On our ‘Engaging People Powering Companies’ podcast this week, Amrit talks about how the UK’s work force has one of the lowest engagement scores globally as highlighted in the Gallup

– The State of the Global Workplace report for 2023, at just 10% (up from 9% from the previous year), and how we don’t fare that great with our productivity levels either (according to the Government Census Report 2021 – International comparison of productivity (ICP) 2021). It is not the prettiest of pictures at all!

What might really be going on here? How well are we measuring engagement and is this data representative of our nation? And what is it about the UK that makes us lower than other countries? I obviously can’t answer all of these things, but let’s explore this in more detail.

Firstly, let’s understand the Gallup report better. Our 10% of actively engaged employees is on a par with Spain and Luxembourg, and ahead of France (7%) and Italy (5%). We are in good company then. The highest engagement levels were found in Romania at 35%.  Europe, as a region (which for the purposes of engagement), is the lowest at 13%, with South Asia having the highest at 33%. The global state of engagement affairs overall is 23%.

This means that 59% of the world’s employees are ‘quiet quitting’ (the new term for disengaged or not engaged), and 18% are ‘loud quitting’ (or actively disengaged). Stress remains at an all time high, with 38% of us here in the UK experiencing stress the previous day at work (and 44% globally). 36% of our great nation (if indeed it is represented well in this survey) feel it is a good time to look for another job, compared to 53% globally, and 70% in Denmark, with the top spot for Europe.

So, we are disengaged, stressed and while we might want to find a new job, we don’t believe it is a great time to do so. One thing that really stood out in this report for me, was that out of those employees in the ‘quiet quitting’ bracket (59%), when asked what they would change about their workplace, 41% said things relating to engagement and culture. This.Stuff.Matters.

And you could argue that the 16% that said they’d change things relating to wellbeing, could also be thrown into this category of engagement and culture. Afterall it is all about people being able to thrive in their workplace and feel that sense of purpose and belonging, so the business can thrive as a whole.  If the culture is right, wellbeing would naturally be high on the agenda. For those doing the maths, the other 28% said pay and benefits mattered most, but I can’t help but question whether this really holds true, if everything else was good.

In the ‘From the CEO’ opening of this report, it states:

“So, what can leaders do today to potentially save the world? Gallup has found one clear answer: Change the way your people are managed.” Easy-peasy!

Amrit talks about the potential hangover from the Industrial Revolution having an impact on the state of our engagement levels, and how in the 80’s and 90’s the hierarchical nature of the way organisations were run, created this ‘us’ and ‘them’ culture. This was prompted by another report (the UK Government’s Social Mobility Barometer research from 2021), that states almost half the general public consider themselves as being working class (48%), and 39% believe it’s hard to progress in British Society for those from less advantaged backgrounds.

Amrit suggested that this maybe because of the ingrained hierarchy, continuing to reinforce the industrial mentality of workers and the working class, and that despite all the work being carried out on diversity and inclusion, if your face doesn’t fit, then you can forget about any sort of promotion or opportunity. Is it just lip service from those in the senior positions, while subtlety leading in ways that favour and promote their own self-importance? Do our leaders really care about the fair treatment of all? Are they really representing the communities and customers they serve? Could more be done to help the engagement and therefore happiness of our nation?

Amrit had a dream, and it was to help prevent people sitting with their head in their hands on a Sunday, not wanting to go to work. That thought drove him to start a business, because he believes we can do better for humanity, and he recruited a team who think the same. And if this Gallup report can be trusted then the people of the world have spoken and they want:

• To be recognised for their contributions
• For managers to be approachable and to be able to speak openly to them
• To have more autonomy in the work to help stimulate creativity
• To learn more
• To be respected
• To have a fair chance of promotion
• To be clear on goals and receive guidance

Leaders have a huge power and with that power comes a great responsibility (Spiderman Movie?!). Engagement is not a tick box exercise; employee engagement is not another thing to do on top of an already busy schedule. Instead, it is the ‘how’ we do what we do, in a way that is inclusive and supportive, that benefits the people and the business simultaneously, regardless of the level someone reaches, or the background they are from. It’s the right thing to do and collectively, we really can change the world for all!

Listen to the podcast here.