A growing number of workers – three in ten – are just grateful to have a job, according to emotional engagement specialists, Best Companies.
An online opinion poll conducted by onepoll.com between November 2008 and June 2009 of some 3000 workers revealed fears around the recession appear to have actually left employees more engaged than less. Engagement levels among the general public have risen from November to June by a staggering 20 per cent of respondents who indicated they feel either ‘a little’ or ‘very’ engaged.
Interestingly, the top three items triggering engagement and commitment at work were ranked in a different order for men than women:
| | Men | Women |
| More money |
59% |
57% |
| More interesting work |
36% |
35% |
| Recognition for a job well done |
33% |
42% |
Dilys Robinson, Principal Research Fellow at the Institute for Employment Studies, comments:
‘The recession, after years of buoyant labour markets and intense competition for scarce skills, has come as a shock to organisations and employees alike - especially younger companies and employees, who do not remember previous recessions. Many companies are trying very hard to keep their employees engaged, because engaged employees tend to be the ones who have high productivity, offer suggestions to improve the way things are done, have a high level of customer focus, and understand the bigger picture. In other words, engaged employees are likely to help organisations survive the recession and come out of it in a good position to start growing again.
The Best Companies research finding that engagement levels have risen, is not surprising - many employees, who were perhaps 'unengaged' before, ie were doing an ok job, but not really very interested in going the extra mile to help the company perform better, have realised that they need to up their game to avoid redundancy. Also, in times of trouble, people often do work together much better - it's a bit like the wartime spirit. What is surprising is the finding that so many people feel that more money would make them more motivated, as this contradicts IES's research, which shows that the key drivers of employee engagement are job satisfaction, in which job autonomy features highly, and feeling valued by, and involved with, the organisation.’
Jonathan Austin, CEO of Best Companies observes: With the fear of redundancy ever-present, and the cost of living creeping up, money is more of a motivator for people than it might have been before. But for those organisations that don’t have the luxury of digging deep in their pockets, there are plenty of other ways to incentivise staff, such as with flexible working which our data indicates has a significant impact on engagement levels and simply saying thank you and recognising employees’ efforts can really boost morale.
www.bestcompanies.co.uk