Employee Engagement Is Down!

Posted On 18 Nov 2020

Employee Engagement Is Down!

18 Nov 2020
This is a true statement! In our recent EST10 COVID-19 survey, we were astounded as you might be, to discover this.

Employer Resource, News & Events

This is a true statement! In our recent EST10 COVID-19 survey, we were astounded as you might be, to discover this.

53% people surveyed would leave their job

Only 3% of those surveyed rated company culture as important. Further to this, having a ‘good boss’ dropped on the priority list with only 11% rating it as important. In addition, 23% of respondents were not happy in their current role and 53% would leave their role if offered an alternate position.

Now, I suppose there are a variety of ways to interpret these findings:

  1. The most obvious: company culture is changing its meaning, even its purpose and thus is not nearly as integral to an employee’s wellbeing, compared to before
  2. The other interpretation: maybe company culture is still influential, and rather, our participants were not ‘engaged’ when they completed the survey

Either way, it stands that employee engagement is impacted.

To add, while we are all pro-technology and are across all possible ways to measure employee engagement and motivation, we stand by surveys as a tool. They provide people with an opportunity to raise their voice and be heard. Plus, we love the slightly more personal touch the surveys can bring.

We also need to consider the baseline of so many people working from home or, at best, straddling a hybrid balance of working from home and the office. (You may have already read our blog discussing when our comfort zone becomes, well ‘out of the zone’! You can read the blog here).

The ‘dependency’ on our colleagues, workmates, bosses etc. is slowly disappearing. While ‘focus’ is one of the main requirements necessary to remain productive, so is another – the natural alignment with team members, especially when working on tasks requiring collaboration and cooperation.

In a remote setting, people’s motivation, focus and moods fluctuate, which can, of course, happen at the office, too. Still, with a direct face to face collaborative environment, we are more prone to conform to the norm of ‘collective behaviour’.

Losing our ‘tribe’

When we are not continually moving within that physical space, it seems we are losing our ability to find and meet our ‘tribe’. People we can relate to are not so easy to find; our network is increasing by numbers, but not necessarily by quality!

I, for one, mourn that a tad. I think we are losing something quite precious, that we will not be truly aware off until it is too late. And how to regain something that slips through your fingers? Will it be like losing the ‘ordeal’ of writing and posting a letter (oh the drag of it!), only to realise after, it is way too late to bring back. The immense joy and anticipation of receiving said letter from a loved one that you had waited DAYS to receive. Then, you madly write pages upon pages back, race to post it so they, in turn, can receive it in days. Or was that just me ??

An email doesn’t quite cut it the same way.

If we are not careful, this is what can happen to that precious and precarious thread of daily work and human interaction, we call our company culture.

Employee priorities

Our survey has also assisted in identifying what is important to employees right now. You may be surprised to know; salary is not so high on the priority list. Only 14% of the participants rated it as important.

According to our survey, job security and spending time with family are the two most important factors to employees. Fulfilling these two criteria’s will really help you to reengage and retain your talent!

Some innovative ideas…

But don’t worry, it is not all that bleak, and the good news is for a lot of businesses, this is being identified as we write. At EST10, we have spoken at length with a number of senior Executives, HR Directors and People and Culture Managers and are happy to share with you some of their inspiring and innovative ideas, thoughts and strategies to reinstall or invigorate that all elusive and critical, ‘company culture’:

  • One amazing mid-tier professional services company has gifted its admin team with five additional days annual leave to make up for not being able to work from home, as some of the other staff members have been able to do. I mentioned this in my October Vlog – so much enamoured was I by their innovative approach and so early on!
  • When the restrictions were in place, another fabulous professional services company had a virtual team dinner, sending out gourmet takeaway from one specific restaurant to the whole team to eat and share on Zoom.
  • Another business paid back their employees for the imposed reduced days during isolation and lock down. This also was early on as well!
  • One firm was running its graduate program and did so by having virtual drinks and cheese and sending out individually packaged up delicacies, with their own company logo.
  • A clever media company worked with their clients in putting on a virtual event that utilised their own client’s services, i.e. a client who produces wines, another that is a caterer, a transport company and one that does video production. This one took quite some logistics, but the all-round engagement internally and externally was huge.
Entering the new year

As we enter the new year, I am confident we will be witnessing a strong shift of people looking to change jobs. I trust 2021 will see us busy and productive and for some of us, well on the road to rebuilding our businesses. We don’t want to be facing and dealing with unnecessary staff turnover. The time and resources and more importantly, the down time in training and the lost IP in the process is all a costly exercise.

I, for one, will be focusing on the ‘doing’ and achieving – I hope! Staff turnover, no matter when it occurs is disruptive and costly. Embracing the presented trends seriously is a crucial step in improving employee engagement and preserving your culture of cooperation and connectedness, so the new year sees all of us feeling a vital part of the organisation we work with.

Look at your business now, connect and partner with your employees, allow them to raise their opinion and feelings and create meaning around their job. We all deserve to know/feel that we are making a difference.

If you would like a copy of our recent EST10 COVID-19 survey, please contact us info@est10.com.au or (02) 9002 0222.

“The best is yet to come and won’t that be fine.” – Frank Sinatra

About the Author

Roxanne Calder

As Founder and Managing Director at EST10, Roxanne has an all-encompassing role that includes building and growing the business, as well as actively recruiting and consulting.

After completing a Bachelor’s Degree at Monash University, Roxanne began her recruitment career with renowned recruiter Julia Ross. From there, Roxanne worked in HR and recruitment with a number of global players and boutique businesses throughout Australia, the UK, Singapore and Hong Kong for over 20 years. She has been responsible for managing large teams and projects, implementing RPO models, managing and assisting businesses to an IPO and assisting companies in setting up their recruitment teams and processes.

Following completion of her MBA at the Australian Graduate School of Management, Roxanne launched EST10 in July 2010. In doing so, she hoped to combine the flexibility and high touch service levels of boutique agencies with the structure and strategy afforded to larger firms. Roxanne believes in high-touch, high-care consulting and is always on the lookout for consultants that share this vision of recruitment.

About the author
Roxanne Calder
Managing Director

As Founder and Managing Director at EST10, Roxanne has an all-encompassing role that includes building and growing the business, as well as actively recruiting and consulting.

After completing a Bachelor’s Degree at Monash University, Roxanne began her recruitment career with renowned recruiter Julia Ross. From there, Roxanne worked in HR and recruitment with a number of global players and boutique businesses throughout Australia, the UK, Singapore and Hong Kong for over 20 years. She has been responsible for managing large teams and projects, implementing RPO models, managing and assisting businesses to an IPO and assisting companies in setting up their recruitment teams and processes.

Following completion of her MBA at the Australian Graduate School of Management, Roxanne launched EST10 in July 2010. In doing so, she hoped to combine the flexibility and high touch service levels of boutique agencies with the structure and strategy afforded to larger firms. Roxanne believes in high-touch, high-care consulting and is always on the lookout for consultants that share this vision of recruitment.