80% of UK organisations lack staff engagement

Some 80% of UK respondents face a lack of employee engagement in their organisation, according to research by Deloitte.

However, its Global human capital trends survey, which is based on 7,000 responses from HR and business leaders in 130 countries, including 140 UK employers, found that just over a third (36%) of UK respondents are prepared to tackle staff engagement issues.

The research also found:

• Around three-quarters (76%) of UK respondents only measure staff engagement once a year.
• 42% of UK respondents measure engagement using annual surveys, while 20% measure it through focus groups and interviews with employees.
• 87% of UK respondents said that corporate culture, incorporating the values, beliefs, behaviours and reward systems that influence employees' behaviour, are important or very important.
• 65% of UK respondents feel they are not effectively driving the desired culture within their organisation.

Anne-Marie Malley, UK human capital leader at Deloitte, said: “After three years of struggling to drive employee engagement and retention, improve leadership, and create an attractive company culture, executives in this year’s survey see a need to redesign the organisation itself.

"UK organisations are reinventing their internal models to innovate, compete and thrive, but many issues still remain in these areas for the foreseeable future.

“In an ever-competitive labour market, in order to help attract and retain talented employees it is crucial that business and HR leaders focus on enhancing their organisation’s working environment and experience. While UK organisations seem to know the issues with employee engagement, they need to step up and do more to address it.”