Employee engagement lacking within UK businesses

News Article - 14 October 2011
Category: Business

The picture of employee engagement within UK businesses is lagging well behind the current global trend, according to the global Perspectives survey.

The survey collated by ORC International, was published last week and revealed the UK fell four places in the global engagement rankings to 17^th.

China's engagement index saw the most dramatic improvement of any nation from 2010, leaping seven positions to second overall in the 2011 rankings. India remains top with an overall engagement ranking of 74 per cent.

ORC International's statistical analysis identified the three questions that have had the greatest impact on engagement scores in the UK.

Two of these specifically relate to senior management - When presented with the statement: "There is a positive relationship between management and staff in this organisation", employees were only 43 per cent positive in the UK compared to 56 per cent in the United States.

In relation to the enjoyment of daily tasks, UK respondents were 54 per cent positive compared to 63 per cent positive in the US.

Rory MacNeill, managing director of ORC International's employee research division, said: "This year's results show that good management continues to play a key role in driving employee engagement up.

"Effective leadership has led to positive scores in US organisations, but employers in the UK must look at their approaches and put measures in place to improve perceptions of management.

"If they don't, they risk a continuing downward engagement trend."

Many small businesses are beginning to realise the importance of a dedicated HR solution to support every aspect of the employee lifecycle.

By providing tools for human resource departments to streamline communication, collection and analysis of information across entire organisations, employees are far more likely to be receptive and comfortable with management.

HR software can facilitate the smooth transition of new recruits, through pre-employment checks, reminders and notifications to keep employees fully informed every step of the way.

Article keywords: human resources, employee engagement, hr

---

A director’s guide: Top 10 tips to cut recruitment costs

Globalisation, graduates, the abolition of the DRA, not to mention the recession... all these factors have created an increasingly competitive job market with the corresponding applications, admin and processing costs. This handy guide explains how HR systems can streamline the entire recruitment process and provides ten key ways you can save time and money getting the right people into the right roles.
Find out more »

---

More industry news

• Think tank warns UK may have already slipped back into recession
• Growing demand for HR staff in technology and international sectors
• Boosting business growth a ‘priority’ to avoid Eurozone slowdown
• HMRC launches alternative disputes pilot scheme this week
• December employment statistics disregard gloomy recruitment predictions
• Eurozone manufacturing PMI shows modest improvement
• UK scores highly for economic governance by ratings agency
• Government launches two-year project focusing on manufacturing sector
• Burden of regulation on UK businesses ‘too high’

Back to news home page »