Employee Confidence in the Economy is Strong While Discretionary Effort is on the Decline

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Employees’ confidence in business conditions reached a seven year high in 4Q 2017, according to CEB, now Gartner. Data from the latest Global Talent Monitor report shows employee confidence in the Business Confidence Index reached 54.9 in 4Q 2017, up from a score of 53 in 4Q 2016.

With employee confidence rising, employees are looking more at other opportunities. According to the latest data, 33% of employees worldwide intend to stay with their organization, down 1.3% from 3Q 2017.

Job-seeking activity was the highest in India, with an active/passive score (the measure to which employees are inclined to and demonstrate efforts to look for a new job )of 65 in 4Q 2017, a 5.7% increase from 3Q 2017, and up 1.4% year-over-year. Other notable results showed Brazil job-seeking behavior scored a 52.6, up 1.7% from 3Q 17 and 10.7% year-over-year. The UK job-seeking activity was at 43.4, up 5.3% year-over-year, and the U.S. had a score of 36.9, down 5.3% year-over-year.

“To prevent top talent from looking elsewhere for new work, organizations must improve their internal job perceptions,” said Brian Kropp, HR practice leader at Gartner. “Push career opportunities to employees based on tier interests and aspirations, and target passive internal candidates by building opportunities before they become dissatisfied and look elsewhere.”

Discretionary Effort Drop Drastically in North America

Employee discretionary effort (employee willingness to go above and beyond the call of duty), was reported by 15.8% of employees (see Table 1), a record low for Global Talent Monitor. North America experienced the sharpest decline in employee discretionary effort, dropping 3.1% from 3Q 2017.

“Organizations need to better understand the motivations and morale of their employees, which can be gauged by purposefully collecting feedback from the staff. Increase the effort of employees who plan to remain in their positions by effectively responding to their critical feedback in engagement surveys,” Mr. Kropp said.

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About Gartner 

Gartner, Inc. is the world's leading research and advisory company and a member of the S&P 500. We equip business leaders with indispensable insights, advice and tools to achieve their mission-critical priorities and build the successful organizations of tomorrow.