The volume on employee engagement seems to be getting louder every day. According to Google trends, that’s because it is. Worldwide search popularity of employee engagement (blue line) has more than doubled since 2009. Conversely, search popularity for employee satisfaction (red line) and employee motivation (yellow line) has steadily declined. What gives? I’d argue that a globally improving understanding of the importance of employee engagement, relative to satisfaction and motivation, is driving the trend.
As I analyzed the popularity of these three search terms, I discovered even more interesting data. Here’s a list of the top five regions with the highest interest in each keyword, in descending order:
| Employee Engagement | Employee Satisfaction | Employee Motivation |
| India Singapore South Africa United Kingdom Malaysia |
India Pakistan United Arab Emirates Malaysia South Africa |
Kenya Nigeria Pakistan South Africa Malaysia |
Funny, the USA isn’t even one of the top five countries of regional interest. In fact, the United States only accounts for 17 percent of the search volume for employee engagement, 25 percent of employee satisfaction, and 6 percent of employee motivation. Is the USA simply slow to adopt HR best practices, or do American corporations just not care? Either way, 2009 seems to be the tipping point in transition from interest in employee satisfaction to the rise of employee engagement. What other trends are you seeing? What do you think is causing these trends? Share your theories with us.
Related Post: Employee Satisfaction vs. Motivation and Employee Engagement
Related White Paper: ENGAGEMENT MAGIC®: The Five Keys of Employee Engagement
Related Webinar: The Role of Satisfaction in Employee Engagement
