WORKPLACE ENGAGEMENT
Here’s something to think about. It is estimated that if the global workforce were fully engaged, it could add $9.6 trillion in productivity, equivalent to a 9% increase in global GDP!
Engagement is the involvement and enthusiasm employees have toward their work and organisation, reflecting their emotional commitment and motivation to help the organisation achieve its goals. It encompasses how employees think, feel, and act in relation to their work, team, and company.
Engaged employees feel passionate, energetic, committed and fully invest their herts, minds and hands in the work they do.
Engaged employees are likely to perform better, to be more loyal to customers and tend to act as ambassadors for their organisation. Ultimately, an engaged workforce impacts positively on business growth and profitability.
Why Measure Engagement?
Research findings indicate that organisations with high levels of engagement have:
- 22 % Higher productivity
- 48 % Fewer safety incidents
- 41 % Fewer patient safety incident
- 41 % Fewer quality defects
- Employees who are 87% less likely to leave, reducing turnover costs related to recruitment and training
These benefits aren’t surprising when you consider that researchers describe engaged employees as “more attentive and vigilant.” They also say engaged employees take a sense of personal ownership for their work, which positively impacts business results.
Disengaged employees drain both the people who work with them and their organisation. They complain and shirk their duties or leave the organisation. Disengaged employees are unconcerned with the reputation of the organisation.
Equinox has designed an engagement model based on extensive research and with due consideration of the South African context. Our model is designed from the findings of Kahn; Murray; May, Gilson & Harter; Schaufeli, Salanova, Gonzalez-Roma, and Bakker; Soane, Truss, Alfes, Shantz, Rees, and Gatenby; and Rana & Ardichvili.
The model incorporates 3 components of psychological engagement:
- Cognitive Engagement
- Emotional Engagement
- Physical Engagement
In addition to these 3 components of psychological engagement, our model includes a 4th component:
- Intent to stay/advocacy
Ten (10) of the questions measure the construct of Engagement, whilst the remaining questions are designed to measure the drivers of engagement.
These include elements such as: Teamwork, Recognition, Opportunities for Learning and Development, Communication,Supervision and Senior Leadership.
Results provide a snapshot of the current engagement levels within an organisation AND insight into the underlying reasons for the levels of engagement.
WHY WONDER IF YOUR EMPLOYEES ARE ENGAGED. GET IN TOUCH AND LET'S MEASURE IT.
Some info on the current state, trends and implications of Wokplace Engagement:
Gallup’s 2025 Global State of the Workplace Report finds:What Caused the Decline in Engagement?
Managers. Manager engagement fell from 30% to 27%. Individual contributor engagement remained flat at 18%.No other worker category — male or female, young or old — experienced as significant a decline. However, two types of managers were particularly affected: Young (under 35) manager engagement fell by five percentage points; female manager engagement dropped by seven points.
Why does Manager Engagement Matter?
When employees are engaged, they are more productive at work. They are absent less and produce more. They build better customer relationships and close more sales. So, what engages work teams the most? Their manager!If managers are disengaged, their teams are, too. This relationship is so strong that it shows up in country-level data: Countries with less engaged managers are more likely to have less engaged individual contributors.
Research suggests that we need to rethink the problem. Perhaps a focus on improving engagement of managers is a good start. Here are three actions to take:
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1. Ensure all managers receive training to cut extreme manager disengagement in half.
Less than half of the world’s managers (44%) say they have received management training.
The most achievable opportunity for leaders is to provide basic role training for every manager. Manager development has declined globally in recent years, and most managers say they have not received any training for their jobs. However, half as many managers who receive training are actively disengaged as those who are not trained. (Gallup defines actively disengaged employees as those who work against the aims of the organisation.) This finding suggests that even rudimentary training in role responsibilities can stop a manager from feeling like they are drowning.
2. Teach managers effective coaching techniques to boost manager performance by 20 to 28%.
Some managers have a natural gift for inspiring and developing people, but many do not.
The good news is that effective coaching can be taught. A study found that participants in a manager training course focused on management best practices experienced up to 22% higher engagement than non-participants. In addition, the teams led by those participants saw engagement rise by up to 18%. Manager performance metrics improved between 20 to 28%. These results were found nine to 18 months after training, suggesting that the influence of manager training may have a lasting effect.
3. Increase manager wellbeing by 32% through ongoing manager development.
When employers provide manager training, it improves manager thriving levels from 28% to 34%.
However, if they have training and someone at work actively encourages their development, manager thriving increases even further to 50%. When we consider the additional influence of great managers on their teams, manager training and development may be one of the most effective “wellbeing initiatives” employers can invest in.