Gallup released its State of the Global Workforce report for 2023, and it has good news for employers. It also has — well, let’s just say it has a couple of notes.
To give you an idea, let’s start with the introduction from Gallup CEO Jon Clifton about what global leaders can do to turn around slowing economic growth.
“Gallup has found one clear answer: Change the way your people are managed.”
The polling company found low workplace engagement costs the global economy $9.8 trillion, 9% of global gross domestic product.
“Poor management leads to lost customers and lost profits, but it also leads to miserable lives. Gallup’s research into well-being at work finds that having a job you hate is worse than being unemployed — and those negative emotions end up at home, impacting relationships with family,” Clifton wrote. “If you’re not thriving at work, you’re unlikely to be thriving at life.”
First, some good news. Sort of. The percentage of employees engaged at work hit its highest level since Gallup started measuring in 2009. The high is 23%, and most of that increase comes from a 7-percentage point increase in South Asia.
The less-than-great news is that 59% of employees surveyed are “quiet quitting,” a term I hate. For Gallup’s purposes, the company defines it as employees who are filling a seat and watching the clock, still getting the job done but only doing the minimum. They’re more likely to be stressed and burnt out than engaged workers. The remainder, the “loud quitters,” are people whose actions harm the company due to broken trust with the employer or mismatched roles.
There’s good news here, though, so don’t worry. The respondents identified as quiet quitters shared what they would change about their workplace to make it better. Of the respondents, 41% focused on engagement and culture, 28% zeroed in on pay and benefits and 16% said well-being.
Here are some comments the report highlighted:
- I would like it if the managers were more approachable, and we could talk openly.
- They should grant more autonomy in the work to stimulate everyone’s creativity.
- I just wish they respected me more.
- Increase my salary because I work hard but the pay is not enough.
- I would pay employees on time.
- They should give rewards to employees for the excellent results achieved by the company.
- Communicating shifts well in advance would allow me to better organize my free time.
- We don’t have a place to relax or to get together with colleagues for a coffee break.
Why do these things matter? Well, consider these data points. Employees in the U.S. and Canada were among the most stressed globally. Through last year, 53% of employees said it was a good time to find a job near where they live. Another 51% said they were watching for or actively seeking a new job. That broke down to 41% of engaged employees and 61% were actively disengaged.
Engagement, as it turns out, had a bigger influence on employee stress where employees worked.
“With all that said, Gallup analysis finds that engagement has 3.8 times as much influence on employee stress as work location,” according to the report. “In other words, what people experience in their everyday work — their feelings of involvement and enthusiasm — matters more in reducing stress than where they are sitting.”
Check out the report to see all of its findings, including a breakdown by global region. The findings could lend some insight into your own hotel employee retention efforts, both at the corporate and property levels. We hear constantly about people being hotel companies' “most valuable assets” — another phrase I hate — so any information about what employees are looking for should taken to heart. Pay, naturally, is important, but the report highlights the importance of culture as well.
You can reach me at bwroten@hotelnewsnow.com as well as Twitter and LinkedIn.
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