Almost 90 % of German Employees Feel Hardly Committed to Their Company

Consulting Company Gallup Publishes Engagement Index 2008

 

 

The majority of employees in Germany hardly put themselves out for their employers: 67 % of employees feel only marginally committed to their company and only work to rule; 20 % of German employees have even given notice mentally. Merely 13 % of employees feel a true commitment towards their company and work deeply committed. This is the result of the Gallup Engagement Index 2008, which the consulting company introduced on January 14 in Berlin. 

 

Since 2001, Gallup has been conducting a yearly survey on engagement and motivation of German employees. Based on 12 statements regarding workplace and work environment, the so-called Q12®, those polled were classified in one of three engagement groups, namely “high emotional commitment”, “low emotional commitment” and “no emotional commitment”. For the latest survey which is representative for the workforce in Germany, 2,000 randomly selected employees over 18 years of age were interviewed over the phone.    

 

 

High Consequential Costs for Companies and Economics

 

“As compared to international standards, Germany only ranks in the lower midrange“, Marco Nink, strategic consultant at Gallup Germany, explained. In the U. K., 20 percent of the employees have a high emotional commitment to their company, in the USA even 29 %.“ With 12 percent respective 7 percent, the proportion of strongly committed employees in France and Japan though is even lower than in Germany. 

 

“The consequences – for the performance of individual companies as well as for the complete economy – are significant”, said Marco Nink. Employees with low resp. without emotional commitment show 2 resp. 4 more absent days than highly committed staff members. For a company with 1,000 employees, this means additional costs of 485,000 Euro per year. According to Gallup’s calculations, the national economic costs range between 81.2 and 109 billion Euros per year.

 

 

Direct Supervisor Frequent Reason for Low Involvement

 

„With a darkening of the economic climate, employees’ increasing commitment to their companies – out of fear for their workplace – could be expected. After all, the financial crisis was already palpable at the time of the survey“, according to Marco Nink. But a glance at the years gone by shows that neither decline nor improvement of the economic situation led to any noteworthy displacements between the three groups of commitment levels. Marco Nink adds, “instead, the reasons for the relatively low rate of highly committed employees in Germany is homemade and can be traced back to deficits in personnel management.“ 

 

Emotional employee’s involvement depends mainly on the immediate leader: many employees find fault with not receiving enough appreciation or their opinion not being heard within the company. Numerous employees also feel that they occupy a position which does not really suit them. Only 35 % of the German employees totally agreed with the statement “My superior puts emphasis on my strengths and positive traits”. 

 

Staff Involvement Can Be Increased Through Specific Measures

 

“First of all, leaders have to become aware of their strengths and weaknesses and realize how their leadership behaviour is perceived by the team members”, Marco Nink explained. “Then the degree of emotional commitment is changeable – independently from the starting level.” This way, specific measures for an increase in commitment and motivation can be developed on the basis of anonymous staff surveys. Marco Nink adds “this way, usually employees who work to rule are addressed – after all, the majority in German organizations. They can be won back, as opposed to those who have already given notice mentally.”

 

Note:

 

On request, we are happy to send you charts on the current Gallup engagement index as well as a photo of Marco Nink.