2023 State of Global Workforce Report Overview

Gallup has once again delivered valuable insights with their 2023 State of the Global Workforce Report, providing essential data for leaders to effectively engage and retain their staff in today's rapidly changing workforce.

For those who may not have the time to delve into the full report, here are three key takeaways that can immediately enhance your leadership approach:

1. Address the "quiet quitting" phenomenon: Nearly six in 10 employees are quietly quitting, but with a few key changes in the workplace, they can become actively engaged. These changes include implementing more recognition for their work, improving communication from leaders, setting clear goals and providing stronger guidance, offering opportunities to leverage personal strengths, and fostering an overall culture of respect.

Here’s how The Culture Fix® recommends business leaders address quiet quitting. 

• Establish a CorePurpose™ that connects your team to the greater purpose and goodness your organization provides to the world. By communicating this purpose and aligning it with employees' work, you can increase fulfillment and engagement.
• Strengthen communication using core values. Create a CoreChart™ that outlines your company's core values and their corresponding behaviors. This provides a guide for effective and accountable communication within the organization, empowering employees to address psychological distress and fostering engagement. 
• Unhire™ employees who do not align with your core values, even if they are high performers. These individuals can cause friction and distress within teams, leading to burnout and quiet quitting behaviors. Using tools like the CoreScore tool from The Culture Fix can help assess employees' alignment with core values and guide decision-making regarding their fit within the organization.

Read more in our blog post dedicated to addressing quiet quitting.

1. Embrace coaching for leaders: Leaders who receive coaching experience a significant improvement in their team's engagement levels, with improvements ranging from 8% to 18%. If you are an under-resourced manager, you don't necessarily need intensive training. Instead, focus on developing better habits as a leader. Take advantage of the available resources to get started on this journey.

Here’s a list of affordable resources readily available with The Culture Fix®

• The Culture Fix® and The Gift of Culture, available for purchase on Amazon. The process of Culture Fulfillment, the 9 Deeds in 90 Days methodology, is dissected in each book. 
• FREE The Culture Check Up Survey: Complete the 5-minute Culture Checkup to get a pulse on the culture in your organization. This will help you understand how strong your workplace culture is and what you can do to take it to the next level.
• FREE The Gift of Culture® Webinar: This is a monthly meeting hosted by our Founder & CEO, Will Scott. In the Webinar, we will cover:

• Unique tools from The Culture Fix® that are changing lives and no one else is teaching
• Why organizations are relishing the measurable results and becoming hiring magnets
• How Actuator coaches are growing their practice, increasing their earnings and having fun doing meaningful work in a few days a month

1. Address employee stress: A staggering 56% of actively disengaged employees experience high levels of stress on a daily basis. It is crucial to recognize that stressed employees cannot perform at their best. To support your team members, take steps such as understanding their communication style and preferences, determining their most productive time and work environment, facilitating those conditions, recognizing their unique strengths, and finding ways to help them utilize those strengths more effectively. Additionally, encourage frequent feedback to give employees a voice and allow them to contribute to their work environment.

That being said, these findings imply a potential correlation between engagement and stress, prompting the question of whether work is inherently stressful. Could stress be essential or merely a byproduct of caring? Consequently, we should look to establish a clear distinction between "good" and "bad" stress when advising business leaders.

In this article, “Sorry, but some work related stress is good for you” by Fast Company, they make a distinction between “acute” stress and “chronic stress.” 

They cite a 2013 study conducted at the University of California–Berkeley which revealed that brief periods of acute stress can have positive effects. Researchers exposed rats' brain stem cells to short but significant bursts of stress, resulting in the generation of new cells. After two weeks, when these cells matured, the rats exhibited improved alertness, learning, and memory. This study suggests that acute stress can enhance brain alertness, leading to better performance. From an evolutionary perspective, stress has always played a role in helping organisms adapt and survive, and this remains true for people. However, the article also states, “A 2015 study published in Management Science, “A 2015 study published in Management Science found that workplace stress causes additional expenditures of anywhere from $125 to $190 billion dollars a year.”

So how do business leaders find the stress sweet spot? Get feedback. Develop transparent and open communication with your team regularly. Ensure your team is united in their understanding of the Core Purpose, so that they share a collective sense of purpose that goes beyond mere financial motivation or obligation, fostering a sense of shared direction.

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