In this Culture Snapshot episode, we’re wrapping up our coverage of ENGAGE 2024: The Company Culture Report by spending a few minutes considering what this year’s findings tell us about the immediate future of company culture and employee engagement.
By the end, you’ll see that when your employees engaged, they will remain steadfast to your organization, maximize their talents, and reach their full potential.
The State of Engagement
“It was fascinating to take a peek inside US businesses today, learning what's happening behind the scenes, hearing a little bit about company leaders and how they can use this insight to increase employee engagement and company performance,” Beth says.
“The bottom line is that only 55% of those surveyed are engaged at work.
“Going back to that company campfire image, a lot of people are kicked back, they're checked out. Even worse, they may be actively working against the growth of your organization.
Disengagement is Contagious!
“We know that disengagement in the workplace is contagious. It's really important to pay attention to it, and it's concerning to learn that 86% of people surveyed work side by side with people who are actively disengaged.
“Just imagine how that can bring down energy, morale, and productivity.
“It's clear that we need to turn this engagement landslide around so that our people want to come to work so that they're more productive when they do come to work. And hopefully, this season gave you a lot of ideas that you can use.”
Lasting Change Requires a Strategic Plan
“Only 15% of organizations are successful at changing their culture,” Beth says. “15%. So, you have to ask yourself: ‘Why do almost 9 out of 10 organizations fail?’
“I found a few common reasons that I wanted to share with you:
- Organizations Jump Into Their Change Initiative Too Quickly: They don’t spend the necessary time to plan the steps, to think about what will be most critical to success. It takes a good strategic plan to make any lasting change.
- Engagement and Fun are Often Confused: In an effort to increase engagement, leaders mean well, but are misguided. A ping pong table and a stocked break room may make employees happy in the short term, but they don’t boost engagement.
- Culture Initiatives are Treated Like Fat: This is probably the most common reason. Even with the best of intentions, they're implemented with lots of passion, lots of fanfare, and then they're forgotten about when times get too busy or too challenging.
“Effective change is quite difficult, and it takes a common, concerted effort over time.”
Hear Beth’s Full Thoughts in the Episode
Listen to the episode to hear Beth’s full thoughts on the following takeaways:
- Happy employees don’t necessarily equate to engaged employees
- Why effective culture change almost always starts with establishing a strong shared mission and defining core values
- How to establish strong habits around culture to ensure that everyone contributes
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