Page 81 - Build a Culture of Employee Engagement with the Principles

52 Carrots and Sticks Don’t Work

Watson found that 28 percent of disengaged employees are
actively seeking new jobs compared to only 4 percent of engaged
employees.

Productivity
Based on the Program Assessment Rating Tool (PART), which
measures effectiveness of federal agencies to achieve their goal,
agencies with the most-engaged employees scored an average
of 65 (out of 100) while those agencies with the least-engaged
employees received a score of 37 on the PART. Thus, agencies
with the most-engaged employees were twice as successful
in meeting their goals. Towers Watson’s 2008–2009 WorkUSA
Report found that highly engaged workers are 26 percent more
productive than disengaged employees.

Profitability
Towers Watson studied fifty global companies over a one-year
period. Companies with high employee engagement scores
showed a 28 percent growth in earnings per share and 19 per-
cent increase in operating income. In contrast, companies with
the lowest levels of employee engagement scores saw an 11 per-
cent drop in earnings per share and 32 percent drop in oper-
ating income. Gallup’s research revealed that companies with
engagement scores in the top quartile reported earnings per
share 2.6 times higher than organizations with below-average
scores. Towers Watson reported that companies with highly
engaged employees earned 13 percent greater total returns for
shareholders over a five-year period than companies with less
engaged employees.

Absenteeism
Towers Watson’s 2008–2009 WorkUSA Report found that highly
engaged employees take 20 percent fewer sick days than their