40 Statistics on Employee Engagement, Recognition & more

We've out together a list of the most compelling statistics within the realms of employee engagement, employee recognition, employee satisfaction, and employee well-being. Managing your employee experience effectively ensures that you obtain employee engagement and loyalty, which should be a goal for any business looking to improve productivity and service quality.

Employee Engagement Statistics

• More than half of employee engagement is driven by non-monetary rewards or recognition. According to research conducted by McKinsey, 55% of employee engagement is driven by such ‘nonfinancial recognition.’

• Employees have ambitions that shouldn’t be limited. When looking at employees that have recently left jobs, McKinsey found that 35% did so as a result of lacking career development opportunities.

• Companies that score within the top 20% in terms of employee engagement see 41% less absenteeism and 59% less turnover.

• Job fit, affective commitment, and psychological climate were all significant predictors of employee engagement in a correlation study of 286 participants. They all predicted the variance in employee engagement by more than 38% respectively.

• Perfecting your onboarding process is essential. 69% of employees are more likely to stay at a company for 3+ years if they’ve received a great onboarding.

• Engaging your employees pays off. An engaged workforce can generate an increase in profits and sales of 20% and 21% respectively.

• 90% of business leaders surveyed believe that engagement has a significant impact on business success, yet only 25% have a strategy to increase engagement.

• Engaged employees are 34% more likely to recommend their organization and promote it to others as a place of work.

• While 80% of executives highlight the importance of employee experience, only 29% of employees feel engaged or as though they’re listened to.

• 77% of employees say that a company culture with strong values, along with engaged colleagues, is most conducive to their best work.

Employee Well-being Statistics

• Flexibility and balance are paramount for modern employees. The World Economic Forum found that 40% of employees expect a better work-life balance, while as much as 63% of employees believe a hybrid working model is optimal.

• Working from home works for employees. When asked, 60% of remote employees reported feeling less stressed in the work-from-home environment, and 66% consider themselves more productive.

• When it comes to employee referrals, well-being initiatives are a huge player. When working for an organization that implemented well-being initiatives, 89% of employees included in an American Psychological Association report were likely to recommend their company. This number was just 17% for employees at organizations with no well-being initiatives.

• Employers that invest in employee well-being and associated initiatives enjoy a 21% increase in top performers.

• 87% of employees surveyed by Glassdoor said that they expect their employer to support them in efforts to balance their work and personal life.

• The majority of employees are coping well with stress, but a large amount still suffers from heavy stress loads. 56% say they are thriving, while 34% are stressed to a point of detriment, but can still cope. Only 9% of employees report experiencing no stress at all.

• In 2019, 84% of employers reported higher productivity levels as a result of employee wellness plans.

• 83% of employers reported an increase in their employees’ health upon introducing company-wide wellness plans.

• Investments in employee mental health can result in as large as a 500% ROI. Every dollar of mental health investment has been shown to yield a 3-5 dollar benefit.

• Bring the dogs in! 80% of employees at pet-friendly offices report feeling happier and calmer as a result of having pets close during work hours.

Employee Recognition & Rewards Statistics

• There’s a distinct difference in performance between low-cost rewards programs and those at 1% or more of payroll. In fact, rewards programs with sufficient investment are 86% more likely to be rated as good or excellent.

• Only 47% of employees included in another study by the APA reported receiving the recognition that reflects their contributions to the organization. Similarly, only 50% reported receiving recognition that was reflective of the effort they put into their work.

• According to research conducted by SurveyMonkey, 63% of employees that feel recognized are not likely to search for new opportunities.

• When asked how to improve engagement, 58% of employees responded that the best step would be to increase recognition.

• 68% of employees reported that public recognition plays at least a small role in their ability to get a raise or promotion.

• Recognition and engagement work both ways with each other. While recognition itself increases engagement, employees are also 2.7x more likely to be engaged when they believe they’ll be recognized.

• Employees don’t even need rewards to become more productive. Research shows that offering rewards within a company can increase productivity by 40%, even for employees that haven’t received rewards.

• Money isn’t everything. In fact, 65% of employees prefer non-cash incentives.

• In a study analyzing the efficacy of certain rewards, it was found that people working towards a non-cash incentive performed significantly better than those working for a cash sum of equal value.

• While employees prefer to be (and should be, to an extent) involved in the rewards made available, it turns out they’re not so perfect at deciding what they want after all. 

Employee Satisfaction Statistics

• When compared to annual reviews without peer feedback, semiannual reviews with peer feedback are almost twice as likely (81% vs 42%) to be seen as accurate.

• A study on the link between employee engagement and job satisfaction found that as much as 45% of the variance in job satisfaction can be influenced directly by employee engagement.

• Research across 339 independent studies showed that employee satisfaction has a significant positive correlation with employee productivity and customer loyalty. Not only this, but employee satisfaction also significantly decreases staff turnover.

• According to McKinsey, diversity within companies has a significant impact on employee happiness. Not only this, but diverse companies consistently perform better financially.

• According to Udemy, 60% of managers need more managerial training. Additionally, 56% of workers believe that their managers were promoted too early.

• There is, in fact, a strong correlation between money and job satisfaction. When looking at employees that earned more than $75,000/year, there was an average job satisfaction rate of 59%. On the flip side, 33% of people that earn under $25,000/year have a job satisfaction rate below 50%.

• In the US alone, the cost of dissatisfied workers is estimated at $450-500 billion per year alone.

• Not only is growth a big reason for employees leaving for new jobs, but it’s also one of the main antecedents of employee satisfaction, accounting for 30%.

• 62% of employees would be willing to take a pay cut to work for a company with a mission they believed in.

• Keeping employees satisfied is worth it - satisfied employees that refer other employees are likely to reduce hiring costs by as much as 42%.