To help senior leadership understand why employees might be unproductive or unmotivated at the office, Rymax Marketing Services conducted a study which analyzes the main factors affecting the employee experience. Keeping employees engaged and motivated is critical to a company’s retention rate and ultimately, its bottom line.

The study, which included over 200 respondents from across the United States, revealed that employees want to be engaged and challenged at work but often feel company leadership is inaccessible. The study revealed that poor communication from leadership is the biggest cause of employees feeling unappreciated and disengaged.

All respondents participated in two separate surveys to complete the study, each designed to identify the engagement levels of employees and discover the factors that influenced their engagement. Many of these respondents were Millennials and Gen Zers, which now make up the majority of the workplace at many companies. As much as managers may be tempted to blame employees for lack of motivation and disengagement, the survey results prove that an organization’s leadership that is the largest factor in the spreading of toxic employee behaviors.

Rymax has issued a full report of the findings from the survey that anyone within company leadership should read. The survey had two major takeaways: first, that employee engagement does matter and second, that leadership greatly impacts the employee experience. Here are the key statistics uncovered from this survey:

• Only 15% of respondents said they feel valued at the end of the workday
• More than 1/3 of employees said receiving verbal or public recognition from their manager would motivate them to work harder
• 26% of employees surveyed don’t remember the last time they were recognized by their manager or peers
• 1/3 of respondents said what they disliked the most about their job was senior leadership and upper management
• 52% indicated that their boss provides no direction or objectives
• Only 41% said upper management is accessible and that it makes a difference in how engaged they feel

The results of the survey clearly show that motivating employees and keeping open lines of communication with leadership help employees feel more motivated. Worried that negative employee experiences are hurting your bottom line? Read the rest of the survey results here and learn what you can do to shift the dynamic!