The differences between a happy employee and a disengaged one are vast. Despite the differences in attitude, performance and value to the company, many HR professionals (and their bosses) struggle to justify the expense of programs targeted at improving employee engagement. Perhaps they’re just not up to date on the stats. What other reason could there be? The overwhelming evidence is that when companies make engagement a core initiative, everyone wins. Straight up.
All you need to do is Google “costs of employee disengagement” to uncover 482,000 results. Until recently, quantifying the costs was a bit of a challenge. Not so anymore.
I’ve consolidated some of the more remarkable findings:
- Fully engaged employees return 120% of their salary.
- Firms with the highest percentage of engaged employees collectively increased operating income by 19% and earnings per share by 28% year-to-year.
- Organizations with high engagement are 78% more productive and 40% more profitable than those with low levels of engagement.
- Organizations with disengaged employees had an average profit loss of $8000 to $10,000 per year for each disengaged employee.
- Engaged employees rate 86% higher with customers.
- Engaged workforces have 70% less turnover.
- Engaged workforces are 70% more productive.
- Employee dissatisfaction & disengagement cost US businesses dearly: between $254 billion and $363 billion every year.
- 79% of workers in North America are not engaged.
- Disengagment and negative health outcomes go hand in hand. Job stress costs the Canadian economy $12 billion per year in lost work time.
So Who is Responsible?
In a word, leadership. As I’ve argued before, leadership and corporate culture are two sides of the same coin. Everything begins and ends with the person at the top.
If you’re concerned about developing the competencies to address the above and want to get the best from your people, Brockway Human Services can assist you. At a time when companies are looking for every ounce of competitive advantage, the workforce itself remains the largest reservoir of untapped potential.
When will you be ready tap into this?
