The 2023 edition of Gallup’s annual State of the Global Workplace study reveals that European employees are suffering from real disengagement, despite a rather favorable employment climate. The figures explain the underlying trend of quiet quitting, now standing at 72%.
Although the French have moved up one place in the European ranking of commitment to work, to 36th out of 38, well behind the Germans (23rd) and followed by the Italians (37th), companies are still struggling to recruit and retain employees, who are increasingly demanding.
Indeed, Gallup’s study reveals that 72% of Europeans are not engaged at work, and 15% are even actively disengaged: they lack enthusiasm, are generally dissatisfied, and don’t share their colleagues’ achievements. It’s hardly surprising, then, that quiet quitting is so prevalent on the continent, a strong signal of global de-motivation, visible weariness and a management style that needs to evolve to meet employees’ new needs.
Gallup estimates that low employee engagement costs the global economy $8.8 billion. To counter this, companies need to rethink their organizational model. And with good reason, this change is already underway: in Europe, a third of employees work in a hybrid mode (remote and onsite), compared with 16% who work exclusively in remote mode, and 50% exclusively onsite.
Despite these adaptations, remote-only professionals experience the most anger. 21% of them experience anger on a daily basis, compared with 13% of both onsite and hybrid employees, exceeding the European average by 8% and joining the global average. With the hybridization of work modes, management teams have an even greater role to play. Managers are the guarantors of their team’s commitment: 70% of team commitment is attributable to the manager. Yet many of them are among the quiet quitters.
A favorable employment climate
While quiet quitters are more numerous in Europe (72%) than in the rest of the world (59%), loud quitters are less numerous (15%) than elsewhere (18%). Only 35% of French employees believe that the current economic climate is favorable to finding a job, compared to 56% of Europeans, echoing the proportion of Europeans ready to change jobs (34%). The trend in France is therefore to stick to one’s job description (not do more or less), without losing the stability of a permanent position by going through a trial period with another company.
More than that, a recent Gallup analysis revealed that committed employees ask for an average salary increase of 31% with a view to accepting an offer within another organization. Unengaged employees, like actively disengaged ones, want an average salary increase of 22% to change jobs. Given the current economic situation and the rate of quiet quitters, it is not surprising to see that Europe is in second to last place in the ranking of regional percentages of employees on the lookout or actively seeking a new job.
The challenge of (re)motivating French employees
85% of respondents on the verge of resigning point to a lack of commitment, remuneration, social benefits or well-being, such as work-life balance, which has become essential. “Covid was a real catalyst, which made it possible to start a revolution in the world of work and business. If in the past it was not uncommon to pursue a career within a single organization, today it is increasingly difficult to retain talent. Organizations must not be afraid of change but rather engage in discussion and adapt to the needs of employees before facing long-term recruitment problems that could negatively impact financial results,” says Olivier Grau, Senior Consultant at Gallup.
