"TNS/Conference Board Report on Employee Engagement and Commitment"
No author cited
TNS/Conference Board, Sept. 2005
According to a report from the Conference Board and TNS, businesses will
soon be tested by a more polarized, diverse and increasingly disengaged
workforce. The study concludes that employers will face two distinct challenges
in the near future: "finding ways to attract, retain and motivate high quality
employees regardless of age, ethnicity, gender or occupation; and developing
workforce management practices that balance the corporate bottom line with
the needs and expectations of a diverse, global workforce." The report questions
whether today's managers are equipped to handle these challenges.
The study cites U.S. Labor Department forecasts showing that employment
will be polarized with the majority of jobs at the top and bottom levels
of the pay and skill scales and few in the middle. In addition, the workforce
will become older and more female with greater ethnic diversity.
The Conference Board/TNS survey, however, found that the greatest challenge
facing business is an increasingly disengaged workforce. Forty percent of
respondents reported feeling disconnected from their employers and a quarter
said that they only show up to collect a paycheck. What's more, this trend
appears to be hitting all levels of the workforce. A mere 26 percent of
higher-paid respondents reported feeling motivated at work. Thirty-four
percent reported feeling "detached." The numbers were 20 percent motivated
and 48 percent detached for lower-paid workers.
The researchers recommend greater attention be paid to leadership development
with an emphasis paid to recognizing some of the nuances of tomorrow's more
diverse workforce.
