Page 80 - Build a Culture of Employee Engagement with the Principles

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Employee Engagement

Organization. While it is not the intention of this book to provide
a comprehensive review of all the research—Gallup’s research
alone would require its own book—I will share a sampling of the
most compelling findings. This research clearly demonstrates
the competitive advantage of organizations with high levels of
employee engagement. (For a detailed review of the literature,
see David MacLeod and Nita Clarke’s 2009 report commissioned
by the Department of Government, United Kingdom.)

Engagement Distribution
Gallup reports that 17 percent of American workers are “actively
engaged,” 29 percent “engaged,” and 54 percent “not engaged.”
Using their own assessment instrument, U.S. Merit Systems Pro-
tection Board surveyed nearly thirty-seven thousand employees
across twenty-four federal agencies and found that 35 percent
of employees were “engaged,” 47 percent “somewhat engaged,”
and 18 percent “not engaged.” Using a four-level system, Tow-
ers Watson reports that 21 percent of employees are “engaged,”
41 percent “enrolled,” 30 percent “disenchanted,” and 8 percent
“disengaged.” Using their proprietary model, Blessing White
classified 29 percent of employees as “engaged,” 27 percent
“almost engaged,” 19 percent “disengaged,” 12 percent “Ham-
sters & Honeymooners,” and 13 percent “Crash & Burners.”

Retention and Turnover
Gallup’s 2006 meta-analysis of 23,910 business units conducted
by Dr. Jim Harter revealed that business units with scores in the
bottom versus top quartile averaged 31 percent to 51 percent
greater employee turnover. Consistent with Gallup’s research,
the Corporate Leadership Council’s study of more than fifty
thousand employees in twenty-nine companies showed that
actively disengaged employees were nine times more likely to
leave the organization than actively engaged employees. Towers