Post 9/11, Compassionate Companies Had Highly Engaged Employees, Reports GMJ

New York, March 15, 2002 -- More employees at U.S. companies that responded effectively to the Sept. 11 tragedy are engaged with their work than are employees at companies that responded poorly.

In the Gallup Management Journal's (GMJ) latest national employee-engagement survey, U.S. workers ages 18 or over were asked to rate their companies' response to Sept. 11 as excellent, good, fair, or poor. Company responses included making philanthropic contributions, granting employees time off, or addressing employee concerns.

Fully 48% of employees were engaged -- fully involved with their work -- at companies rated "excellent" for their response, while only 6% were actively disengaged. At companies whose response was rated "poor," only 11% were engaged, and a crushing 39% were actively disengaged -- fundamentally disconnected from their work. On average, before Sept. 11, 29% of the overall U.S. workforce had been engaged and 16% had been actively disengaged, according to GMJ.

These findings appear in the article "Who Cared?" in the spring issue of GMJ, now in the mail to more than 50,000 senior executives and opinion leaders worldwide.

GMJ tracks the percentage of the U.S. workforce that is "actively disengaged." This segment of the workforce is the least productive and costs the American economy between $250 and $350 billion per year. The number of "actively disengaged" American workers dropped by 5 percentage points between the third and fourth quarters of 2001, from 19% to 14% respectively. This decrease in "actively disengaged" workers means that, from the third to the fourth quarter 2001, the U.S. economy received a boost of about $50 million from increased worker productivity.

What's the most profitable way for a company to encourage teamwork among its employees? Gallup research shows that creating highly productive teams depends on maximizing the unique strengths of each team member. The cover story of the spring issue of GMJ, "All Together Now," recounts highly successful team-building initiatives at Toyota's North American Part Center California (NAPCC).

Toyota worked with The Gallup Organization to facilitate teamwork based on associates' strengths and to measure the impact of the newly formed teams on employee engagement and productivity. The data show that teams at NAPCC flourished and employee engagement jumped when each worker's individual talents were identified and utilized.

Despite the tendency for companies to go on the defensive when they make a mistake, Gallup research shows how simply apologizing for errors -- large or small -- can actually increase customer loyalty. In the article "Sorry Seems to Be the Hardest Word," Gallup researcher John H. Fleming, Ph.D., shows how companies can turn a potential customer-relationship problem into an opportunity.

The six steps to take when apologizing to a customer, according to Fleming:

1. Acknowledge the customer's concern.
2. Apologize, even if it's not clear who's at fault.
3. Empower your staff to resolve common problems on the spot.
4. Follow up if there's been no resolution within a certain time frame.
5. Institute an automatic escalation procedure to ensure that even the most furious customers feel assuaged.
6. Leave the customer better off before he or she had the problem.

Other features in the GMJ spring issue include:

• "The Right Stuff" -- Gallup shows how equipping your workers with the supplies and materials they need bolsters productivity.
• "Shifting Out of Low Gear" -- The faltering German economy could profit from better employee feedback and development in the workplace.
• "Double Vision" -- New research by University of Chicago economist David Galenson shows that there are essentially two forms of innovation that characterize the great artists of the past century. These forms apply to the innovative capacities of your business organization -- and to you, too.

GMJ is published by The Gallup Organization with support services from the Custom Publishing division of AOL Time Warner's Time, Inc. unit. For more information on the publication, go to 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.

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