Employee Engagement In The Fast Fashion Industry Statistics

20% of U.S. employees are engaged; 58% are not engaged; 17% are actively disengaged (Gallup State of the Global Workplace) [1]

2021 global employee engagement averages 20% engaged, 59% not engaged, 21% actively disengaged (Gallup State of the Global Workplace 2021/2022) [2]

“Employee engagement” among Gen Z is lower; 34% feel engaged in retail (Gallup/others) [3]

“Employee engagement” among millennials is 36% engaged (Gallup) [3]

“Employee engagement” among women is 22% engaged (Gallup) [3]

“Employee engagement” among men is 20% engaged (Gallup) [3]

“Actively disengaged” employees globally are 21% (Gallup) [2]

In UK, 46% of employees feel engaged at work (Workplace Employee Engagement Survey) [4]

In UK, 17% are actively disengaged (CIPD) [4]

In India, 19% of employees are engaged (Gallup India survey) [2]

In China, 20% of employees are engaged (Gallup) [2]

78% of employees who report high levels of engagement are more likely to stay with their employer (Gallup, meta-analysis) [1]

51% of employees strongly agree they are committed to their organization when engagement is high (Gallup, meta-analysis) [1]

Globally, 59% of employees “do not understand how their work fits into the bigger picture” (Gallup Q12) [5]

57% of employees feel their goals are not clear (Gallup) [2]

79% of employees who say they feel their job makes a difference are engaged (Gallup, meta-analysis) [6]

66% of employees who feel they are recognized are engaged (Gallup, meta-analysis) [6]

54% of employees who believe they have opportunities to grow are engaged (Gallup, meta-analysis) [6]

44% of employees who feel their managers communicate effectively are engaged (Gallup, meta-analysis) [6]

Gallup estimates that business units in the top quartile of employee engagement had 21% higher profitability (meta-analysis) [7]

Gallup reports that disengaged employees are 18% less productive (meta-analysis) [8]

Gallup reports that engaged employees are 23% more profitable (meta-analysis) [1]

Gallup: “employee engagement” is correlated with reduced turnover; engaged employees are 59% less likely to look for a job elsewhere (Gallup) [1]

Gallup: engaged employees are 70% less likely to report safety incidents (meta-analysis) [8]

Better Work overall: workers reported higher satisfaction with training; 71% said training improved their skills (Better Work survey) [9]

Better Work: 62% of workers reported feeling treated respectfully by supervisors (Better Work survey) [9]

Better Work: 46% of workers reported improved communication with management (Better Work) [9]

H&M Group reported employee engagement survey score of 75/100 (H&M annual sustainability/people report) [10]

Inditex workforce training hours per employee averaged 21 hours (annual report) [11]

Inditex reported 97% of employees have access to internal communication (annual report) [11]

Fast Retailing (Uniqlo) reported average training hours 23 per employee (annual report) [12]

TJX/Marshalls reported employee engagement score improved to 80% (company CSR) [13]

Gap Inc. reported average hours of training per employee 24 in 2022 (annual CSR/ESG) [14]

Nike 2023: “worker well-being” programs reached 1.5 million workers (impact report) [15]

Adidas 2023: “Better Work” reached 2.2 million workers (annual report) [16]

Levi Strauss & Co. 2023: reached 1.0 million workers with training (impact report) [17]

Employee engagement in retail: 43% of frontline employees say they lack recognition (survey) [8]

Employee engagement in retail: 52% say their manager doesn’t communicate priorities clearly (survey) [6]

Workplace safety culture: engaged employees report fewer safety incidents by 70% (Gallup) [8]

Gallup: engaged teams deliver 41% fewer quality defects (meta-analysis) [7]

Gallup: engaged employees have 2.6x higher performance (meta-analysis) [7]

Gallup: engaged employees are 17% more productive (meta-analysis) [7]

Employee engagement predicts customer loyalty: engaged employees drive 10% higher customer ratings (Gallup) [7]

Study: 41% reported supervisors communicate poorly (academic retail/manufacturing) [18]

Fashion brands increasingly adopt shorter lead times; study found average lead time fell from 7-8 weeks to 2-3 weeks in “fast fashion” practices (research cited by academic reviews) [19]

Zara uses a 4-week design-to-store cycle (HBR) [20]

Zara can move from design to store in as little as 2 weeks (MIT Sloan / case) [21]

H&M’s “sourcing to shop” lead time is often around 4–6 weeks (case/industry reporting) [22]

Shein’s supply chain reportedly uses rapid replenishment with some SKUs restocked within days (industry reporting) [23]

Walmart’s 2023 apparel returns rate is around 20% (returns pressure affects engagement indirectly via workforce workloads) [24]

In the U.S., clothing & footwear return rates were about 20% on average in 2022 (National Retail Federation survey) [25]

In 2022, 41% of consumers reported returning more due to online sizing issues (NRF) [25]

Bangladesh Better Work: average compliance improvement of 10% after program interventions (Better Work annual report) [26]

Cambodia Better Work: audit compliance increased to 62% for working conditions (Better Work) [27]

Vietnam Better Work: compliance with code of conduct increased by 12 percentage points (Better Work annual report) [28]

Fair Wear Foundation reports more than 2,000 inspections conducted annually (FWF) [29]

Apparel sector has high “micro-assignments” and quota pressure; study found 35% of workers report quota-related stress (academic survey) [30]

In the apparel sector, women comprise ~74% of garment workers worldwide (ILO/UN) [31]

The global garment sector employs about 60 million people worldwide (ILO) [32]

The global garment sector is valued at about US$1.3 trillion (UNCTAD/ILO context) [33]

Average global working hours in garment manufacturing often exceed 40 hours; ILO notes 48+ in some cases (ILO) [34]

ILO estimates that 152 million children are engaged in child labour globally (child labour risk in supply chains relevant to engagement) [35]

ILO estimates 27.6 million people are in forced labour globally (relevance to labor conditions) [36]

ILO estimates 160 million people are victims of child labour ages 5–17 (ILO) [37]

UK ONS: average weekly hours in retail and other sectors; retail/wholesale/repair weekly hours ~30.1 (ONS Labour Force Survey) [38]

Retail workers report lower “wellbeing at work”; OECD/Eurofound shows lower satisfaction in frontline retail (survey figure) [39]

Employee survey in hospitality/retail indicates 1/3 of workers are dissatisfied with work-life balance (Eurofound) [40]

ILO “Better Work” program has served over 6 million workers cumulatively (ILO/BW) [41]

Fair Wear Foundation has worked with 200+ brands/1400+ factories over years (FWF) [42]

OSHA in textiles & apparel: recordable incidents rate higher than many retail categories; textiles rate ~3.6 per 100 FTE (BLS/OSHA) [43]

U.S. BLS: “Retail trade” injuries & illnesses incidence rate 2.2 per 100 FTE (BLS) [44]

BLS: “Wearing apparel manufacturing” incidence rate 5.1 per 100 FTE in 2022 (BLS IIF) [45]

Data on fatal occupational injuries: global garment/footwear supply chain has reported hundreds of fatalities in factory fires (WHO/ILO) [46]

Rana Plaza disaster killed 1,134 garment workers (Bangladesh catastrophe fact) [47]

Rana Plaza disaster injured about 2,500 workers (Britannica) [47]

Tazreen Fashion fire killed 112 workers (ILO/NYT fact) [48]

That incident had 200+ injured workers (Britannica) [48]

1990–2018 garment sector had multiple lethal incidents; report notes over 1,000 deaths in major industrial accidents (report) [49]

Study on Bangladesh garment workers: 48% reported “very long working hours” (academic) [18]

In the EU clothing sector, wage theft and underpayment risk is significant; report notes median unpaid wages of 30% in some cases (report) [50]

Minimum wage coverage in garment supply chains is incomplete; report finds ~60% of workers do not earn a living wage (Living Wage Foundation/benchmark) [51]

ILO reports that the “living wage” gap is large in global supply chains; many workers earn below living wage (ILO) [52]

The ILO estimates that 185.5 million people earn less than $3.20 per day (poverty in work) [53]

Fair Wear Foundation reports a pay gap; in some audits, 43% of factories had underpayment issues (FWF) [54]

Worker feedback survey in Fair Wear Foundation found 25% of workers reported no grievance mechanism (FWF project) [55]

Wage theft through unpaid overtime is common; report finds 70% of workers in certain supply chains experience overtime without pay (report) [56]

Bangladesh garment worker survey: 65% report excessive overtime (Better Work/ILO findings) [57]

Cambodia garment worker survey: 50% report “unpredictable working hours” (Better Work) [58]

Better Work finds non-compliance with working time standards in ~60% of audited factories in some periods (Better Work) [59]

In Pakistan’s apparel manufacturing, 49% of workers report overtime without compensation (ILO research) [32]

In Turkey garment sector, 55% of workers report wage-related dissatisfaction (report) [32]

Study: 62% reported wage dissatisfaction (academic garment survey) [18]

Retail turnover in apparel can be high; U.S. retail employee turnover about 60% annually (BLS/industry) [60]

In the U.S. retail trade, quit rate was 2.4% in 2023 (BLS JOLTS) [61]

In the U.S. accommodations and food services had turnover signals; retail trade job openings remain high (BLS JOLTS) [62]

In BLS JOLTS, the retail trade layoff rate was 0.8% in 2023 (BLS) [63]

BLS JOLTS shows average time in unemployment for “retail trade” hires; typical hires take ~3.2 weeks in 2022 (BLS) [64]

In the UK retail sector, labour turnover in clothing retail was 30% (CIPD/industry report) [65]

In the UK, 2023 labour turnover for “retail” was 21% (CIPD) [66]

In India’s garment industry, surveys show 60% of workers want to change jobs due to conditions (secondary survey) [32]

Inditex (Zara parent) reported employee turnover improved to 13% in 2023 (annual report) [11]

Primark parent ABF reported staff turnover 18% in 2023 (annual report) [67]

Employee turnover is 4x higher in disengaged organizations (Gallup) [8]

Worker surveys under Ethical Trading Initiative indicate ~38% report fear of speaking up (campaign reporting) [68]

Amnesty/ILO report indicates 1 in 4 workers report fear of retaliation when complaining (report) [69]

International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) indicates union rights violations are widespread; “more than 90%” of surveyed workers report intimidation in some countries (report) [70]

OECD due diligence guidance notes that grievance mechanisms are critical; report notes adoption is incomplete (OECD) [71]

Business & Human Rights Resource Centre report found that ~30% of complaints go unanswered by companies in apparel sector (tracking study) [72]

Clean Clothes Campaign reports that 1/3 of workers experienced retaliation for complaints (campaign report) [73]

Better Work customer satisfaction: 67% of workers trust grievance mechanisms (Better Work survey) [59]

In a UK labor survey, 58% of retail workers reported no access to union representatives on site (TUC) [74]

In a 2022 Fair Wear Foundation report, 48% of workers reported being aware of complaints channels (FWF) [75]

The ITUC Global Rights Index 2023 shows “very serious” or “serious” violations in Bangladesh, India, and others (score system) [70]

Worker visibility of brands’ codes: survey found 39% of workers knew their factory’s code (FWF) [76]

Study: 55% of garment workers reported fear of job loss (academic) [18]