Temkin Group, a leading market research and consulting firm that helps organizations improve their customer experience, released a new research report: "Employee Engagement Benchmark Study, 2013." The report analyzes the level of engagement that more than 2,400 full-time U.S. employees have with their employers and compares these results to a similar Temkin Group study from last year.
The study, which is based on a survey of employees completed in August 2012, shows that 57% of U.S. employees are moderately or highly engaged, an increase from 47% that Temkin Group found in its 2011 survey.
The study finds that engaged employees are more than twice as likely to stay late at work if something needs to be done, help someone at work even if they're not asked, and do something that is good for the company even if it's not expected of them. Also, they are almost three times as likely to make recommendations about an improvement and more than six times as likely to recommend that a friend or relative apply for a job.
The research examines the level of employee engagement within different types of organizations. Three-quarters of employees in companies with significantly above-average financial performance are moderately or highly engaged, compared with less than half of firms with subpar financial results.
"It may not show up on any balance sheet, but a highly engaged workforce is one of the most valuable assets that an organization can possess," states Bruce Temkin, Customer Experience Transformist & Managing Partner of Temkin Group.
Some of the other findings from the research include:
- Professional services and construction companies have the highest level of employee engagement, while travel and retail firms have the lowest.
- Sixty percent of the workforce at companies with 100 or fewer employees are moderately or highly engaged, compared with only 46% at companies with 10,000 or more employees.
- Seventy-five percent of senior executives are moderately or highly engaged, compared with only 46% of individual contributors.
- The most engaged employees tend to be older, male, college educated, and African-American.
To gauge employee engagement, the research uses the Temkin Employee Engagement Index, which is a three-question assessment completed by survey respondents. The report "Employee Engagement Benchmark Study, 2013" can be downloaded for free from the Customer Experience Matters blog, atExperienceMatters.wordpress.com as well as from the Temkin Group website, www.TemkinGroup.com.
Companies must remember that employees are internal customers. Customer-service and marketing efforts should be aimed toward winning internal customers. Engaged employees can be the most passionate brand ambassadors and should not be underestimated as customers.
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