Why Gallup Q12?
This report is grounded in the Gallup Q12®, the world’s most widely used and rigorously validated measure of employee engagement. Built on decades of global research, the Gallup Q12 identifies the 12 workplace elements that most reliably predict performance.
What makes the Gallup Q12 distinctive is its proven connection to results that matter, including productivity, profitability, and retention. The survey is concise, globally benchmarked, and highly practical, giving leaders clear, actionable insight into where they should focus to lift engagement and performance.
Research methodology
The Gallup Q12 survey cuts straight to the heart of engagement. By tracking 12 core factors, from clarity and recognition to growth and purpose, it shows leaders exactly where teams are thriving and where they need support, enabling them to take action that truly drives performance.
“Gallup defines employee engagement as the involvement and enthusiasm of employees in their work and workplace. Highly engaged employees are emotionally connected and committed to their work, and they perform better.”
Gallup reference three groups when it comes to employee engagement: engaged, not engaged, and actively disengaged.
They suggest that engaged employees are more likely to:
- take initiative and go beyond what's expected of them
- stay with their company longer
- deliver better customer outcomes
- collaborate effectively with others
- show resilience under stress or change
Understanding your team’s engagement
If you were to do a ‘roll call’ of your team, you might have an idea of which individuals fall into each engagement category. However, rather than relying on assumptions about your team’s level of engagement, consider experimenting to obtain more accurate insights. By running the Gallup Q12 survey within your team, or even with just one department, you can discover your team’s actual engagement score.
Reviewing your team’s results across the 12 key questions provided in the survey will highlight specific areas for improvement. These insights will clearly indicate where your team is thriving and where focused action can help boost engagement and overall performance.
Higher or lower?
Chances are you’ll estimate UK PLC much higher than Gallup’s findings reveal.
It follows that you’ll also overestimate your firm’s team engagement score; this is normal (check out the human confidence bias box below).
According to Gallup, the UK PLC employee engagement score for 2024 was 10/100 – just 10% of the workforce were engaged. Across Europe, it’s slightly better at 13%. Worldwide, it’s 21%.
How does this compare with what you thought for UK PLC? Higher or lower?
Does it make you wonder what your firm’s actual employee engagement score is – and is it higher or lower than your original estimate?
To get an accurate assessment of your firm’s employee engagement score, you can easily (and inexpensively) use Gallup’s Q12 approach.
IMPORTANT: We recommend this approach because anonymity encourages honesty, the depth of the research is credible, and we know that the insights from the Gallup Q12 questions and your team’s answers help drive change and improve results in accounting firms. We earn no income from Gallup.
Beware your natural human confidence bias...
Overconfidence bias is the tendency to overestimate our knowledge and abilities in a certain area. Richard Thaler and Roman Tversky won a Nobel prize for economics because of their insights into ‘behavioural economics’. One of their findings shows that the human race is typically over-confident.
For example, university students often overestimate how quickly they can finish writing a paper and are forced to pull an all-nighter when they realise it takes longer than expected.
We’ve learned that almost every firm overestimates their actual Gallup Q12 score.
Quickfire Insights: What Gallup research tells us about engagement
Team engagement is emotional first, operational second: Gallup consistently shows that people don’t become engaged through following processes alone. Your people become engaged when they feel recognised, supported, and connected to their manager.
The manager is responsible for the biggest share of engagement improvement or decline: Gallup repeatedly highlights that the quality of the relationship with a direct manager is the strongest predictor of engagement levels across teams.
Clarity drives confidence: Teams who strongly agree they know what’s expected of them consistently outperform teams who don’t.
Recognition fuels discretionary effort: Employees who feel their contributions are noticed are more likely to go above and beyond, to contribute ideas, and to take ownership of work.
If you want to know the difference measuring the engagement of your team can make to the performance of your firm, then please listen to Paul/Doug for just 2 minutes.
And if you want to access the full report 'The Employee Advantage' please complete the form to download it.