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The Engagement Gap: Executives and Employees Think Differently About Employee Engagement
The Engagement Gap: Executives and Employees Think Differently About Employee Engagement
As you can imagine, with executives and employees, the overlap here
Disengaged employees cost
isn’t big enough. This creates significant gaps not only in how
companies $450-to-$550 billion in
engaged people are at work but more so in how engaged they could lost productivity each year.
be. And, these gaps are leading to millions lost in productivity and
also the loss of great talent. For example, according to Gallup1,
actively disengaged employees cost companies $450-to-$550 billion
in lost productivity each year.
As Mark C. Crowley summarized3: Instead Kahn “discovered that employees were far more
emotionally and physically engaged when they experienced:
1. Psychological meaningfulness: a sense that their work was worthwhile and made a
difference
2. Psychological safety: a feeling they were valued, accepted, and respected – and
able to perform in a positive work environment
94 %
– of execs admire employees’ –
99 %
– of execs believe employees –
SKILLS & EXPERIENCE IMPACT SUCCESS
8
Score out of 10
5.9
4.7
4
0
With program Without program
8
Score out of 10
6.6
6
4
5.2
2
0
With program without program
What you’ll see is that executives are generally in line with employees’
feelings about most communication channels – specifically the ones
they rarely use and do not directly invest in – the intranet,
newsletters, and town hall meetings. Employees are, however, more
likely to rank them as total losses. On the other hand, executives have
a dramatically more positive view of employee recognition and small
group meetings – activities that they likely participate in directly.
45%
30%
15%
0%
Newsletter Townhall Meetings Employee Recognition Intranet Small Group Meetings Job Rotation
Types of communications channels
6
6.2
4
2 2.8
0
When they fail, and the majority of them are failing, executives must
seize that opportunity to figure out why. They cannot accept a failure
to communicate meaning and purpose. They cannot accept a failure
of a culture where people feel as though they don’t belong.
None of those results are surprising, but all represent the real
opportunity. Stop trying to engage your employees. Start making
your organization a more meaningful, congenial, and transparent
community.
52.4 53.6
45%
Percent
30%
30.5
26.3
20.1
17.1
15%
0%
Negative and Dysfuntional Neutral Vibrant and Positive
Attitude
Brian Solis is a digital analyst, anthropologist, and also a Deb Lavoy has spent a career pursuing ideas and
futurist. Solis studies the effects of disruptive technology technology to build stronger teams and make work better
on business and society. More so, he humanizes for people. She is the Founder and CEO of Narrative
technology’s causal effect to help people see people Builders, a consultancy that builds narratives that convey
differently and understand what to do about it. He is an the power of a business, product or idea.
award-winning author and avid keynote speaker who is
globally recognized as one of the most prominent
thought leaders in digital transformation and innovation.
At Jostle we’re on a quest to make workplaces better – more vibrant and more
productive. We’re empowering leaders and employees to communicate richly - building
and sustaining cultures that encourage participation, commitment, and a sense of
belonging. Jostle’s People Engagement® platform cuts across the barriers of role,
location, and mindset to enable vibrant communications, discussions, and
collaboration.
1
Harter, Jim. "Companies Are Maximizing Only 5% of Their Workforces." Gallup.com.,
1 March 2015. <http://www.gallup.com/businessjournal/182087/companies-
maximizing-workforces.aspx?utm_source=&utm_medium=&utm_campaign=tiles>.
Web. 19 August 2015.
2
Kahn, W.A. "Psychological Conditions Of Personal Engagement And Disengagement At
Work." Academy of Management Journal (1990): 692-724. <http://
engagementresearch.wikispaces.com/file/view/Kahn%20(1990)_Psychological
%20conditions%20of%20personal%20engagement%20and%20disengagement%20at
%20work.pdf>. Web. 19 August 2015.
3
Crowley, Mark. "6 Surprising Insights Of Successful Employee Engagement." Fast
Company., 14 July 2015. <www.fastcompany.com/3048503/hit-the-ground-running/6-
surprising-insights-of-successful-employee-engagement>. Web. 19 August 2015.
4
The Conference Board. ”CEO Challenge® 2015: Creating Opportunity Out of Adversity:
Building Innovative, People-Driven Organizations.” The Conference Board., 2015. <http://
employeeengagement.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/2015-CEO-Challenge-
Conference-Board-Report1.pdf>. Web. 19 August 2015.
5
Crowley, Mark. "6 Surprising Insights Of Successful Employee Engagement." Fast
Company., 14 July 2015. <www.fastcompany.com/3048503/hit-the-ground-running/6-
surprising-insights-of-successful-employee-engagement>. Web. 19 August 2015.
6
Slap, Stan. Under the Hood: Fire up and Fine-tune Your Employee Culture. Portfolio, 2015.
Print.
Research data
The analysis contained in this white paper is based on responses obtained from an
original survey authored and deployed by Jostle Corporation, in collaboration with
Brian Solis. Raw survey results are available via bev@jostle.me.