From Core Performance
While more than 100 studies have found a connection between employee engagement and work performance, a study from Towers Watson takes the case one step deeper [Harvard Business Review].
The Towers Watson 2012 Global Workforce Study analyzed online responses from 32,000 full-time employees working in large and mid-size organizations in 30 countries. The study found that sustainable engagement—creating a work environment that fully energizes employees by meeting their core needs and emphasizing their physical, emotional, and social wellbeing—is more effective than traditional engagement models.
While incentive programs for healthy eating and exercising have been the norm, the study found that employers need to view workplace health more broadly. Researchers found that policies focused on flexibility, working remotely, limiting meeting length and time expected for email response contribute to a more energized workplace.
In a broader survey of 50 global companies, Towers Watson found that:
§ Companies with low engagement scores had an average operating margin under 10 percent
§ Companies with high traditional engagement had a margin of 14 percent.
§ Companies with the highest “sustainable engagement” had an average margin of 27 percent.
§ Forty percent of employees with a low engagement scores said they were likely to leave their employers in the next two years compared to only 18 percent of employees with the highest engagement scores.
§ Among of sustainably engaged employees, 74 percent believe senior leaders had a sincere interest in their wellbeing, while only 44 percent of traditionally engaged employees felt managers valued them.
“In addition to companies empowering employees to manage how, when, and where work is accomplished, they should also strive to provide opportunities to empower their employees to become more proactive with their health,” says Craig Friedman, vice president of performance innovation at Core Performance. “Evaluations with individualized action plans to decrease pain and improve health and energy coupled with a company culture that encourages employees to exercise throughout the day are cornerstones to shifting a company’s physical wellbeing.”