GlobalWorkplaceReport_2013

State of the Global Workplace
Employee Engagement Insights for Business Leaders Worldwide
States and neighboring countries. Overall, 24%
of employees living in this group report that their
employers are hiring new people, the lowest figure
among all regional groups. Nearly four in 10 engaged
workers say their employers are expanding the size of
their workforces, compared with about two in 10 not
engaged or actively disengaged employees.
••
One-third of employees in the MENA region (33%)
say their employers are hiring new people — a figure
that will need to rise in the coming years to meet the
region’s increasing need for new jobs to accommodate
its burgeoning youth population. Across the MENA
region, about half of engaged employees say their
organizations are hiring vs. slightly more than onefourth
of actively disengaged employees who say the
same.
••
Job creation is nowhere more important than in South
Asia, where it is estimated that more than a million
people will enter the labor force every month in coming
years. Currently, employees working in South Asia are
about as likely to say their organizations are letting
people go (25%) as they are to say their employers are
hiring (28%). Among engaged employees, however,
more than four in 10 (42%) say their companies are
hiring, while 12% say they are letting people go.
••
Many countries in Western Europe, including France,
Ireland, Italy, and Spain, continue to suffer from severe
employment crises. Residents in these countries are
among the least likely in the world to say it is a good
time to find a job in their communities. However,
engaged employees are twice as likely to report their
workplaces are hiring (34%) as they are to say they are
letting people go (16%). Among actively disengaged
employees, these figures are reversed, with 34% saying
their organizations are letting people go, while 18% say
they are hiring.
Poor Hiring and Management Practices Hinder
Companies’ Growth and Engagement Levels
••
In the MENA region, the concept of “wasta” (similar to
the Western concept of “who you know”) can be used
to gain employment and advantage in the workplace,
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as a result of personal relationships, and potentially
undermine workplace engagement. Not only does this
system create poor fit for roles among improperly hired
employees, but it also spreads negative perceptions
among otherwise engaged colleagues.
••
In fast-growing Southeast Asian economies like
Indonesia and the Philippines, where demand for labor
is high, companies will need a strong talent strategy
to thwart talent poaching. Important to the success of
such strategies will be managers’ willingness to eschew
the old “command-and-control” mentality in favor of a
more collaborative approach, particularly with younger
workers.
••
In East Asian societies, the cultural value of deference
to authority may make businesses less likely to focus
on management structures that allow employees to
feel capable of taking initiative. Only about one in six
employees in East Asia strongly agree that their opinions
count, the lowest proportion of any global region.
••
The positive momentum in the Latin American
job market has heightened the competition for
talented workers among businesses in the region.
The momentum has also increased the importance of
building loyalty among employees by ensuring that they
have what they need to be fully engaged in their jobs.
••
In Australia and New Zealand, only 19% of employees
in leadership positions are engaged in their jobs.
Low engagement among managers is troubling for
businesses, as Gallup has found that they play the most
significant role in influencing engagement among their
direct reports.
Worldwide, Engaged Employees Regard
Their Lives More Highly and Experience More
Positive Emotions
••
Around the globe, engaged employees are more likely
to be “thriving” — i.e., to rate their overall lives
highly on a zero-to-10 scale — than those who are
not engaged or actively disengaged. Among all global
regions, engaged workers are at least 1.6 times as likely
as actively disengaged workers to be thriving. The ratio