Employee engagement on upward trend - Aon Hewitt

EMPLOYEE ENGAGEMENT

Employee engagement on upward trend – Aon Hewitt

After years of declining employee engagement levels around the world, a new analysis by Aon Hewitt shows a positive global shift in employee engagement.

The report, which analysed the employee engagement trends of more than 3,100 organisations representing 9.7 million employees worldwide, found that 58% of employees were engaged in 2011, up from 56% in 2010.

There were improvements in employee perception scores in three key areas in 2011:

• Effective leadership at the business unit/division level was 61% (up from 54% in 2010).
• People/HR practices creating a positive work environment was 53% (47%).
• Perceiving relationships with customers as rewarding was 75% (70%).

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The analysis also showed a decline in three key perception scores in 2011:

• Effective communication was 42% (46%).
• Innovation was 52% (55%).
• Workplace safety and security was 75% (78%).

Engagement levels by region

While overall engagement levels increased, Aon Hewitt’s study found significant variation by region:

• Europe showed an upward shift by one percentage point from 51% in 2010 to 52% in 2011.
• Latin America, the region with the highest regional engagement levels, experienced a slight decline in engagement levels, from 72% in 2010 to 71% in 2011.
• Employee engagement scores in North America remained unchanged from 2010 at 64%.
• Improvements in Asia Pacific engagement scores (58% in 2011 versus 55% in 2010) contributed to the overall upward movement of global engagement.

A final word

“Business leadership as well as HR programmes that meet the needs of specific employee segments contributed to the upward shift in engagement levels. However, with one out of every four people not engaged worldwide, more needs to be done. As the economy improves, retaining top talent is going to be difficult. Now is the time for organisations to measure and gain insights on engagement drivers and to start doing the work necessary to improve engagement.

"Our research shows that organisations with higher engagement have significantly higher total shareholder return than the average company, so organisations that focus on what matters most in connecting employees to their work will emerge as leaders - and the others will be left behind.” - Pete Sanborn, co-president of global compensation and talent at Aon Hewitt.

Want to know more?

Title: Global Engagement Report 2012, Aon Hewitt, June 2012.

Survey details: The report analysed the employee engagement trends of more than 3,100 organisations representing 9.7 million employees worldwide.

Availability: Contact Aon Hewitt: www.aon.com/about-aon/contact-us.jsp.

Aon Hewitt is the "global leader in human resource solutions". The company designs, implements, communicates and administers a wide range of human capital, retirement, investment management, health care, compensation and talent management strategies. It has more than 29,000 professionals in 90 countries. For more information  visit www.aonhewitt.com.