Less than half (49%) of employees feel a strong sense of belonging to their organisation, a fall of 10% since 2008.
According to the Putting it in Perspective study, by Infogroup’s ORC International division, 68% of employees also reported feeling proud to work for their organisations, compared to 70% in 2008.

Kate Pritchard, director of employee research at Infogroup/ORC International, said: “Although we have seen an increase in employee satisfaction, this does not give us the whole picture in terms of employee engagement and does not necessarily imply a strong relationship with the organisation.

“Increased satisfaction could be an indication employees have lower expectations, or are showing increased tolerance of tough economic conditions.

“As our economy picks up, employers need to pay attention to other indicators. In particular, employees’ sense of belonging to their organisation was very low in 2009. This could be connected to the recession, with employees’ concerns about job security affecting their attachment to an organisation.

“If employers can understand these factors, they will be in a good position to maintain and improve employee engagement as the economy improves, and employees’ expectations start to rise again.”

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