New research by WorkL, the employee experience platform which measures, tracks and improves employee engagement and employee happiness at work reveals that the average Flight Risk score for employees has soared significantly to 40% in Q1 of 2023, up from an average score in 2022 of 27%.
Reward & Recognition is consistently a top reason why employees plan to leave (an average of 71%) as well as a lack of empowerment within their job role (72%). A poor relationship with a manager is also often listed as a reason for quitting for pastures new.
Data from over 8,000 UK employees has helped shaped the WorkL Q1 Employee Experience Trends Report which reveals the latest employee experience and engagement trends as well as the top and bottom industries to work for.
Bottom of the table is the Telecommunications & Publishing with an Engagement Score of just 61%. This is the first time that we see this sector at the bottom of the table. The Publishing industry has been in the spotlight over the last six months, as Sensitivity Editors are now being employed to assess any language or themes in books which may cause offence. Perhaps this change within the industry is causing concern among employees within the sector, we see those aged 25-34 scoring just 59% as an average Engagement Score.
It’s no surprise that the Flight risk of employees in Q1 within the Telecommunications & Publishing sector is now at an all-time high with a Flight Risk of 48%. This is up from 29% in the last quarter of 2022, a significant red flag for HR teams within the industry.
At the other end of the spectrum is the Financial Services, Technology, Real Estate, Rental and Leasing and Agriculture, Animals, Forestry and Fishing sectors all with an Engagement Score of 70% which is the highest among all industries. Public Sector & Government score 68% along with Business and Management services. Flight Risk for these sectors is as you would expect, low at 21% for Tech and Agriculture and 23% for Financial Services.
Digging deeper into our data and Reward and Recognition scores, as part of our Six Steps to Workplace Happiness, reveal that Education and Research score just 65%, Health and Social Care score 64% and Transportation and Logistics score 64%. These are among the lowest scores for Reward and Recognition across all industries and reflect the prevalent national strike action in these industries during this quarter. Employees in these industries likely feel less engaged as a result of feeling unfairly paid and wish to be rewarded with an increase in pay and better benefits.
Lord Mark Price, Founder of WorkL comments: “We continue to see poor Employee Engagement levels for people working in Transportation, Energy, Healthcare and Education – the strikes say it all and must act as a stark warning for HR teams to address. Fight risk is now at an all-time high and I urge all sectors to read through our Q1 industry reports to understand how their industry is fairing when it comes to employee engagement and especially the risk of employees leaving.”
Other findings include:
Wellbeing is now at a low of just 64%- down 3% compared to last year and the lowest scoring step. Data from the first quarter also shows that employees who identify as LGBTQ+ are also more likely to have a lower Wellbeing Score, scoring 63% compared to heterosexual employees who scored an average of 66%. Scoring just 61% for Wellbeing, workers with disabilities have a 5% gap when compared with employees without disabilities (66%).
WorkL’s Annual Employee Experience Report in 2022 highlighted the strengthening relationship between Managers and Non-Managers and results in this quarter reveal that this continues to be the case. Survey responses to the question ‘I have a good relationship with my Manager’ have increased for the past four years; improving 10% from 2019-2023.
