SPR Employees’ Engagement Ranks as World-Class in Gallup Survey
SPR’s second annual Employee Engagement survey reveals that SPR employees are engaged and are committed to doing quality work.
According to Gallup, world-class organizations have a ratio of 14 engaged employees to every 1 actively disengaged employee. At SPR, our ratio as of the last survey conducted was 68:1. We are super proud of our level of employee engagement – nearly 5 times Gallup’s average.
Our stellar results come at a time of quiet quitting, a trend where people do not go above and beyond at work and just meet their job description. Gallup estimates quiet quitters make up at least 50% of the U.S. workforce. However, SPR's employee engagement rating reflects everyday efforts that make SPR a great place to work.
The Gallup Survey: What Does Maslow Have to Do With It?
Gallup’s 12-question survey is distributed to over 100,000 teams across 50+ industries each year. It addresses the hierarchy of workplace needs for an engaged workforce.
Based on Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs, the workplace hierarchy was developed to determine what employees need to be successful and engaged. Levels look like this:
- Basic: employees have the materials and tools necessary to complete their work and know what’s expected of them.
- Individual: employees have opportunities to do work they do well, get recognized, are encouraged to pursue development opportunities, and they believe someone in their workplace cares about them.
- Team employees’ needs are examined, including alignment to the company mission, workplace friendships, opinions and ideas are heard and they believe that fellow employees are doing quality work.
- Growth employees are asked questions pertaining to opportunities to learn and grow, and whether or not someone has spoken to them about their progress.
At minimum, organizations must meet their employees’ basic needs. The most successful organizations, with engaged employees, meet the needs of their employees across all levels of the hierarchy. SPR scored highly across all four levels of Gallup’s hierarchy, with strong agreement across most of the 12 questions.
Levels of Engagement
The survey scores employee engagement with three possible outcomes.
- Engaged employees are committed to the organization’s mission, are more likely to stay at the company and are more productive. They are committed to their work and organization.
- Not engaged employees may be productive, but they are not psychologically engaged with their workplace. Some of their needs are being met and some are not, and employees are content or satisfied with their work.
- Actively disengaged employees are unhappy with their work situation, and while they may be physically present, they are psychologically absent as their performance-related needs go unmet.
Engagement drives performance, sales and even client loyalty. It results in greater profitability and even wellbeing, while resulting in fewer negative outcomes like absenteeism and high turnover. SPR had a high number of engaged employees and a disproportionately low number of actively disengaged employees (68:1). Gallup said they rarely see such a low percentage of actively disengaged employees; even top organizations have 2-3% actively disengaged employees.
Industry Leader
Industry Leader
We also shine in our industry. While our 2022 scores put us ahead of 70% of 100,000+ teams in Gallup’s database, our rank is even higher among teams within our own industry. Within Professional, Scientific, & Technical Services, SPR ranked in the 78th percentile—indicating a high level of employee engagement.
SPR’s Promise to Deliver Beyond the Build
It’s hard to pinpoint exactly what is keeping our employees engaged. It’s a special cocktail of ingredients that together creates something unique. When employees join SPR, they become part of a culture looking to fulfill SPR's promise to clients: deliver beyond the build.
Employees that embrace this culture find themselves providing advice and recommendations on projects, working side by side with client teams, and naturally sharing knowledge along the way. The SPR culture is made up of individuals who take the time to understand a clients' needs, respond to their requests, and pivot as needed. With that mindset, SPR technologists are building their own culture of engagement.
We believe our technologists are the best in the business, and through creating an engaged culture, SPR can continue to provide exceptional service to our clients.
Top Areas for Employee Engagement
As mentioned above, most likely there isn’t one thing that keeps employees happy at any company. However, through our 50-year history, there’s a few qualities that have stood the test of time as we continuously refine and adapt.
Here's some areas we've focused on that make a difference:
Manager-Employee Relationships
SPR managers regularly check-in with their teams, and employees set goals and check in on their progress throughout the year.
Regular Feedback
We regularly ensure that employees are being heard through stay interviews so we can continue to meet our employees’ needs.
Transparency and Communication
SPR leadership regularly communicates openly with employees, through monthly departmental meetings, regular all-company meetings, celebratory get-togethers and through day-to-day communication. These touchpoints help employees connect to SPR and our mission, and they’re also opportunities wherein leadership recognizes the contributions of employees.
A Culture of Recognition
SPR recognizes the excellent work of employees, both through formal channels, like SPR PROPS (Peers Recognizing Other Peers), our bi-annual awards that align with our values, and informal channels as well. Managers call out work during meetings and in one-on-one conversations.
Remote-First Work Environments
As in-person work was beginning to pick up again after the pandemic, we asked employees how they preferred to work, and what the organization could do to help keep them feeling safe and comfortable in their work environments. This transparent approach gave SPR employees a voice in how they would work going forward. And just like that, SPR became a remote-first workplace.
Onboarding Efforts
From pre-boarding through first-day orientation, the goal of the onboarding is to reduce uncertainty, increase excitement, and build connection for new employees. We actively prepare our employees before their first day to start building trust and driving efficiency from the very start, creating increased engagement and retention. Onboarding doesn’t just cover filling out forms and reading our employee handbook: new SPR employees are welcomed by departments across the organization and learn our values, messaging and how we go to market.
Growth and Development
Opportunities to grow are essential to creating an engaged workforce, and SPR provides many opportunities for continuing development. We have a six-month program about what it means to be a consultant at SPR and an associate program which provides hands-on training for new-in-career technologists. We also encourage our employees to pursue certifications that will benefit them and our clients—and we always celebrate our wins!
The Journey Never Ends
While we’re extremely proud of our 2022 results, we recognize that creating and maintaining an engaged culture of excellence is an ongoing process. We’re committed to continuously working to improve our culture and employee experience and foster development and wellbeing in our employees. As an organization driven by our mission and values, we will always strive to be the best possible workplace for our employees through continuing to improve and drive high engagement—and happiness—with our employees.
