Employee Activism: The Next Frontier of Employee Engagement

Weber Shandwick, in partnership with KRC Research, released Employees Rising: Seizing the Opportunity in Employee Activism. This survey of 2,300 employees worldwide reveals a rising social movement ignited by the digital and social media era: employee activism. Employee activists are more than just engaged employees. They make their engagement visible, defend their employers from criticism and act as advocates, both online and off. In an era marked by unrest in the workforce, employers have a pressing opportunity to capitalize on their powerful supporters and work on curtailing detractors who have the potential to upend company reputations. 

Our research reveals six segments of employees, one of which is a segment of highly engaged employees who have all taken positive actions on behalf of their employers. These “ProActivists” comprise 21% of the workforce. Another 33% has a high potential to be employee activists, while other segments are more critical of their employers and take negative actions.

Employees Rising provides a playbook for activating employees, which includes customized strategies and tactics for mobilizing each employee segment. 

Click here to view our full report. 

At an event in New York City to launch Employees Rising, Weber Shandwick Chief Reputation Strategist Dr. Leslie Gaines-Ross presented results from the research. An expert panel, moderated by The Wall Street Journal’s Management and Careers Editor Nikki Waller, then continued the discussion, with experts from LinkedIn, Zappos, Dell, Dynamic Signal and Kate Bullinger, co-lead of Employee Engagement and Change Management at Weber Shandwick, sharing insights and stories about employee activism and engagement. View Dr. Gaines-Ross’ presentation as well as video highlights from the event below.  

Weber Shandwick has also developed an “Employees Rising” quiz that classifies an organization’s employees into these six segments based on five easy-to-answer questions. What kind of employee are you? Take this short quiz to find out where you fall on Weber Shandwick’s Workforce Activism Spectrum™.