Hope you had a happy and safe Labor Day 2020. In our next two posts, we examine employee engagement. Today, we review measuring employee engagement. Tomorrow, we study employee disengagement.
Gallup’s Take on Measuring Employee Engagement
On a regular basis, Gallup undertakes research on employee engagement. Indeed, it even devised a 12-item measure. As shown here.
During July 2020, the firm published two major articles on engagement. Both related to engagement in the COVID-19 era. Yet, there were different results in the two studies.
On July 2, 2020, Gallup reported that:
In early May, employee engagement in the U.S. accelerated to a new high. Then, one month later, Gallup tracking found the most significant drop we recorded in our history of tracking employee engagement in the U.S., dating back to 2000.
The largest decline in employee engagement was among those in managerial or leadership positions, as well as non-White respondents and those with Democratic political party affiliation or independents. The drop was also sharper for people working on-site versus at home as well as among blue-collar or service workers. The drop was larger for men than women.
Just a few weeks later (on July 22), Gallup pointed to different findings:
From our most recent measurement, the percentage of engaged employees — those who are highly involved in, enthusiastic about and committed to their work and workplace — has rebounded to a new high of 40%. This surpasses the measure’s decade-long upward trajectory since Gallup began tracking the employee engagement in 2000.
What are we to make of this rollercoaster? Gallup itself provided an answer in the July 22 report: “Gallup will continue to track the engagement and wellbeing of the workforce during this unprecedented year of disruption and change, and continue to provide the latest updates for organizational leaders.”