We are working in really tough times which look set to continue. People are putting in longer hours, are more stressed and feel anxious about the future, particularly job security and their financial future.
The UK is ranked ninth for engagement levels amongst the world’s twelfth largest economies as ranked by GDP (Kenexa 2009)
A recent ONS survey found that output per hour in the UK was 15 percentage points below the average for the rest of the G7 industrialised nations; on an output per worker basis, UK productivity was 20 percentage points lower than the rest of the G7 in 2011. This represents the widest productivity gap since 1995.
Stress at work, leading to long-term absence, has more than doubled since the 1990s, with an estimated 500,000 suffering from work-related stress in the UK. Yet only a third of employees received any support to manage workplace stress.
Raising engagement and productivity was a key challenge in 2013 highlighted by CEO’s in the recent CEO Challenge study.