The latest report from leading global executive network and consultancy Corporate Executive Board (CEB), which surveyed 30,000 business professionals across Europe, found this group's satisfaction with their organisation's Employment Value Proposition (EVP) has declined by an average of 14% since before the recession.
CEB defines EVP as the set of attributes that the labour market perceives to be the value they gain through employment within an organisation which, in turn, directly impacts on each organisation's ability to attract candidates and engage employees.
According to CEB, the recession has considerably eroded organisations' EVP delivery, the result being a far greater impact on employee engagement than it has had on candidate attraction.
While the key drivers in attracting external talent have not changed greatly since 2006, with employees joining organisations primarily because of the pay and career opportunities offered, there has been far greater change in the drivers of employee engagement.
The research found the ability for employees to work on projects that align with their personal interests is now the most important driver for employee engagement. In 2006 this was ranked as only the tenth most important driver.
The quality of colleagues has also become significantly more important in driving employee engagement, rising from being the seventeenth most important factor to fourth place over the past three years.
Commenting on the report's findings, Christoffer Ellehuus, managing director of CEB's corporate leadership council, said: "Organisations' EVP delivery will be far less effective if they have failed to adapt to the shift that has taken place in the key drivers of employee engagement through the recession.
"UK and European employees are becoming increasingly focused on whether their current role is closely aligned with their interests and whether their role is helping to build their skill set. Many employees have found that their role has shifted through the downturn as redundancies and hiring freezes have impacted their day-to-day responsibilities.
"This is one reason why employees have become increasingly focused on securing roles that interest them and build on their strengths."
