Just over a third (36%) of UK staff are highly engaged at work, according to a study from Red Letter Days for Business.
Its research, 2015 Employee engagement: how British business measures up, which had 2,006 responses from British employees, also found that 48% of respondents stated that they are moderately engaged at work.
The survey also found:
- 16% of respondents said they have low or no engagement in the workplace.
- 80% of respondents who were highly engaged at work received some form of reward or recognition for their work, and just 35% of respondents who have no or low engagement in the workplace have received reward or recognition of some sort.
- Just 18% have received a verbal thank you from their manager in the last 12 months.
- 11% of highly engaged respondents have received a thank you card or email from their manager, a quarter (25%) have received a team away day, 24% have received a gift voucher and around a third (33%) have received an individual cash bonus.
- 63% believe there is a high correlation between high engagement and believing that their job provides an important contribution to the organisation.
- 97% of respondents believe there is a there is a high correlation between high engagement and having someone at work who encourages development.
Bill Alexander, chief executive officer at Red Letter Days for Business, said: ”UK productivity is static and stands at nearly 20% below the average for G7 countries. I believe the government is missing a trick to solve the issue; how can we start to increase productivity if most employees across the country are not engaged?
“Staff who feel valued, involved and recognised are more likely to be highly engaged. With 79% of UK GDP being generated by the service sector, the government investment should go into helping businesses increase staff engagement.
“Just a small increase will have an impact on productivity, which in turn will have a huge impact on our economy.
“Too many businesses aren’t succeeding on engagement because they’re following a textbook approach. Businesses getting it right are doing elements outside of the textbook; they’re adding colour to their employee campaigns and enriching their lives, in fact, they’re making their employees’ lives better.”
