POPin Survey Finds Widespread Lack of Employee Engagement, Near-Fatal Misalignment Between Management and Employees

IRVINE, Calif., Dec. 5, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- POPin today announced a new survey of C-level executives and vice presidents across a variety of industries, which found that most companies still struggle with significant misalignment issues between management and employees, making it difficult to implement key initiatives and retain top talent.

According to the survey, 41% of respondents say town hall meetings are "typically one sided" with information flowing from management to employees. An alarming 47% of respondents say employee opinions are "only sometimes" heard and addressed in such meetings. Moreover, 45% of respondents fail to conduct town hall employee meetings at all.

56% of respondents say executives rely on email as the "primary" method of employee communication. Only 21% of executives surveyed solicit feedback from employees in person, and often that feedback in not candid for fear of negative career consequences.

"Businesses today are in crisis when it comes to employee engagement and organizational alignment," said Brian Anderson, Chief Marketing Officer of POPin. "As social collaboration continues to create new methods of bringing people closer together, most companies continue to follow older, less effective practices. Business leaders continue to prove they are completely unable to establish an effective process for employee engagement and fail to build organizational alignment on key initiatives."

Survey Results:

• Lack of Productivity: Most managers do not prioritize employee feedback when it comes to productivity improvements. Only 26% make this a "high priority." Nearly 55% will listen to employee concerns but admit they are challenged to address them. 20% said it is "too difficult" to sift through feedback to identify employee challenges.
• Failure to Gauge Employee Satisfaction: 24% of respondents say they have "frequent" conversations with employees to solicit feedback but there is "no quantifiable method" to do so. An alarming 52% say they have conversations with employees but often "do not receive candid feedback." 25% say there is "no process whatsoever" to gauge employee satisfaction.
• Inability to Solicit Candid Feedback: 54% say employees will share their opinions but typically "withhold" critical feedback about the organization. 26% consider that they have "open and honest" conversations with employees. 20% say employees try to communicate honestly but are hesitant to offer critical feedback for fear that it would reflect poorly and affect their career.
• Employee Retention: 53% of managers can predict when an employee is not happy but are often unable to remediate the problem. 29% say it's "usually a surprise" when an employee resigns. Only 18% do well to predict employee dissatisfaction and can usually remediate the problem in time.
• Misalignment on Technology Initiatives: 57% of respondents say their company is "slightly out of alignment" on new initiatives and that it "takes some time to come up the learning curve." 14% say employees are reluctant to embrace new ideas. Only 29% of respondents are "well aligned" and "in lockstep" with senior management.
• Ideation Challenges: 52% of respondents say that although they have an "open line" of communication between departments, there's "no solid process" to share ideas. 25% say they are "not effective" at ideation with "limited interaction" with disparate departments. Only 23% of respondents they have a "solid infrastructure" in place to develop new ideas.
• No Standard Process for Sourcing Ideas: Responses were mixed on how ideas are sourced internally. 22% use an internal solution; 12% use social collaboration tools, 32% use a survey; 15% arrange large brainstorming sessions and 20% admit they "don't know" how to source ideas and concerns from the organization.
• Mobile Communications: Only 20% of respondents say that mobile has had a "significant" impact on employee communications. 39% say mobile capabilities have had a "moderate" impact, creating "an important communication channel" for "alignment." 36% say mobile has had "no improvement on alignment and ideation." Only 5% consider mobile to be a "hindrance."
• Senior Management Fails to "Take Action": 20% of respondents say they have processes in place that enable senior management to react quickly to employee concerns. 44% say they have "some processes" but need to be "more nimble in this area." 36% of respondents say e-level executives are "slow" with "limited resources to react in a timely manner."

"Our research continues to show that that crowdsourcing techniques are an indispensable tool in helping management engage with employees to ensure the success of corporate initiatives," added Mr. Anderson.

Survey Methodology

The survey was conducted between November 7, 2017, and November 14, 2017, and reflects responses from 163 business leaders, including c-level executives and vice presidents across a variety of industries.

Resources:

• Download survey infographic here.

About POPin

POPin is a leadership tool that enables leaders to measure and solve real issues across the enterprise. POPin turns insights into action, helping leaders drive alignment and reduce obstacles to corporate objectives. POPin runs on the web and on mobile. Headquartered in Irvine, CA, POPin is already helping organizations such as CoreLogic, OldCastle, Ford and NYU. For more information visit www.popinnow.com.

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SOURCE POPin

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