Employee engagement and employee performance management truly go hand in hand. The goal for both is to create alignment between the needs, desires, skills and activities of individuals and what the business requires to achieve results. But in today's intense business environment, what managers and employees need to achieve this balance can be difficult to discern. A recent study by Aberdeen Group surveyed 438 organizations in 2011, examining strategies, tools and processes designed to improve engagement and performance in order to understand which are the most effective. The subsequent report offers recommendations on how organizations can use these findings to improve employee retention, leadership bench strength, customer satisfaction and profitable growth. There is a charge for the full report. Click here for more info.

A new research study by the Sloan Center on Aging & Work at Boston College examines work experiences of employees, finding that those 40 years old and older are the most engaged and demonstrate the highest level of organizational commitment, and that those 50 years old and older are the most satisfied with their jobs. Employees between the ages of 30 and 39 evidenced the least satisfaction with their jobs. The Generations of Talent study is one of few to assess the effects of country, age, and career stage among employees worldwide. It gathered data about work experiences from 11,298 individuals, working for seven multinational companies, at 24 worksites in 11 countries. For more information on the report, click here.

Average levels of employee engagement weren’t good enough for Stryker, as one New Jersey plant discovered. The Gallup Management Journal recently published an extensive case study looking at how a fast-moving manager changed the plant’s culture in less than a year, improving engagement levels from 48% to 57%. Stryker believes that employee engagement is part of its success – the company has been deeply committed to employee engagement, strengths development and leadership development for years. Many of its locations are among the best and most engaged Gallup has ever studied, helping Stryker win Gallup’s Great Workplace Award four times. To read the case study in its entirety, click here.

Employee engagement is one of the four customer experience core competencies and it’s the one that companies tend to struggle with the most. To examine this critical area, Temkin Group surveyed more than 2,400 U.S. employees, finding that only 40% are fully committed to helping their companies succeed, 54% will do good for the company even if it’s not expected, and 26% are likely to look for a new job within six months. The study also introduces the Temkin Employee Engagement Index (TEEI) based on how employees feel about three areas: 1) understanding the company mission, 2) feeling that their feedback is valued, and 3) having the required training and tools. Using the TEEI, Temkin found that only 31% of employees are highly engaged, but these employees are 5.8 times more committed to helping their companies succeed and 4.7 times more likely to recommend that someone apply for a job at their company. It turns out that companies with good customer experience have 2.5 times more engaged employees than companies with poor customer experience. The full report is available for a fee. More info at www.temkingroup.com/news/report-employee-engagement-benchmark-study.

Recently, the Enterprise Engagement Alliance (EEA) performed a review of the past quarter-century of research into Rewards & Recognition. Among the main objectives of this review was to determine links between the use of Incentives and Engagement. Looking at evidence from more than forty studies, researchers found that incentive and reward programs can drive engagement if they are carefully and deliberately designed to do so. Read more >

Employee loyalty is dropping around the world, according to new Mercer’s What’s Working survey. The research, conducted among nearly 30,000 employees in 17 geographic markets between the fourth quarter of 2010 and the second quarter of 2011, shows that the percentage of workers seriously considering leaving their organization has risen since the last time the survey was conducted in each market (prior to the economic downturn). In many markets, the increase is 10 percentage points or more. In the U.S., the increase was 9 points, from 23% in 2005 to 32% in 2010. According to Pete Foley, PhD, a Principal at Mercer and North American Employee Research Leader, “The overall employment deal is in a state of flux around the world, with employees rethinking what they want out of the employment relationship. Our research shows that, despite the ongoing economic uncertainty, more employees would consider leaving today for a better opportunity.” For a complete summary, click here. 

A recent survey by human capital consulting firm Randstad finds that a majority of U.S. employees are highly engaged and happy in their jobs. According to the latest Randstad Employee Attachment Index, 78% of respondents report feeling inspired to do their best at work; 76% are proud to work for their companies; and 66% enjoy going to work every day. Likewise, researchers found that employee volatility is down, with 60% reporting they would not give consideration to or accept a new job offer in the next six months. For more information, go to www.randstadusa.com.

The Enterprise Engagement Alliance has created a simple tool that any company can use for free to almost instantly benchmark its engagement efforts against best practices and an aggregate of other organizations using the tool.You can test it at www.eebenchmark.com. Simply fill out the questionnaire, click on submit, and the results come up instantly. Complete confidentially is assured, because there’s no need to identify yourself or your client. Please feel free to share any feedback with me. The questions are based on extensive research on Enterprise Engagement practices and on input from Allan Schweyer, EEA Chairman and an expert on employee engagement; Rodger Stotz, the Incentive Research Foundation’s Chief Research Officer and an expert on channel partner engagement, and Tom Hoffman, Executive Business Editor for Peppers & Rodgers’ 1to1 Media division.This tool was made possible by sponsorship support from Canon Special Markets, JWT Inside, and Marcus Evans.