U.S. Employee Engagement Solid in April
Wednesday, May 11th, 2016
The percentage of U.S. workers whom Gallup considers "engaged" with their jobs averaged 33.0% in April. Although down slightly from 34.1% in March, the latest monthly average remains higher than normal. This is the fourth time since Gallup began tracking
employee engagement daily in January 2011 that engagement has reached 33.0% or higher, along with March 2011, January 2012 and March 2016.
The 33.0% of employees who were engaged with their work in April is up from 31.7% in April 2015. This aligns with an upward trend in employee engagement over the past two years. From January 2014 to April 2016, 23 of the 28 monthly averages exceeded the same month in the prior year.
In April, an additional 50.0% of employees were "not engaged" and 17.0% were "actively disengaged."
The April 2016 employee engagement average is based on Gallup Daily tracking interviews conducted with 7,096 adults working for an employer. Gallup categorizes workers as "engaged" based on their ratings of key workplace elements -- such as having the opportunity to do what they do best each day, having someone at work who encourages their development and believing their opinions count at work -- that predict important organizational performance outcomes.
Engaged employees are involved in, enthusiastic about and committed to their work. Gallup's extensive research shows that employee engagement is strongly connected to business outcomes essential to an organization's financial success, such as productivity, profitability and customer engagement. Engaged employees drive the innovation, growth and revenue that their companies need.
Bottom Line
Employee engagement has enjoyed a relatively long period of stability, not dropping below 32.0% since August 2015. Monthly averages for March and April represent the highest points of engagement in four years. Improvements in employee engagement averages over the past year may be partly attributable to positive employment news. The Gallup Good Jobs rate for April is the highest for any April dating back to 2010 and generally has risen since early 2014. Likewise, Gallup's Job Creation Index remains at near-record levels. Previous research has found that engaged workers report twice as much job creation in their companies compared with actively disengaged workers.
While Gallup has found that economic factors are modestly related to employee engagement, overall levels of engagement likely have much more to do with what is happening inside organizations. Further improvements in engagement levels may depend on the strength of the U.S. economy, but even more so on organizations' ability to continually manage performance in a way that aligns with modern workforce demands. Leaders and managers who make progress in their human capital and performance management strategies will be rewarded with higher levels of employee engagement and improved business outcomes.
