Dissatisfied compromisers, defined in Insightlink's 4Cs survey as employees who indicate dissatisfaction but plan on staying for over 2 years nonetheless, also grew with employee size (18% for <101,>500). Benefits are likely a contributing factor to this trend – they not only help retain top performers, but employees of all types. For some areas of difference, variance is clearly linked to the nature of being a larger company. For instance, it is not surprising that satisfaction with senior management being accessible to employees is 46% among employees at companies with fewer than 100 and drops to 37% at companies with 101-500 and down to 33% for organizations with over 500 employees. That 13-point drop is not something senior management can probably realistically do much about, nor is it necessarily as significant a factor in employee engagement at big companies as are others.
Three areas of difference where senior management at larger companies could affect a change are in:
1. Showing an understanding the need for employees to balance their personal/family responsibilities with their work
2. Leading by example through their own behavior
3. Knowing what is on employees’ minds
The first two issues require proactive communication. For the latter, launching a survey would appear a step in the right direction.
