Engagement is up according to the NHS Staff Survey, but at what cost?

Engagement is up according to the NHS Staff Survey, but at what cost?  When the concept of engagement at work was introduced by William Kahn in 1990, he described it as the expression of our ‘preferred self’ in tasks that promote connection with our work and with others. Engagement underlies effort, involvement, flow, mindfulness and intrinsic motivation. The good news then is that levels of engagement, as recorded in the NHS Staff Survey, have increased since last year. So can we all relax?

Far from it. While the survey results can be presented from a ‘glass half full’ perspective, if we see the glass as half empty then the results are disturbing. They suggest that of the 1.4 million people who make up the NHS workforce:

• 41 per cent would not recommend their trust as a place to work
• 57 per cent say they are unable to meet the conflicting demands on them at work
• 13 per cent report being bullied by their managers
• 15 per cent have been assaulted at work in the previous year
• only 39 per cent feel they are able to deliver the quality of care they wish to patients
• 31 per cent did not agree that they would feel happy with the quality of care in their organisations if a friend or relative needed treatment
• only 42 per cent agreed that their roles actually make a difference to patients.

And the list goes on: only 52 per cent of staff report feeling satisfied with the recognition for their contributions; only 42 per cent feel their work is valued by their organisations; 27 per cent do not have the opportunity to show initiative and 25 per cent do not feel able to make suggestions to improve the work of their team or department; and only 56 per cent say they are able to make improvements happen in their area of work. The King's Fund