Level of employee engagement in SA dismal - survey

ADVERTORIAL

Cape Town - Results from PDT’s 2015 State of Employee Engagement in South Africa survey suggest a growing disconnect between organisational management and their staff structures.  

The report, run in collaboration with Fin24, surveyed over 1 100 people from a variety of sectors, including banking, mining, retail and government.

Significantly, at least 46% of respondents listed themselves as executive or middle management.

The report indicates a general decline in the level of employee engagement in South Africa since the release of PDT’s 2014 report, with at least 42 out of every 100 staff members not motivated to affect real change in their organisations.

PDT Business Development Director, Christopher Clark, explains that what many companies fail to understand is that employee engagement can radically affect their bottom line.

“Several international studies support this narrative,” says Clark. “British multi-national, Aon, produced statistics that link just a 5% increase in employee engagement with a 3 % subsequent growth in revenue.

“Organisational leadership needs to make employee engagement a key discipline which in turn will have a direct impact on company profit and productivity,” he explains.

At least 73% of respondents in the 2015 survey highlighted the need for better communication from their managers – this is up from 67% in 2014. In direct contrast, not a single senior managers believed that improved management communication is required.

In response to this growing disconnect, PDT has developed TV Republic, a multi-platform communications tool that allows CEOs and other management to push video content directly to their employees' cellphones, computers or video displays.

“We need to change the way that businesses view communication and engagement. From CEO to secretary, a paradigm shift in thinking and empowerment is needed in South Africa if we want to move our companies forward”, says Clark.

For the full 2015 State of Employee Engagement Survey in South Africa, please click here.