Page 56 - How America's Best Places to Work Inspire Extra Effort in Extraordinary Times

Crosswind Factors C43

In September and October of 2008 the economic conditions in
the country and worldwide began a dramatic decline. That’s when
we asked ourselves, “Would the shock-and-fear-inducing economic
news make it harder for Best-Places-to-Work employers to retain their
premier-employer status?”

Can Employee Engagement Withstand a
Severe Recession?
In November 2008, Quantum Workforce collected data from Best-
Places-to-Work employers where surveys had been conducted during
the fall of both 2007 and 2008. Out of the hundreds of employers that
participated in several events across the United States, 210 of them had
participated in both years. Among those 210, a sufficient percentage of
their employees completed the survey to establish that overall results
were reliable within a margin of error of plus or minus 3 percent.
Figure 2.7 shows how the 210 employers’ engagement scores fared
from the late third quarter and early fourth quarter of 2007 to the
same time period of 2008. By an almost 2-to-1 margin (134 to 76),
more employers received lower overall employee engagement scores
in 2008 than in 2007. This result was a definite departure from the
previous five-year trend and strongly suggested that the external cir-
cumstance of the foundering economy was negatively influencing em-
ployees’ attitudes about their jobs and workplaces.

Figure 2.7