Report: Employee Engagement Benchmark Study, 2015

We just published a Temkin Group report, Employee Engagement Benchmark Study, 2015, which is our annual analysis of U.S. employees. Here’s the executive summary:

We used the Temkin Employee Engagement Index to analyze the engagement levels of more than 5,000 U.S. employees. We found that although employee engagement overall has increased over the past year, engagement levels still vary by organization, industry, and individual. Companies with stronger financial performances and better customer experience have employees who are considerably more engaged than their peers. Our research also shows that out of all the industries, the construction sector has the highest percentage of engaged employees, while the transportation and warehousing sector has the lowest. We additionally found that large companies have a lower percentage of engaged employees than smaller companies do. On an individual level, our research shows that frontline employees, high-income earners, and males tend to be more highly engaged. Given the significant value of engaged employees, we recommend that companies improve engagement levels by mastering our Five I’s of Employee Engagement: Inform, Inspire, Instruct, Involve, and Incent.

Download report for $195

This is the fourth year that we’ve released this study (see 2012 study, 2013 study, and 2014 study). Here are the results from the Temkin Employee Engagement Index over the previous four years:

Some of the other findings from the research include:

• The number of highly and moderately engaged employees in the U.S. increased from 55% last year to 57% this year.
• Compared with disengaged employees, highly engaged employees are 2.5 times as likely to stay at work late if something needs to be done after the normal workday ends, more than twice as likely to help someone at work even if they don’t ask for help, more than three times as likely to do something good for the company that is not expected of them, and more than five times as likely to recommend that a friend or relative apply for a job at their company.
• Seventy-seven percent of employees in companies that have significantly better financial performance than their peers are highly or moderately engaged, compared with only 49% of employees in companies with lagging financial performance.
• Companies that outpace their competitors in CX have 50% more engaged employees than those with CX that lags their peers.
• Ninety-one percent of highly engaged employees always or almost always try their hardest at work, compared with 67% of disengaged employees.
• 25- to 34-year-old employees are the most engaged group while 45- to 54-year-old employees are the least engaged.
• Senior executives are 50% more likely than individual contributors to be highly or moderately engaged.
• Of the 15 industries measured in the study, construction has the highest level of engaged employees while transportation and warehousing has the lowest.

Download report for $195

The bottom line: There are a lot of employees who can and should be more engaged.