What is Pearson correlation?

In the context of employee engagement surveys, Pearson correlation is a powerful statistical tool that helps organizations identify what factors most strongly influence engagement levels. Here's how it works:

Driver Analysis Example

When analyzing employee survey results, organizations conduct a "Driver Analysis" which uses Pearson correlation to evaluate patterns in survey responses.

For example, a organization surveys employees on various workplace dimensions like:

• Senior Leadership

• Growth & Development

• Organizational Culture

• Compensation

• Immediate Management

The Pearson correlation would measure the relationship between each dimension and overall engagement scores.

Practical Application

If the analysis shows a correlation coefficient of 0.60 or more between Growth & Development and engagement, this indicates a strong positive relationship - employees who rate growth opportunities highly also tend to report high engagement.

Conversely, if Compensation shows a correlation coefficient of only 0.31, this suggests a weak relationship - meaning higher compensation doesn't necessarily predict higher engagement.

Interpreting Results

The survey data reveals that typically, dimensions most highly correlated with engagement, called Key Drivers are:

• Senior Leadership

• Growth & Development

• Organizational Culture

Interestingly, Compensation and My Role dimensions are rarely key drivers of engagement, though exceptions exist.

Action Planning

Organizations can then prioritize improvements by focusing on dimensions that are:

1. MOST correlated with engagement (high Pearson correlation)

2. MOST BELOW benchmark scores or MOST DECLINED since previous surveys

This strategic approach allows organizations to focus resources on factors that will have the greatest impact on improving overall employee engagement.