Global Workplace report 2024

This month, Gallup released the 2024 Global Workplace report. It highlights several critical issues and trends impacting the global workforce.?

The trends and topics discussed are very similar to the priorities we hear during our conversations with people from across the global pharma services sector.?

Alarmingly low engagement levels - 59% of the global workforce are disengaged.?

Disengagement costs the global economy around 9% of the global GDP (just under $9 trillion) and 51% of those disengaged employees are looking or open for new opportunities.?

Quiet and Loud Quitting - the report says the concept of "quiet quitting" (not engaged) and "loud quitting" (actively disengaged) remains prevalent. This is a topic I’ve written about previously.?

Loud quitters will vote with their feet. They pose a real risk to your organization and the achievement of your goals.?

Quiet quitters are open to persuasion. that offers you a perfect opportunity to keep them engaged. With consistent demand for talent in the services sector, if you don’t engage them, someone else will.?

Stress Levels are high - around 44% of workers report high levels of daily stress. This has been a consistent trend since the pandemic. Throw in market, economic, and political uncertainty and you’ve got quite the powder keg.?

However, the report shows engaged employees reported significantly lower stress. Gallup go onto argue employers who surround their employees with supportive work environments and effective management will positively impact engagement and in turn stress. Unsurprisingly, these businesses are also more productive.?

The impact of management - 79% of team engagement is attributed to the manager. Poor management not only affects employee engagement but also leads to greater stress and lower overall well-being all of which negatively impact performance.?

I’ve spoken with a diverse range of influencers across the pharma services sector, many who are?deeply concerned about the quality of management and leadership development coming through the industry.?

Anecdotally, it seems in today’s challenging trading conditions, investing time, money, and resource to develop the softer skills our people need is just not seen as a prudent investment.?

Is this really what our businesses think??

Retention Challenges – talent retention remains a significant issue, with over half of employees considering leaving their jobs according to Gallup. This number reduces dramatically where employee engagement is highest. The cost of losing your talent is significant.?

A pharma services business we spoke to this year told us they had lost 15% of their hires within 24 months of them joining. The average base salary they paid these employees was $135k.?

Using our cost of turnover calculator, we showed the direct costs (unrecoverable salary, wasted management time and loss of productivity) to be over $2.3m. Indirect costs (team productivity, reputation, team turnover & loss of business) was an additional $1.9m. Each employee that left cost their business over $500k.?

So, how do we solve these problems??

Gallup suggests that leaders focus on improving workplace culture, enhancing pay and benefits, and promoting employee well-being. By doing so, organizations can create a more engaged and productive workforce, ultimately boosting performance and profitability.?

That all sounds a bit obvious and magnolia to me.?

First things first, you need to know where you are. If you don’t have a system in place to temperature check your current workforce, I strongly recommend you do this quickly. We built, launched, and interpreted the results of an employee opinion survey for a customer in a matter of weeks. My point being, it can be done quickly and cost effectively.?

The survey results will give you actionable insights, low hanging fruit, and steps you can immediately take to positively impact engagement.?

Setting, embedding, and evolving a workplace culture takes time and effort. This is not a quick fix but is nevertheless important and would require a series of blogs, so I’m not going to try and tackle that now.?

Compensation and benefits are important in the context of understanding where you are in your industry and versus competition. If you don’t invest in benchmarking services, then you need to as a priority. For a small investment, you can gain invaluable insight that will allow you to make sound decisions around your compensation structures.?

I largely agree with the commentary in the Gallup report, and it certainly is consistent with the feedback we hear in the market. With that in mind, I think leaders in the services sector need to be aware of these issues, have a finger on the pulse of their businesses, and use tools to make sure regular checks and balances are being carried out to support an engaged and productive workforce.?