Demographic Differences in Work Values and Employee Engagement

One Size Does Not Fit All

Increasing labour shortages, the ongoing war for talent and specialist skills, an ageing workforce and the Millennial dynamic are well documented factors that could have a profound affect on organisational performance over the next 10 to 20 years. These factors will make it increasingly difficult, and expensive, for organisations to find the right people to deliver their future goals. As such, it is imperative that organisations implement strategies designed to enhance employee engagement and commitment, and thus increase tenure and ultimately performance of their current workforce. The creation of such strategy, however, is dependent on a clear understanding of the differing values influencing employee engagement within your workforce.

The 14 Work Values: Career Progression, Salary & Reward, Personal Growth, Well-Being, Cooperation, Job Satisfaction, Communication, Organisational Confidence, Working Conditions, Loyalty & Trust, Ethical Standards, Independence, Vertical Relationship and Belonging.

One Size Does Not Fit All explores both what is important to individuals in maintaining their organisational commitments (comprising 14 core Work Values) and their overall engagement (composed of 3 components: Job Satisfaction, Organisational Commitment and Intention to Leave). Our measurement of work values is unique in that it actually asks respondents to choose the relative importance of each value to them, rather than using statistical analysis to infer importance. The relative importance is captured by asking respondents to complete a ‘forced-choice’ process whereby each work value is traded-off against the others to create a relative, hierarchy of priorities. The research was conducted looking at over 16,000 respondents from a range of industries and professions across the UK.

Key Findings

Overall

As the title suggests, the key finding is that engagement is a very individual phenomena. Indeed, whilst our research highlights differences between demographic groups (such as gender, age or ethnicity), differences between individuals within these groups always exceed those between groups.

Overall, cooperation is rated as the most important of the all the 14 work values. It is also the most universal, appearing in at least the top three for every demographic investigated.

Gender Differences

In terms of work values, men see career progression, salary and rewards as relatively more important, whilst women prioritise working relationships (with their line manager and peers) more than men.

In relation to engagement, women report slightly higher levels of organisational commitment and have a lower intention to leave the organisation than male employees.

Age Differences

Our research provides mixed support for the concept of the Millennial as a new and different type of employee:

Unsurprisingly, career progression and personal growth decline in importance with age whilst younger workers, consistent with Millennial claims, are the most change-orientated and career driven.

Contrary to the Millennial hypothesis, concern for corporate and social responsibility and the importance of work-life balance all increase with age, as opposed to being particular concerns of 21 – 35 year olds.

More consistent with Millennial research is the finding that younger workers have lower organisation commitment and are more likely than older employees to leave the organisation.

Ethnic differences

The most notable difference regarding ethnicity is that all minority groups placed a higher importance on career progression than those defining themselves as White British.

This more ambitious orientation is consistent with personality research, and is backed up by higher participation rates of minority groups in higher education, together with a preference for more degree subjects that lead to prestigious occupations.

Educational differences

Graduates place relatively more importance on work values linked to challenge and advancement, such as career progression, job satisfaction, personal growth and autonomy.

In contrast, non-graduate employees place more importance on more tangible, immediate factors such as salary and rewards, line manager relationships, loyalty and trust, and working conditions.

Whilst graduates have higher levels of organisational commitment than non-graduate employees, they are also more likely to leave an organisation. These are probably best explained by graduates being in roles that provide a greater insight into, and thus attachment to organisational decisions, whilst also having more capability to move jobs.

Occupational differences

Strong leadership and clear communication are of most importance to managerial professional and sales groups, with sales groups also prioritising loyalty and trust more than other occupational groups.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, physical working environment is relatively far more important for those in more manual roles than managers and professionals.

In terms of engagement, the least satisfied with their jobs are machine operatives and those in customer service roles.

Practical Considerations

The above findings raise many areas for senior management and HR to discuss, not least the implications for organisational structure, management and leadership capability, and reward and recognition systems.

Organisational Structure

One Size Does Not Fit All highlights the importance of ensuring individual and organisational needs and values are aligned if organisations are to create genuine employee engagement and thus increased retention and ultimately improvement performance.

One of the most interesting areas for senior managers and HR to note is the level of importance all groups of employees give to cooperation. Organisations are investing heavily in technology that enables people to work more remotely, whilst seemingly endless mergers and acquisitions mean organisations are increasingly globalised and matrixed in nature. As a result, cooperation is potentially being diluted, as people become members of multiple and virtual teams, and more remote from each other.

From a practical perspective, organisations need to invest the time and resources in keeping people connected, by:

• Ensuring managers are capable of creating and leading virtual and remote teams (see Management Capability section below).
• Investing in good quality telephone meeting equipment, including video conference.
• Ringfencing budget for at least an annual face to face meeting for global teams.

Management Capability

One Size Does Not Fit All highlights the need for some fundamental shifts in how organisations develop their management and leadership capability. Organisations need to focus more on developing managers’ capability to understand and embrace the differing needs and values of an increasingly diverse workforce.

Diversity training for managers has been an integral part of most organisations’ training schedules for the last two decades. However, such training has all too often focused on negatives in an effort to stop organisations being sued for discrimination, rather than how to positively engage and manage an increasingly demographically diverse workforce.

This research makes a clear business case for diversity. Certain demographics (older employees and female workers) tend to express higher levels of engagement. Building a diverse workforce can therefore deliver a competitive advantage to organisations in terms of reducing employee turnover and associated costs. Furthermore, demographic change (e.g. the ageing of the workforce) is forcing organisations to adapt to the different needs and priorities of a more varied workforce.

Leadership Capability

Change is increasingly seen as a part of everyday organisational life and it is similarly acknowledged that middle and first line management play a pivotal role in implementing and embedding strategic change. However, senior management all too often keep this group in the dark, leaving them no more informed or involved than the typical employee, severely limiting their ability to manage and feel engaged in the change. This lack of involvement is compounded given that management groups rank strong leadership and clear communication as the most important factors influencing their organisational commitment.

 Based on this, we would encourage organisations to prioritise management and leadership development in three areas:

• The ability to develop teams that maybe culturally diverse, remote and/or virtual (e.g. cross-functional project teams).
• Performance management skills that focus on increasing commitment by understanding individuals’ values and aspirations beyond the immediate role and task reviews.
• Senior capability to properly communicate with and engage their management populations in the why and how behind organisational changes. 

Reward and Recognition

A final thought relates to how we reward people within organisations. The use of more creative and flexible approaches, such as Flexible Benefit Schemes, has increased dramatically over the last 10 years. However, their use and scope is still reasonably limited in the UK. Organisations should review their processes to ensure that:

• In terms of remuneration, they are accurately bench-marking themselves against their competitors.
• They look beyond what they are paying people; it’s important, but not imperative in creating employee engagement.
• From this wider perspective, incorporate some element of all 14 of the core work values into reward schemes. Satisfying the key work values of the individual is a powerful way of rewarding and recognising their contribution.

For more information on how great{with}talent can support your business’ engagement strategy, contact us directly.