New Harvard Business Review Analytic Services Report Sponsored by Quantum Workplace Reveals Executives See Value of Employee Engagement, but Lack Strategic Commitment and Integrated Systems

OMAHA, Neb.--Quantum Workplace, a leading provider of comprehensive employee engagement and performance software, announced today the release of a pulse survey report, A Winning Approach to Employee Success, produced by Harvard Business Review (HBR) Analytic Services, an independent commercial research unit within the Harvard Business Review Group and sponsored by Quantum Workplace.

A key finding among the 984 business executives responding to a recent survey by Harvard Business Review Analytic Services survey was the significantly high levels of confidence leaders expressed in the business value of employee engagement, however their commitment to the strategy was lacking. 81% of business executives strongly agree that highly engaged employees perform better and are more productive than employees with average or low engagement. However, only 37% strongly agree that employee engagement is a significant area of focus for their organization today.

Instead, a recent focus on performance management has surfaced at the expense of employee engagement. Nearly two-thirds (63%) of respondents say that their organizations have revamped their approach to performance management within the past two years; of those, 24% have done so as recently as the past six months, and 22% have done so in the past year. While these updates to performance management were necessary, many companies sacrificed focus on employee engagement to do so.

The study goes on to suggest that to realize true business value, engagement and performance must not be approached separately, but be linked in a meaningful way. Channeled engagement improves performance while better performance enhances engagement. In the report’s introduction, Quantum Workplace Co-founder and Chief Executive Officer Greg Harris discusses the importance of this integrated talent strategy.

“To turn culture into an unfair advantage, a new generation of talent leaders are merging engagement and performance,” says Harris. “Together, these concepts drive employee success. They create a crescendo of individual and team pursuit. When engagement and performance are tethered together, goals and priorities are clear, managers are more agile to change, relationships are stronger, and organizational success is scripted rather than accidental.”

At many companies, stand-alone information systems make integrating employee engagement and performance management easier said than done, according to the study. A third of respondents (32%) say that the disconnect between these systems is one of the greatest barriers to getting business value from their company’s investments in employee engagement.

Additional findings from the report indicate that 56% of the respondents achieve a positive Return on Investment (ROI) from their employee engagement execution and programs. Twenty-five percent were in strong agreement with this finding while 31% stated they somewhat agreed. Investments in employee success reaped these top three ROI results for those companies making an investment in relevant engagement solutions:

• Improvement in employee productivity
• Better employee retention
• Greater customer satisfaction

“We already know that talent-savvy leaders are those who remain focused on the combination of quantitative and qualitative data, which links organizational goals to the direct work of managers and employees. Despite the absence of perfect evidence, respondents showed they have real confidence in the business value of employee engagement, and that is a notable and germane discovery,” Harris added.

Additional findings from the Harvard Business Review Analytic Services report sponsored by Quantum Workplace include:

• 81% of respondents agreed highly engaged employees perform better and are more productive than those with average or low engagement
• 72% strongly agreed that organizations with highly engaged employees have happy customers
• 37% of respondents strongly agreed that employee engagement is a significant area of focus for their own organization today
• 63% of respondents said their organization revamped their approach to performance management within the past two years, with 24% stating this was completed as recently as within the past six months, and 22% have done so in the past year
• 56% of respondents reported their organization achieved a positive ROI from their employee engagement execution and programs
• 32% of respondents say that the disconnect between employee engagement and performance management systems is one of the greatest barriers to getting business value from their company’s investments in employee engagement
• Half of the respondents agree that managers in their organization have productive conversations about their engagement survey results (17% strongly agree, and 33% somewhat agree)
• 22% of respondents strongly agree that managers have a clear understanding of what high performance looks like for their direct reports’ roles