Australian employees have taken the charge on climate action with a 220% increase in employee comments on the subject.
This data comes from Peakon, which analysed over 298,000 survey comments made by Australian employees.
The inaugural 2020 Employee Expectations report aims to get clear on what exactly employees expect and want from their employers this calendar year.
By analysing more than 14 million employee survey comments, Peakon (a global employee success platform) found that topics relating to the environment and climate change rose sharply in importance among Australian employees, followed by diversity and inclusion, flexible working and employee wellbeing.
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Mentions of climate-related terms increased across all countries analysed, but the sharpest growth was seen across Australia with a 220% increase in employee comments.
The local increase is double that seen in the UK (85%), and almost five times that of Germany, where concern grew by 42% in the last 12 months.
Key stats:
- In Australia, 48% of comments about climate change were of negative sentiment, whereas 18% of comments had a positive sentiment overall.
- Globally, comments about environmental issues increased by 52% in 2019.
- Globally, the number of employee comments about the environment increased by 128% among Generation Z workers, followed by Millennials and Baby Boomers with 62% and 59% increases, respectively.
- Globally, employees in the manufacturing sector were among the most vocal on climate change in the past year, with a huge increase of 595% in climate-related terms year-on-year. Manufacturing’s growth was followed by the Consumer industry (up 106%) and Professional Services (up 79%). The spike in climate change comments among manufacturing employees meant it went from being one of the least vocal sectors on the topic in 2018 to one of the most in 2019.
Luke Amundson, Peakon APAC Director, said, “Australia is only just emerging from its recent devastating bushfire season, and many employees will have been touched by in some way.”
“As a new reality hits home, employees are looking to their workplaces to take the lead, and take action, on the important issues impacting their lives.
“It’s vital that organisations listen to their workers’ needs and feedback, and ensure they’re doing what they can to meet their team’s expectations.”
In addition to climate action, global employees were also vocal about Diversity and Inclusion, flexible working and employee wellbeing.
Methodology
The Employee Expectations report is based on global employee survey data from Peakon, spanning 80 million survey responses and 14 million survey comments across 160 countries.
About Peakon
Peakon is an employee success platform that converts feedback into insights. It makes the employee conversation quantifiable and actionable to increase employee engagement – not simply measure it.
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