Worker Engagement Higher at Smaller Companies
Friday, March 25th, 2005Large corporations take note! Despite the more generous benefits package offered by larger firms, the employees of smaller companies are much more engaged and care more about the success of the organization.
Workers in smaller companies:
- are more willing to put forth extra effort to help the organization succeed (60% vs. 43 %).
- are more likely to feel that the organization inspires the best in them (44% vs. 24%).
- are more likely to agree that they would accept almost any job to keep working there (20% vs. 16%).*
We predict that some of the more competitive larger corporations will strategically respond by reorganizing into smaller units for better satisfaction and efficiency, even if they remain institutionally merged.
To do so, however, more information would be needed about the factors that really matter in these comparisons between workers in smaller companies as opposed to larger ones. Workers in smaller organizations may well better understand how they fit into the success of the organization as whole. They could feel more “part of the family” – or perhaps it’s just a more manageable size for the interaction of human perspective and teamwork.
Large corporations may be too alienating, the workers may not understand how their job contributes to company success. In smaller companies they may feel more valued or feel more personal attachment to their team. We expect to see studies which will explore these issues further.
*Figures from “The New Employee/Employer Equation,” a nationwide survey of 7,718 American workers (over 18, working more than 30 hours per week) was sponsored by 24 leading U.S. companies and conducted by Harris Interactive for Age Wave, an independent think tank that counsels business and government on issues impacting an aging society; and The Concours Group, a senior executives’ consultant.
