Europe continues to perform poorly on employee engagement while the job climate improves. Levels of stress and worry remain high, while Europeans report more sadness and anger.
FREMONT, CA: The perceived quality of life has decreased during the past year across Europe. Less than half (47 per cent) of Europeans—a drop of five percentage points—say they now live well. The drop in Europe widens the gap with North America, where 60 per cent of people say they are doing well, and Australasia, which has the highest percentage in the globe at 63 per cent. Declining opinions of the quality of life in the majority of the main European countries, a development it fears may further undermine already low levels of employee engagement. The percentage of people who feel they are living their best lives is now clearly divided between the North and the South, with Finland (84 per cent) and Iceland (77 per cent) having the greatest percentages. Levels in North Macedonia (28 per cent) were lower than the global average, as were those in Bulgaria (27 per cent) and Northern Cyprus (18 per cent).
Employee engagement, a metric Gallup has found to closely correspond with organisational success, continues to be a problem across Europe. Only 14 per cent of Europeans today express enthusiasm for their jobs and workplaces, compared to 33 per cent in North America and 27 per cent in South Asia. In the UK, Spain, France, and Italy, the engagement rate was under 10 per cent. Across Europe, employees' opinions of their workplaces have greatly improved. 44 per cent of Europeans believe that it is a great time to find a job right now, up 16 percentage points from the previous year. This surge is being attributed to rising confidence in France and several other smaller economies. Despite the overall improvement, several significant European economies, including Germany, the UK and Spain. High levels of stress and worry are still prevalent among Europeans, having greatly increased during the pandemic. In Europe, 39 per cent of people report feeling stressed or anxious regularly, while 37 per cent report feeling very worried most of the time. According to Gallup's research, other negative feelings are also rising. A fifth of Europeans report feeling sad (21 per cent) or angry (19 per cent) for most of the day.
Leaders can increase employee engagement and health by empowering front-line supervisors to comprehend their staff members' perspectives on living outside of work and assisting them in concentrating on their strengths in the workplace.
