The Most Inclusive Workplaces Generate The Most Loyal Employees, Reports GMJ

New York, December 17, 2001 -- Building a racially and ethnically inclusive workplace has traditionally been a defense against discrimination suits. But according to new research published in the current Gallup Management Journal (GMJ), fostering inclusiveness does much more: It plays a critical role in boosting employee loyalty and morale.

A Gallup survey of 2,014 working Americans reports that 86% of respondents who felt "most included" in their company agreed that they "would recommend their company as a place to work to friends and family." In contrast, only 3% of respondents who didn't feel included in their companies agreed with this statement.

When asked if they plan to be with their current company one year from now, 87% of respondents who felt included answered yes. Among employees who don't feel included, only 31% replied yes.

The most alarming finding: Only 20% of U.S. employees consider their workplaces to be among the most inclusive.

A big problem: "Most corporate diversity programs simply shield companies from legal penalties," write Gallup researchers Jack Ludwig and Vijay S. Talluri in the article, "To Leverage Diversity, Think Inclusively." The article appears in the GMJ winter issue, now in the mail to more than 130,000 senior executives and opinion leaders around the world. "What's really needed is a way to move beyond the defensive goal of expunging discrimination toward the next step -- inclusiveness," Ludwig and Talluri write.

To help companies maximize the potential of their workforces, Gallup has developed a list of 10 questions that companies can use to measure employee perceptions about how inclusive their company is and how effective it is at leveraging diversity. Among those questions: "Do you always trust your company to be fair to all employees?", "At work, are all employees always treated with respect?", and "Does your supervisor always make the best use of employees' skills?"

Learn more about Gallup's "Inclusiveness 10" survey by visiting http://gmj.gallup.com.

Yet Gallup research finds that doing spot-checks in a company's stores by people posing as shoppers just doesn't work.

"Mystery shopping fails to reflect how a vast, varied customer base actually feels about a company's stores," writes Gallup consultant Scott Ahlstrand in the article, "Why Spy?" in GMJ's winter issue. "And because it fails to capture customer experience, it has precious little to teach executives about improving customer service."

Gallup research finds that mystery shopping produces a sample that's too small to be statistically valid. Mystery shoppers also cannot speak for real customers because they are paid to notice things that real customers don't, resulting in a distorted picture of a customer's experience.

In the article, Gallup proposes these alternatives, among others: Elicit feedback from a statistically significant sample of real customers and conduct in-person customer interviews as real customers leave locations.

Writes Ahlstrand, "To gauge the shifting truth of how customers feel and what they want, there's no substitute for asking them."

In addition, only about a quarter to a third of workers ages 25 or older trust their company to be fair to all employees, compared with 45% of younger workers.

But the GMJ survey did reveal that highly dedicated employees are found across the age spectrum. The percentage of U.S. employees who say they are engaged, or deeply involved in their work, varies only slightly by age group: 35% of workers ages 18 to 24 are engaged, as are 29% ages 25 to 34; 30% ages 35 to 49; and 29% ages 50 and older.

The level of engagement is important because Gallup research shows that engaged employees are more productive than their disengaged colleagues.

Other features in the GMJ winter issue include:

• Optimize: Gallup research shows how myriad human relationships among managers, employees, and customers underlie financial success.
   
• The Road to Recovery: A for-profit HCA hospital revitalized its ailing workforce. Its secret? Making sure employees are working in groups that require them to do jobs that they are naturally wired to do -- and measuring how well they're performing, according to Gallup.
   
• Onward and Upward: Why JetBlue is soaring while most airlines are suffering.
   
• They've Got Game: Gallup research shows that the attributes of great basketball players -- including Charles Barkley and Reggie Miller -- are shared by many great business hires, especially salespeople.
   
• On a Mission: Companies see a big boost in morale and performance when their employees believe in the corporate mission.

GMJ is an online journal published by The Gallup Organization. The annual subscription price is $95, which includes weekly e-mail columns on management and full access to all content on http://gmj.gallup.com.

The Gallup Organization, with world headquarters in Princeton, N.J., was founded in 1935 and has grown to become one of the world's largest management consulting firms. Its 3,000 employees serve in 34 offices, including New York, Washington, Boston and 10 other cities in the United States and in 20 others around the world. Gallup's core expertise is in measuring and understanding human attitudes and behavior. Gallup applies this expertise to help companies improve business performance by leveraging their employee and customer assets. Gallup also conducts The Gallup Poll, the world's leading source of public opinion.

- END -