April 2021 survey finds a majority of employees support working for a company or organization that prioritizes diversity, equity and inclusion
CNBC and SurveyMonkey’s Workforce Happiness Index remains unchanged from November 2020 at a score of 72 out of 100
ENGLEWOOD CLIFFS, N.J. and SAN MATEO, CA, April 30, 2021 — CNBC, First in Business Worldwide, and SurveyMonkey (Nasdaq: SVMK), a leader in agile software solutions for customer experience, market research, and survey feedback, today announced the results of their latest Workforce Happiness Survey.
78% of American workers say it’s important for them to work for a company that values diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI). The survey results demonstrate a correlation between DEI efforts and workforce happiness. Workers who say their companies aren’t doing enough to improve DEI are less happy overall, significantly less likely to say they are well paid and significantly less likely to say their companies provide adequate opportunities for them to advance their careers than respondents who say their companies are doing enough or even doing too much to improve DEI in the workforce.
CNBC and SurveyMonkey together polled over 8,000 workers in the U.S. from April 8, 2021 – April 18, 2021 to measure the current concerns of the workforce. The survey was conducted amidst a wave of recent news events that have prompted business leaders to speak out against discriminatory policies and heightened racial tensions. The survey found that 60% of workers support business leaders speaking out on social and political issues.
CNBC and SurveyMonkey’s Workforce Happiness Index, which measures worker satisfaction across five key metrics, held steady from November at 72 out of 100. Those who say their companies are doing “about the right amount” to prioritize diversity, equity and inclusion have a happiness index score of 75, while those who say their companies are “not doing enough” have a happiness index score of 63.
Additional key findings from the April 2021 CNBC/SurveyMonkey Workforce Survey include:
60% of workers support business leaders’ speaking out on social and political issues:
- 58% of workers support their own employers speaking out on social and political issues.
- 36% support their employers speaking out regardless of whether they agree with the employer’s position, while 22% only support their employer speaking out if they agree with the position.
- Women and minority workers are far more likely than men and white workers to support companies’ speaking out.
As companies think about reopening their offices, 58% of workers say they value being able to work with others in-person “a lot”:
- 27% value working with others in-person “some,” 9% value it “just a little” and 5% say they don’t value it at all.
- More than half of workers (52%) say they expect people who work in-person to have better career opportunities at their organization in the future compared to those working remotely.
- Additionally, 40% of those workers who are still working from home expect to return to the office in some capacity by Labor Day. 19% say they never expect to return to working from their offices.
- 22% of remote workers say their company has a final reopening plan ready, while 39% say their company has no reopening plan.
More on the importance of Diversity, Equity & Inclusion in the workforce:
- One-third of workers (33%) say their organization is doing “a lot” of work on DEI, 37% say it’s doing “some” work, while 14% say it’s doing “just a little” and 12% say it’s doing “none at all.”
- Women (86%) are more likely than men (72%) to want to work at an organization that prioritizes DEI.
- Asians (88%), Blacks (87%) and Hispanics (85%) are more likely than whites (75%) to consider it important that they work at an organization that prioritizes these issues.
“As companies plan for the post-COVID future of work, fewer than one in four workers who are still working remotely expect to return to the office on a full-time basis,” said Laura Wronski, Lead Researcher at SurveyMonkey. “Organizations have spent the past year helping their employees stay productive while working through a crisis, but now they have to pivot to create a new normal that ensures their workforce continues to be happy for the long-term, no matter where they are working.”
To download the CNBC|SurveyMonkey Workforce Survey template to help measure employee job satisfaction at your organization, go to: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/cnbc-surveymonkey-workforce-survey-template.
CNBC General Assignment Reporter Rahel Solomon will reveal the results of the CNBC|SurveyMonkey Workforce Survey on Friday, April 30th throughout CNBC’s Business Day programming. For more information on the survey including the full results and methodology and in-depth articles, go to: https://www.surveymonkey.com/curiosity/cnbc-workforce-survey-april-2021/.
Methodology:
This SurveyMonkey online poll was conducted April 8-18, 2021 among a national sample of 8,233 workers in the United States. Respondents for this survey were selected from the more than 2 million people who take surveys on the SurveyMonkey platform each day. The modeled error estimate for this survey is plus or minus 1.5 percentage points. Data have been weighted initially for age, race, sex, education, and geography using the Census Bureau’s American Community Survey to reflect the demographic composition of the United States age 18 and over, then weighted for age, race, sex, education, employment status, and geography using Census Bureau’s Current Population Survey to reflect the demographic composition of United States employed population.
For more information contact:
CNBC
Jennifer Dauble
201-735-4721
jennifer.dauble@nbcuni.com
CNBC
Stephanie Hirlemann
201-397-2838
steph.hirlemann@nbcuni.com
SurveyMonkey
pr@surveymonkey.com
About CNBC:
CNBC is the recognized world leader in business news, providing real-time financial market coverage, business content and general news consumed by more than 557 million people per month across all platforms. The network’s 15 live hours a day of news programming in North America (weekdays from 5:00 a.m. – 8:00 p.m. ET) is produced at CNBC’s global headquarters in Englewood Cliffs, N.J., and includes reports from CNBC News bureaus worldwide. CNBC at night features a mix of new reality programming, CNBC’s highly successful series produced exclusively for CNBC and a number of distinctive in-house documentaries.
CNBC also offers content through its vast portfolio of digital products such as: CNBC.com, which provides financial market news and information to CNBC’s investor audience; CNBC Make It, a digital destination focused on making you smarter about how you earn, save and spend your money; CNBC Select, a financial site providing content to help users make informed decisions around choosing the right financial products for their lives; CNBC PRO, a premium service that provides in-depth access to Wall Street; a suite of CNBC mobile apps for iOS and Android devices; Amazon Alexa, Google Assistant and Apple Siri voice interfaces; and streaming services including Apple TV, Roku, Amazon Fire TV, Android TV and Samsung Smart TVs. To learn more, visit
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About SurveyMonkey:
SurveyMonkey is a leader in agile software solutions for customer experience, market research, and survey feedback. The company’s platform empowers over 20 million active users to analyze and act on feedback from employees, customers, website and app users, and market research respondents. SurveyMonkey’s products, enterprise solutions, and integrations enable more than 345,000 organizations to deliver better customer experiences, increase employee retention and unlock growth and innovation. Ultimately, SurveyMonkey’s vision is to raise the bar for human experiences by amplifying individual voices.
