RESEARCH & INSIGHTS FOR BUSINESS
How Does Emotional Intelligence Affect Companies?
Benefits to business performance
61% improved client service
61% increase in market share
59% direct cost savings
58% increase in revenue
1. Emotional intelligence has a 58% influence on job performance.
(Vantage Circle)
With this direct correlation between job performance and emotional intelligence, it would be wise for companies to invest in emotional intelligence training for their employees to have higher EQ scores.
Aside from improving their employees’ skills, emotional intelligence has to be taken into consideration as well to improve their performance.
11. Restaurants managed by people with high emotional intelligence grow their profit by 22% each year.
(EI Consortium)
With this statistic, there’s no denying that emotional intelligence impacts the profit growth of businesses. It seems that the key factors affecting productivity are emotional self-awareness, happiness, social responsibility, reality testing, and interpersonal relationship — all of which are components in emotional intelligence.
12. Workers who have managers with high EQ scores are four times less likely to quit than those with managers who have low EQ.
(LinkedIn)
When emotional intelligence is incorporated in business operations, employees feel secure enough to speak up about their concerns, business-related or otherwise. They’re also more inclined to express their ideas since they feel more heard, thereby increasing employee engagement and decreasing attrition rates.
13. 90% of top-performing employees have high emotional intelligence.
(CIPHR)
Employers may include emotional intelligence in their assessment when looking for employees who have leadership potential or who are next in line for a promotion or pay raise. You can still be a top-performing employee if you don’t have a high EQ score, but the chances are very slim.
On the other hand, high EQ employees made up only 20% of the bottom performers.
How Much Do Companies Value Emotional Intelligence?
14. 71% of hiring managers value EQ over IQ when looking for employees.
(CareerBuilder)
Companies understand that although having someone with strong hard skills is great, an employee with high emotional intelligence will be more valuable in the long run.
According to hiring managers, they’ve observed that employees with EQ are more likely to effectively and diplomatically resolve conflict, empathize with co-workers, and stay calm under pressure.
15. 59% of employers refuse to hire a candidate with a high IQ but low EQ.
(CareerBuilder)
People with a high IQ may have the hard skills necessary to be productive employees in the workforce, but if they have low EQ, they may be difficult to work with. That’s why employers aren’t willing to compromise. If someone has low EQ, they’re most likely not going to get hired even if they have a high IQ.
16. High EQ employees are favored over high IQ employees for a promotion 75% of the time.
(CareerBuilder)
Leaders with high emotional intelligence are more than likely to be productive and effective. They usually lead by example and give a lot of thought to business decisions. They also listen as much as they speak, which is a very good quality in employees in a leadership role.
17. 30% of HR managers think that employers don’t prioritize emotional intelligence enough during the hiring process.
(PR Newswire)
Although emotional intelligence is a key contributing factor to success, it’s not nearly as emphasized as it should be. However, with the rising awareness of the benefits of hiring emotionally intelligent workers or training workers to improve their emotional intelligence, companies are now taking appropriate action.
18. 40% of HR managers reported it’s more difficult for them to teach employees soft skills than technical skills.
(PR Newswire)
Soft skills include problem-solving, stress management, communication, and adaptability. These traits are usually harder to teach than, say, teaching someone how to use Excel. It usually takes a lot of training to train someone to have better soft skills, but the result is worth it in the end.
Emotional Intelligence Success Stories
19. Forty-four Fortune 500 companies found salespersons with high emotional intelligence had twice the amount of sales compared to those with low to average scores.
(IRMI)
The Hay Group conducted a study on 44 Fortune 500 companies and found that salespeople with high EQ brought in twice as much revenue as those with low to average emotional intelligence. This is hardly surprising, though — an effective salesperson has to be able to understand the needs of the prospective client to provide the appropriate product or service for them.
20. A large hospital decreased its nursing turnover by 50% within 18 months of imposing an emotional intelligence screening assessment.
(IRMI)
This large hospital had a nursing turnover rate of 65% prior to implementing the emotional intelligence screening assessment. Within 18 months, that rate dropped to 15%.
Employee retention has its benefits — reduced costs, lesser time and resources spent on training, improved employee morale, and increased productivity, among others.
21. A Fortune 500 company based in Texas that switched to an emotional intelligence-based assessment increased its employee retention by 67% in the first year.
(IRMI)
This Texas-based Fortune 500 company had previously used personality assessment in their hiring process for many years, but it wasn’t doing much to reduce the turnover rate. When they switched to an emotional intelligence-based selection assessment, they started to see results.
In the first year, the company saw the following results — increased employee retention by 67% and increased company bottom line by $32 million in increased sales and reduced turnover costs.
22. A Dallas corporation found that its employees with high EQ scores were 20 times more productive than those with low EQ.
(IRMI)
Keeping in mind the results of this recent study, we can conclude that any company can benefit from conducting emotional intelligence training among its employees to improve their EQ.
Additionally, they can also use emotional intelligence-based screening tests on top of other application screening tests that they impose.