New research: Disengaged employees are the handbrake to productivity and innovation

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Survey and consulting firm Insync has revealed that engaged employees are at least three and a half times more likely than disengaged employees to agree that their work group is committed to improving productivity. Their latest research also says that engaged employees are almost five times more likely than disengaged employees to say their organisation is committed to bringing innovative products and services to the marketplace.

Insync CEO, author and business strategist Nicholas Barnett says: “If organisations don’t innovate, change and become more competitive at a faster rate than their average competitors, they will fall in the pecking order, profitability will sink and they will become exposed. The only way ahead is to become more competitive, differentiated and add extra value.

“Sure, technology and systems are important but the critical source and enabler of innovation and productivity is inside your organisation – it’s your employees.

“Organisations already have what they need to unleash the productivity and innovation within. They simply need to find new and better ways to tap into the brilliance, creativity and potential of their greatest asset, their engaged employees. Your disengaged employees will actually act as a hand break on your efforts.”

This latest Insync research, titled “5 ways to unleash the productivity and innovation within”, is based on the views of over 100,000 employees from around 150 organisations.

It also shows that highly engaged employees are:

• nearly six times more likely than disengaged employees to agree that their work group uses challenging goals to improve performance
• over seven times more likely than disengaged employees to agree that their senior leadership team encourages innovation and creative ideas

Barnett says: “A bad culture will kill a good strategy every time. Productivity and innovation are much more likely to thrive if your organisation has been intentional about the way it has formed and shaped its culture to align well with your vision, purpose and strategy.”

This Insync research paper can be downloaded here and explores the people dimensions and cultural enablers of productivity improvements and innovation.