Being part of a team increases engagement levels: Study

It is common knowledge that there is a lot of strength in teamwork. However, what organisations do not realise is that working in teams actually increases engagement levels.

A recent study by the ADP Research Institute (ADPRI) reveals that teams and trust in the leaders of teams have a very positive influence on employee engagement. The survey covered a random sample of about a 1000 full-time employees in each country and studied about 19,346 responses. The findings were rather interesting.

Employees who are part of a team are more engaged than those who work on their own. In fact, members of a team were found to be fully engaged in almost all the countries that participated in the survey. It is high time organisations understood the strength and power of functioning teams.

According to the study, the success of the most engaged teams was attributed to the trust the team members had on their team leaders. Employees will be at least 12 times more likely to be fully engaged if they have faith in their leaders. And how can the leaders gain this trust? By letting the team members know what is expected of each one of them. To do this meaningfully, it is important to first recognise, appreciate and utilise each one’s individual strengths.

Gig workers who work as part of a team were found to be highly engaged. In fact, 21 per cent of the full-time gig workers surveyed admitted to being fully engaged.

Compared to employees who work within an office (18 per cent), virtual workers who are part of a team are more engaged (29 per cent). Lower engagement level (11 per cent) was reported by those who travel for work. While employees holding senior positions in an organisation were found to be more engaged, it was observed that the ones who are more educated are also more engaged.

Millennials are not as engaged as baby boomers according to the study. While 18 per cent of the baby boomers surveyed were fully engaged, only 16 per cent of the millennials admitted to being so.

However, even though men occupy most of the senior positions in organisations, it is not men but women who are more engaged. The study, that covered 19 countries, discovered that at a global level, 17 per cent women were found to be fully engaged than men (15 per cent).