How Chapel Hill fits into a national decrease of engagement at work

A recent study from Gallup showed that employee engagement in the U.S. reached a 10-year low in 2024, with only 31 percent of employees reporting being engaged at work.

The biggest employment sectors in 2022 in Durham-Chapel Hill were the health care sector and the educational services sector, according to Data USA. The professional service sector and food service sector are also large employers in the area.

UNC Kenan-Flagler Business School professor Marie Mitchell said employee engagement is a mental, emotional and physical sensation. 

“Cognitively, employees are flexible in their problem-solving, they’re engaging in their work with a high degree of insight, emotionally, they’re excited to do what they do, and physically, they have a lot of energy to bring to their work,” Mitchell said. 

Mitchell said employees’ engagement levels dipped after the COVID-19 pandemic since employees felt like in-person work was not beneficial. She said more employees realized they did not want to work intensely for what they perceived as very little reward, creating overall less engagement. 

Owner and instructor of Kumon Carrboro Siddisee Hirpa, said she noticed employees soft quitting while they worked online. Soft quitting, similar to the concept of quiet quitting, refers to the gradual decrease in engagement over time. 

Employee engagement is also driven by reward and recognition of employees by their employers, Mitchell said. Kirstin Hawthorne, the director of marketing and public relations for Munson Law Firm, said she thinks employees at the firm are more engaged than the average American worker because they have opportunities to give back to the communities they live in and benefit from their own services. 

“We allow people to bring their personal passions in a way that is meaningful to our professional outlook,” Hawthorne said. 

Munson Law Firm hosts informational sessions for organizations within the community who are not their clients, but rather organizations that their employees belong to, Hawthorne said. For example, the firm will recognize that their employees are the parents of children who attend schools in Chapel Hill and Carrboro and will offer services to teachers at those schools. 

“The leadership at Munson Law Firm is very proactive in listening to the team’s desires,” Hawthorne said. 

The Gallup study highlighted that employees between the ages of 18 and 35 are more disengaged compared to their older peers. Mitchell said newer waves of employees want development opportunities, investment in their skills and continuous feedback. To retain talent, employers must engage in meaningful conversations to understand what excites their employees and shape jobs that align with those motivations, Mitchell said.

UNC Health’s Director of Culture and Engagement Ingrid Jones said the organization has established a program over the past few years called UNC Health for Me. The program emphasizes engaging, welcoming, developing, valuing, caring and including UNC Health employees. Jones said the platform is a way to find out what is important to employees and create programs and resources to address those needs. 

“I think our profession is just very unique and we have an extraordinary responsibility to take care of the people of North Carolina, and I think having [UNC Health for Me] just reinforces why we do what we do each and every day,” UNC Health’s Executive Director for Nursing Operations Carla Jones said.

Research shows that wages contribute towards employee engagement levels, but according to Mitchell salary does not stimulate engagement. Mitchell said engagement is driven by the job being performed, the people in your environment, the client base and more. 

“I’m a citizen of this area as much as I am a worker,” Jack Warren, the General Manager of Chapel Hill’s VooDoo Wing Company said. Warren, who has been in the restaurant industry for over 20 years, said he personally feels engaged with his work.

Warren said that on the mornings where he is not motivated to go to work, he reminds himself that he needs to earn his wages to support his livelihood. Warren also said there are other aspects of working in Chapel Hill that make him more engaged, besides pay. 

As a business leader, Warren said he feels responsible for engaging with the community. He said he has worked with the Town and UNC and suggested offering positions to people experiencing homelessness on Franklin Street. Warren said giving back to the community that has given him a job and a home keeps him engaged.

“I love my job, I love what I do, I wish that upon anybody else,” Mitchell said.

@kristinkharrat

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