A survey of 1,000 Irish employees by Right Management shows 70% of the Irish workforce claim to be disengaged with their job and 60% of employees surveyed intend to leave Ireland altogether within five years.
Key causes of employee disengagement are 48% of employees believing the wrong people are being promoted within their organisation and less than a third (32%) thinking they were fairly rewarded for their performance in the last year.
This is in stark contrast to a snapshot survey by Right Management of 300 middle managers conducted at the same time in Ireland and the UK. In this, Irish managers rated employee engagement within their organisations as high. On a scale of 0-10, Irish managers rated employee engagement in their organisations as an average of 7.8, demonstrating a very different view of employee engagement than the people they employ.
Lillian Bissett, managing director of Right Management in Ireland, said: "Irish business has many challenges in the year ahead, and employee engagement is clearly one of them. It is a little alarming that the research conducted with employees and managers should contrast so sharply.
"Organisations need to equip their managers with the training and knowledge to use effective employee engagement techniques. Taking a long-term strategic view on employee engagement will stem the talent drain Ireland faces if it ignores the problem."
