.”
"The findings indicate that no one thing alone makes for a great work experience. Rather, it is the culmination of multiple and simultaneous active Employee Experience initiatives such as recognition, career development, performance management, effective infrastructure and staffing, communicating vision, caring leadership and a positive mindset around change that correlate positively with the degree of Employee Engagement and enable organizations to successfully engage and retain their employees. Now is the time for business and HR leaders to assess, determine the right steps to take for their culture, and ultimately empower and inspire their people," said Jolton
