Each year we analyze changes in employee engagement to help identify focus areas for organizations in the year ahead. Learn more about the key areas we’ve identified for 17 industries based on changes in the employee experience throughout 2021.
Each year we analyze changes in overall employee engagement, as well as individual driver scores, to help identify focus areas for organizations across different sectors in the year ahead.
The data from 2021 reveals there are focus areas that apply to the majority of organizations, such as adapting to new work models in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, retaining talent using employee sentiment analysis, and reducing the risk of burnout through ongoing conversations.
Throughout 2021, the software and services sector and technology sector continued to solidify their positions at the top of our engagement table, ranking first and second for overall employee engagement out of the 17 industries analyzed. Other industries that performed well include commercial and professional services, professional services, and financial services, who were able to improve their rankings by maintaining overall engagement scores at a time when many other industries were negatively affected by the pandemic.
The challenge for many organizations, especially those with a higher proportion of front-line workers, is to find ways of providing employees with a greater degree of flexibility in when, where, and how they do their work.
Industries that experienced a decline in overall engagement include healthcare, pharmaceuticals, nonprofit, and transportation. These are many of the same sectors that continued to be strained by the pandemic in 2021, with many front-line workers unable to take advantage of hybrid work opportunities. It’s likely that engagement in these sectors was also impacted by the various health and wellbeing implications of working through a pandemic.
The average mean score for the environment driver in Workday Peakon Employee Voice, which concerns whether employees believe their physical environment has a positive effect on their work and how it’s done, increased across all sectors between the first and fourth quarters of 2021.
This is most likely the result of organizations extending flexible working models introduced at the outbreak of the pandemic, as well as additional measures designed to safeguard the health of employees in 2021. Some sectors performed better than others, but there was an upward trend in environment scores overall.
The prolonged nature of the pandemic and challenging circumstances faced by many—particularly on the front lines—appear to be taking a toll on employee wellbeing.
The challenge for many organizations, especially those with a higher proportion of front-line workers, is to find ways of providing employees with a greater degree of flexibility in when, where, and how they do their work. With many employees redefining their priorities as a result of the pandemic, this will be a key aspect of retaining talent in the future.
Another global change in employee survey responses was an overall decline in workload scores, which measures whether employees feel the amount of work they’re responsible for is reasonable or a cause of stress—which can contribute to higher levels of burnout risk.
The prolonged nature of the pandemic and challenging circumstances faced by many—particularly on the front lines—appear to be taking a toll on employee wellbeing. Similarly, employees working from home are often working longer hours as a result of the pandemic, with many struggling to balance personal and professional obligations.
Some sectors, including healthcare, higher education, and nonprofit, face the challenge of balancing employee commitment with overall health and wellbeing. This is highlighted by the fact employees in these sectors rank at the top of the table for meaningful work, while also ranking toward the bottom for other engagement drivers such as workload and environment.
In 2022 and beyond, many organizations will need to focus on reducing levels of burnout, while also creating the conditions for sustainable levels of employee performance in the long term.
To learn more about the state of engagement in 2022 and which aspects of the employee experience need to be prioritized in your industry, download the “Employee Expectations Report 2022.”
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