The latest State of the Global Workplace report by Gallup has some interesting findings for UK employers based on what their employees said:

  • 19% say they feel Anger for a lot of the day
  • 38% say they experience stress 
  • ONLY 10% describe themselves as engaged with their job
  • The report also suggests that where we do our work has less impact on our stress levels than how engaged we are with them
  • Employees who feel supported and valued by their organisation are more likely to be engaged and productive
  • Only 34% of employees worldwide feel that their organisation cares about their wellbeing

In order for businesses to make their organisations a great place to work there was quite a clear direction from the employees…. 85% of the responses related to 3 categories: engagement or culture, pay and wellbeing:

 

  • 41% said engagement or culture 
  • 28% pay and benefits 
  • 16% wellbeing

 

So the answer seems to be in relation to the working environment. Having recently reminded myself of the philosophy behind Pep Guardiola's success as a football manager in the book The Barcelona Way, it occurred to me that perhaps businesses need to look at building a commitment culture, just like Pep has throughout his successful management career. Unlike other cultures such as Star, Engineering Autocracy, Bureaucracy, a commitment culture has the following characteristics: 

  •  The organisation prioritises and values commitment from their employees
  •  They are characterised by a strong sense of loyalty, dedication, and responsibility towards the organisations goals and objectives
  • A key feature is the emphasis on long-term relationships between the organisation and its employees
  • This typically means an organisation will invest in employees by providing training and development opportunities as well as offering competitive compensation and benefits packages
  • They also have strong value and a clear sense of purpose

For large organisations my recommendation would be looking at how you do this at scale with the use of technology and a strategy.