In September 2008, Gallup Consulting undertook their latest biannual Employee Engagement Poll of working New Zealanders. The results of the survey show that 23% of New Zealanders are Engaged, in that they work with passion, feel a profound connection to their organisation, are advocates for their organisation's products and services, drive innovation and move the organisation forward. Gallup found the remaining 76% are either Not Engaged (61%) or Actively Disengaged (15%). This lack of engagement is costing New Zealand businesses $NZ5.6 billion per annum in lost productivity.
Since 2006, the level of working New Zealanders who are Engaged has declined from 25% to 23%; the level of those Actively Disengaged has increased from 11% to 15%. The increase in Actively Disengaged workers is of particular concern, as these employees are often busy acting out their unhappiness and undermining what engaged workers accomplish. The poll results showed that a quarter of Actively Disengaged workers plan to be with their current organisation for more than a year and 9% plan to spend their entire career in their current organisation. Gallup finds that it takes four Engaged workers to cancel out the impact of one Actively Disengaged colleague. A highly engaged organisation has about eight engaged workers to one actively disengaged.
Given the current economic climate, it is critical that New Zealand organisations focus on improving the level of employee engagement to reduce the impact on the organisation's bottom line. Gallup's research shows that employee engagement, as measured by the Gallup Q12 survey, is correlated to higher profitability, customer engagement, productivity and lower turnover, absenteeism and safety incidents. In addition, organisations with high levels of employee engagement have a higher change capacity - a vital competency in today's environment.
The 2008 Gallup Poll asked New Zealand workers a variety of other questions, to explore what, if any, difference their engagement made. When asked "What percentage of your average working day do you feel is productive?" Engaged workers on average feel that 82% of their working day is productive, whereas on average Actively Disengaged workers feel that only 69% of their working day is productive.
Dramatic differences were also found in perceptions of leaders and supervisors. Gallup's Poll results illustrate the importance of Leadership in New Zealand; which is especially pertinent during these turbulent economic times. For those who strongly agree that their leadership makes them enthusiastic about the future, 52% are Engaged, 47% are Not Engaged and only 1% are Actively Disengaged.
In addition, 76% of Engaged workers strongly agree that their supervisor is an active supporter of the changes that affect their group, whereas only 1% of Actively Disengaged workers strongly agree. To build engagement through times of change it is essential that the managers / supervisors of affected groups are seen to support the changes and that the leaders communicate changes in a way that builds hope for the future.