10 employee engagement stats for business leaders

Employee engagement is key to building a successful business.

We already know that engaged employees are more enthusiastic, efficient, and productive, and as Gallup reports, highly engaged teams are also more resilient during a crisis. Yet, about two-thirds of the workforce isn’t engaged—a challenge for organizations, more so now as many work from home.

Understanding the numbers behind employee engagement can help leaders gauge its overarching impact on their businesses and improve internal employee engagement initiatives. 

Here are 10 employee engagement stats every business leader needs to know:

1. Only 36% of the workplace is engaged, and 64% are either miserable in their role or simply going through the motions. (source)
2. Disengaged employees have a 37% higher rate of absenteeism, 18% lower productivity, and 15% lower profitability. (source)
3. In the US alone, disengaged employees cost organizations around $450-550 billion each year. (source)
4. Since the outbreak of the pandemic, 75% of employees say they feel more socially isolated, 57% are feeling greater anxiety, and 53% say they feel more emotionally exhausted. (source)
5. 87% of employees expect their employer to support them in balancing work and personal commitments. (source)
6. 37% of employees cite recognition as the most important thing their manager or company can do to help them succeed. (source)
7. Employee engagement is more than organizing a few HR-led activities—89% of HR leaders say that ongoing peer feedback and check-ins are important for successful outcomes. (source)
8. Employees who feel their voice is heard are 4.6 times more likely to feel empowered to perform their best work. (source)
9. 89% of workers at companies that support well-being initiatives are more likely to recommend their company as a good place to work. (source)
10. Highly engaged teams show 21% higher profitability and 20% higher sales. (source)

Takeaways

A quick read through these employee engagement stats and three things become fairly clear:

• Every business, no matter the size, needs an employee engagement plan. Yet most organizations still fail to keep employees engaged and motivated.
• The pandemic-induced move to work from home has had a dramatic impact on employee engagement, and not always for the better.
• Lack of employee engagement isn’t just a morale issue—it costs businesses talent, money, and productivity. In other words, keeping employees happy is good business.

Next steps

Let’s start with the obvious: there is no quick fix to employee engagement, so installing a ping pong table in the office or organizing a one-time “spare no expense” team activity isn’t going to work. Instead, use tools like pulse surveys, employee Net Promoter Scores, the Utrecht Work Engagement Scale, and Gallup’s Q12 workplace survey to properly gauge employee engagement in your organization, identify gaps that can be filled by management, and plan new engagement initiatives. 

From measuring engagement across the business—a modified NPS (Net Promoter Score) survey is a good place to start—to centralizing internal communication and getting emotional buy-in on your vision for the company, here is what you can do to boost employee engagement. Need more? We put together this comprehensive guide to employee engagement just for you.