Key Stats

Employee Motivation & Engagement Stats Everyone Need to Know

Wonder how to motivate employees and want to better understand the real impact of employee motivation on business success, its time to consider stats and financial impacts;

 

• Happy employees experience 31% higher productivity (Shawn, 2011).

 

Most of us assume that success leads to happiness. Shawn (2011) argued that we’ve got it backward; in work he had done with KPMG and Pfizer, and studies that he had conducted in concert with Yale’s psychology department, he has seen how happiness precedes success.

In this article, Shawn also lays out three main strategies for improving ones’ own mental well-being at work. During hard-hit economic times, they’re essential for keeping yourself—and your team—at peak performance. He pointed out that when employees are happy, they better secure jobs, they superior productivity, more resilient, less burnout, less turnover and superior sales (Shawn, 2018).

 

 

The Happy secret to better work – Shawn Achor -TEDxBloomington 2011

• Employees who report being motivated at work take 10 times fewer sick days (iOpenerInstitute, 2016)

The data gathered by iOpenerInstitute from 41,000 respondents shows that employees who are happy at work, 80% of their working week is being reporting to work. On the other hand, those who are unhappy spend only 40% of their time on task. This research reflects organizations could end up losing about 100 days of work, about 3.5 months for every unhappy employee. The research further finds that through absenteeism (a habitual pattern of absence from work), its costs US economy approximately $30 billion a year and through presenteeism (occurs when a worker is physically present in the workplace but lacks productivity) costs approximately $200 billion a year.

 

• Disengaged employees cost organizations between $450 and $550 billion annually (The Engagement Institute, 2017)

It is agreed that employees must take some ownership of engagement for success and job satisfaction. When employees feel unacknowledged, unguided, or lifeless, they don’t always quit the job and move on. Instead, many disengaged employees choose to “just hang in there” until the right new opportunity comes. Disconnected employees can quietly hurt team morale, productivity, and efficiency. 

 

Hewitt Organization (2001) referred to employee engagement as the extent employee’s willingness to stay and work hard for the company, reflected in three aspects:

1) “Say”: employees use a positive language to describe their company, colleagues, and their jobs.

2) “Stay”: instead of using existing jobs as a temporary transition, employees strongly hope to be a member of the company, willing to stay in the company for a long time

3) “Strive”: employees are willing to devote extra effort to work for the success of the company.

 

• Companies with engaged employees see 233% greater customer loyalty and a 26% greater annual increase in revenue (Aberdeen Group, 2015)
  

There is a lot of noise about the significance of employee engagement, and yet surely not enough research on the measurable benefits to businesses. Aberdeen’s (2015) report highlights the performance results experienced by organization with a formal employee engagement program and emphasize the importance of using employee engagement as a strategic lever to deliver better customer experience. The report highlighted, though employee performance and productivity seem to be two different objects, they are greatly linked by nature. It also states the importance of having a formal employee engagement program. Organizations with formal employee engagement programs excel in customer service, building a loyal customer base and will achieve far greater results in improving their sales cycle year-over-year. While all other organizations face many challenges in retaining, attracting new customers and decrease in sales.

 

Figure 1 & Figure 2 exhibits how significantly a formal employee engagement program can influence to drive customer loyalty and its magnitude to increase in revenue year-over-year.  

 

                                              Source: Aberdeen Group, 2015

                                           

 

• 83% of employees with opportunities to take on new challenges say they’re more likely to stay with the organization (HBR, 2021)

 

We all know that the recent global pandemic has forever changed the way employees view and approach work. Businesses that want to attract and retain top talent needed to improve drastically and recognizing top priorities of their future workforce became a necessity. They must embrace innovation, flexibility in work and promote a workforce that can design their own careers. Employees look to determine when and where they work, to work with a diverse team, and to be measured on the value they deliver, not the volume they deliver. Companies that understand and embrace these wants and needs will not only motivation their employees and engagement of their existing workers but will be able to gain the attention of the smartest newcomers taking their business to novel summits.

 

Most recent U.S. statistics (June 2022) shows more than 4.2 million people voluntarily left their jobs in June. Believe it or not, the cost of losing an employee is expensive and it can be very significant for some employers, particularly when it comes to SME sector. Yet most companies overlook this fact, and they believe a replacement can be found easily if they ever lose an employee. But the fact is that high turnover can do serious damage to an organization’s bottom line.

 

Workers are considered appreciating assets, meaning they produce more value for an organization over time. (Kimberly, 2017). According to the survey conducted by The Harris Poll on behalf of Express Employment Professionals between March 23 and April 12, 2021, among 505 Canadian hiring decision-makers, its employee turnover costs organizations an average of $,22,279 in recruiting cost and lost productivity per year. The survey also figured, to replace;

a) An entry-level employee turnover cost is between 30% and 50% of their annual salary.

b) A mid-level employee turnover costs 150% and above of their annual salary. 

c) A high-level or highly specialized employee costs approximately 400% of their annual salary.

Reference

Aberdeen Group, (2015), Employee Engagement: Paving the way to Happy Customers

Harvard Business Revie, (May 2021), What your future employees want most

Hewitt Organization (2001), Empowered to be Engaged: New Report Unpacks the Role of Rank-and-File Workers in Bolstering Employee Engagement

iOpenerInstitute, (2016), The Science of Happiness at Work™

Kimberly K. Merriman, (2017), Valuation of Human Capital, Quantifying the Importance of an Assembled Workforce, pp7-17

Shawn Achor, (2011), The Happiness Advantage: The Seven Principles of Positive Psychology That Fuel Success and Performance at Work

Shawn Achor, (2012),Big Potential: How Transforming the Pursuit of Success Raises Our Achievement, Happiness, and Well-Being

The Engagement Institute, (2017): How Organizations Can Foster Employee Ownership of Engagement