Global Employee Engagement Levels Have Plateaued, and Average Employee's Perception of the Work Experience is Deteriorating

New research from Aon Hewitt finds that while employee engagement levels have plateaued, employees' overall work experience is deteriorating--particularly their perceptions about the resources and programs that enable them to grow and perform.

Aon Hewitt's Trends in Global Employee Engagement study represents the perspectives of more than 9 million employees at over 1,000 companies in 164 countries. According to the report, global employee engagement levels reached 62 percent in 2014, up just 1 percentage point from 2013. Employee engagement across the countries with the world's 20 largest economies and labor pools remained flat at 61 percent. Despite modest increases in engagement, Aon Hewitt's study shows that employees' net satisfaction with their work experience plummeted 28 percentage points in 2014.

"As GDP growth continues, we expect to see organizations make greater investments in people, which could result in an increase in employee engagement," said Dr. Ken Oehler, Aon Hewitt's global engagement practice leader. "However, any improvements in engagement could be offset by increasing employee dissatisfaction with many of the work-related resources and programs that enable them to effectively do their jobs. Employees who are engaged, but not empowered, are more likely to be frustrated, burned out and become disengaged, which puts organizations at risk of having suboptimal productivity and higher-than-average employee turnover." Read more on Marketwatch.