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How Can It Be That Australians (and Probably Other Westerners) Are Less Engaged Than Third World Workers?

I just read an interesting piece in the Sydney (Australia) Morning Herald by James Adonis, entitled "Worked Up About Work."  The actual article can be found at the following link:

http://www.smh.com.au/small-business/blogs/work-in-progress/worked-up-about-work/20110318-1bz8x.html


Adonis cites a Gallup poll of 47,000 people from more than 100 countries, 2,000 of whom were from Australia.  "They discovered that 31% of Costa Ricans, 30% of Guatemalans, and more than 29% of Brazilians are in the highest category of job satisfaction.  By comparison, only a dismal 18% of Australians can say they love their work."  I can only imagine what that number would be in Western Europe and in America.

The fact of the matter is that Employee Engagement is becoming unquestionably one of those tools that has proven itself to be a significant enhancer of productivity and profitability.  Companies who do not engage their employees, Adonis indicates, as one example, through his use of the Gallup survey, had workers who more often took sick days (33%) whereas those who felt they were engaged were at the 11% level.   When you take the costs of absenteeism and parlay that against what that does to productivity and profitability the numbers are staggering.  Adonis advises that a study done by the University of Western Australia costs the private sector $2 billion in lost productivity a year and $5 billion in the public sector.  Now I presume those are Australian dollars, so what would that be if you included America, Western Europe and Asia.  Unbelievable and incomprehensible would be the only possible thoughts I can come up with.  No wonder the economies of the West are suffering.

The researchers apparently found some common elements among employees who declared they were highly engaged.  "These were:
  • Engaged workers were more likely to say their organization is hiring and expanding its workforce
  • Engaged workers were more likely to rate their personal life favorably
  • Almost all engaged employees said they were treated with respect "all day yesterday", and were less likely to have experienced anger or stress
  • Those with good physical health reported reported higher engagement than those with health problems
It would seem to me that these types of conditions will lead to improved productivity.  Shouldn't they?

Well then, what needs to be done.  It seems to me that management has to be the starting point.  I am sure many, if not most, are still questioning the premise of what I am saying, let alone what Adonis is encapsulating from the Gallup survey, but Gallup's figure's show that organizations "with staff engagement in the top quartile had growth in earnings per share that was more than four times higher than their competitors median."  I would think that would matter to executives, management, and to the various shareholders.

Perhaps management teams who do not consider employee engagement worth their time, should review some of these facts and reconsider their positions.  They should determine if the possibility of a four fold increase in EPS is worth not taking that position. 

Bob




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