EePulse Leadership Study Shows Excessively High Energy Levels Are Counter-Productive

Online, December 16, 2013 (Newswire.com) - Today, eePulse, Inc., www.eepulse.com, announced the results of their Leadership Pulse™ study at www.leadershippulse.com. The research shows that optimal employee energy increases financial performance while too much energy can significantly decrease productivity. Started in 2003, with participation from over 9,200 different individuals, the Leadership Pulse™ is conducted in partnership with Mercer and the Center for Effective Organizations (CEO) at the University of Southern California.

"The Leadership Pulse results indicate that employee energy levels tie directly to productivity, growth and financial performance, and energy is on the rise," states Theresa M. Welbourne, Ph.D., eePulse Founder, President and CEO. "It's important to know, however, that working above or below one's optimal energy level is counter-productive, leading to more mistakes, bigger problems and burnout."

The results show that 63% of leaders in the sample are below their ideal energy level (this is lost productivity), and only 16% indicate that they are at their best energy level. "Although energy averages are increasing, we still have more work to do in order to assure leaders are at optimal levels, leading to highest performance for 2014," states Welbourne.

How to Increase Productivity - Leadership Pulse Study Highlights

• Employee energy levels have increased.

Using a scale of 0-10, the average energy rating was 7.01. This is the highest average energy measured in this study since 2003 with energy levels showing a steady increase from 6.18 in September 2010 to September 2013.

• Firms with higher energy had higher financial performance.

Firms with high financial performance rated energy levels at 7.12 = 0.54 to 0.57 below their best energy level

Firms with average financial performance rated energy levels at 6.80 = .83 below their best energy level

Firms with poor financial performance rated energy at 6.24 = 1.32 to 1.58 points below their best energy levels

• Senior managers are the most disengaged group.

CEO/President-82% fully engaged
Other C-Core (CFO, CIO, etc.) - 50% fully engaged
Senior VP or Executive VP - 75% fully engaged
VP - 59% fully engaged
Director - 47% fully engaged
Senior Manager - 41% fully engaged
Manager/Supervisor - 58% fully engaged

The Valour Pulse™ portion of the study consists of measuring a company's culture for growth, change and innovation where "VAL" equals valuing people, "O" stands for ownership, and "R" relates to rewards.

It is unique in that it combines these traditional, engagement metrics with "U," or a sense of urgency. eePulse research indicates that people who feel a high sense of urgency while being valued, recognized and rewarded for their contributions are more productive.

In the study, senior managers show the lowest level of engagement. Welbourne sees this as an aftermath of the poor economic conditions firms have been challenged with where senior managers have been doing a lot of work that has not necessarily been recognized or rewarded.

"We find that organizations that know how to balance urgency with traditional engagement are the ones that win in the long run," states Welbourne. "They have sustained growth and a culture that supports innovation.

It's more challenging to sustain a high sense of urgency than it is to increase traditional, employee engagement scores, and working on urgency is where we spent a lot of time and research over the years. Traditional HR interventions can increase engagement, but they often lower sense of urgency. Thus, innovative HR and leadership tools are needed to positively affect both."

Learn how to increase productivity, growth and innovation, optimize employee energy levels and create a sustained, high sense of urgency at your organization in 2014 at www.eepulse.com.

About eePulse, Inc.
Founded in 1996, eePulse helps organizations drive business-goal achievement, culture, growth, and innovation via performance management/improvement products and services. Via a suite of cloud-based technology tools with a proprietary delivery model, eePulse reinvents the way employee surveys, performance management, human capital metrics, and development are done. Clients create and sustain a high sense-of-urgency-culture, optimize individual energy, teach through organization-specific best practices, and use fast and easy-to-access technology tools that support data-driven decision making to improve performance. eePulse also powers the Leadership Pulse, which is the first and only real-time leadership benchmarking and personal / team learning process (www.leadershippulse.com). For additional information, visit www.eepulse.com.

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Media Contact: Melanie Rembrandt, Rembrandt Communications®, melanie@eepulse.com, 800-PR1-0116