2020 Report Provides Detailed Insights into how the Best Companies to Work for in America Engage and Retain Talent; Major finding was Disengaged Employees were 3.3 times More Likely to Leave their Companies within 90 days of Being Surveyed

OMAHA, Neb.--Quantum Workplace, a leading provider of comprehensive employee engagement and performance software as well as the North American leader in data collection for nearly 50 Best Places to Work Programs across North America, announced today the release of its 10th Annual Trends Report: How Americas Best Places to Work Engage and Retain Top Talent.

The report captures and highlights best practices centered around engaging, leveraging, understanding and retaining talent. For the 2020 report, Quantum Workplace leveraged data pulled from 1.2 million employee engagement surveys the Company collected from more than 12,000 companies across 43 cities in 27 states. Since 2015, as part of its Best Places to Work surveys leadership position, Quantum Workplace collected more than five million surveys across 51,000 organizations from the same geographic areas.

In the 2020 report, Quantum Workplace reveals how successful organizations maximize their talent throughout the employee lifecycle. The Company showcases what these organizations do differently and pinpoints direct, evidence-based practices that lead to successful teams and organizations, thereby enhancing engagement and elevating performance. The report also references the impact on engagement amid workplace changes in light of COVID-19.

Among the most important findings were:

  • Disengaged employees were 3.3 times more likely to leave their companies within 90 days of taking an engagement survey when compared with highly engaged employees.
  • Three out of four employees are currently highly engaged with their work, despite working remotely due to COVID-19.
  • When goals and accountabilities are clearly communicated, employees are 2.8x more likely to be highly engaged.
  • When employees believe they will be recognized by their employers, they are 2.7x more likely to be highly engaged.
  • When employees believe their immediate manager directly cares about their development, they are 3.1x more likely to be highly engaged (83%) than those who do not (27%).

In the most robust analysis Quantum Workplace has issued to date, the Company reveals how America’s Best Places to Work have been attracting, engaging and retaining top talent. This data, coupled with analysis about external economic and workplace trends, real-life case studies, and advice from the Company’s own employee engagement experts, shows readers how to transform insights into action in the workplace.

The report consists of four chapters outlined in a way to easily understand engagement as well as retention trends and highlights best practices to this end:

  • Chapter One: Engaging Your Talent
  • Chapter Two: Leveraging Your Talent
  • Chapter Three: Understanding Your Talent
  • Chapter Four: Retaining Your Talent

Each section showcases trends, strategic employee success advice, perceptions from the Company’s workplace insights experts and highlights from successful companies who have improved their engagement and performance. The content of the report is designed to help organizations better focus on and enhance their engagement processes and programs and aid them as they implement relevant strategies to drive employee and business success in 2021 and beyond.

To measure employee engagement, Quantum Workplace developed its e9 Model of Employee Engagement, which spans nine core engagement statements that measure the relative strength of employees’ emotional and mental connection with their work, team and organization.

Other key findings of the report reveal the following:

  • When employees witness professional growth and career development opportunities within their own organizations, they are 2.5x more likely to be highly engaged (89%) than those who do not (36%).
  • When employees feel the people with whom they work treat one another with respect, they are 4x more likely to be highly engaged (82%) than those who do not feel respected (21%).
  • When employees believe their workplace supports their health and wellbeing, they are 3.5x more likely to be highly engaged (84%) than those who do not (24%).
  • When COVID-19 first hit the U.S., employee engagement dipped slightly to 70% of employees who were highly engaged from 78% at the onset of 2020. In March, meaningful growth in engagement was exhibited, rising to 83% of employees were highly engaged once U.S. restrictions were put into place. This peak was 11% higher than engagement levels during the same period in 2019.

“It is obvious that employee engagement is more important now than ever since the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. As America’s workplaces face challenges with regard to complete disruption, remote work and scrambling to find new ways to collaborate, perhaps the most important priorities for organizations are employee retention, advocacy and discretionary effort. The intertwining of engagement and performance measures remains key to individual and team success. Employees are still demanding the same elements and experiences from their workplaces to feel engaged and successful – even during the worst of times, such as those we’re currently undergoing,” said Greg Harris, Quantum Workplace co-founder and chief executive officer.

“As a software provider participating in the talent space for nearly two decades, at Quantum Workplace, we believe it is our responsibility to capture the employee voice across America, as we strive to improve workplace relations, engagement and culture. This report affords our Company the chance to study, evaluate and report on that employee voice, which we deem an honor. Our extensive data serves as a framework for ways in which companies of all shapes and sizes can engage, and create a high-performance culture as they strive to become a Best Place to Work,” Harris added.