Disengaged employees are bad for business, but you may not have realized just how bad they are. According to McKinsey, employee disengagement costs a median-size S&P 500 company between $228 million and $355 million annually in lost productivity. That’s a massive wake-up call for organizations. If your company hasn’t recognized the problem of disengaged employees, then now’s the time to do so.
In this article, we examine how to recognize a disengaged employee. We also share some strategies for tackling the problem so that engaged employees outnumber disengaged ones.
What Are The Signs Of A Disengaged Employee?
Before you can re-engage disengaged employees, you first have to know how to spot them.
Chances are, we’ve all come across unhappy employees at work. They’re those grumpy individuals with a long list of complaints and a lack of enthusiasm. In short, a disengaged employee displays a negative attitude and has mentally checked out. They tend only to do the minimum. They rarely work late, hardly ever participate in team social activities, and usually don’t give work a second thought once they leave the office.
The problem with such negativity is that it is catching. Employee disengagement has a ripple effect, contributing to decreased productivity, performance, and morale for the whole team.
Disengaged employees share several characteristics that help you spot them in the workplace. Here are the unhealthy behaviors you need to look out for:
- Lack of enthusiasm and low energy
- Arriving late or leaving early
- Complaining attitude
- Unwilling to help others
- Easily distracted
- Poor personal work ethic
- Few workplace friendships
- Avoiding social interactions and team events
- Reluctant to participate in professional development and growth opportunities
Don’t make the mistake of thinking a few team members with a bad attitude are a big deal. Multiply the two individuals in a team by the number of teams in an organization, and you begin to appreciate the scale of the problem.
Furthermore, all the negative vibes from disengaged employees can quickly infect other team members. Have you noticed that company sickness rates are creeping up? This is a classic sign that the disengaged virus has taken hold, especially if there are noticeably more absences on Mondays and Fridays. And if team meetings tend to be monologues rather than lively two-way discussions, you may have a wider employee disengagement problem.
Is Low Employee Engagement A Big Deal?
Well, the short answer is yes. The economic costs of employees feeling disengaged are considerable. In today’s competitive marketplace, the problem is one area in which companies can make significant gains if they get it right.
Let’s see what the statistics tell us about the economic cost of unengaged employees.
The Impact Of Disengaged Employees
Here are some headline statistics to put the issue in perspective.
- Disengaged Employees Cost Companies $3,400 for Every $10,000 They Make Each Year
- Poor Employee Wellbeing and Lack of Recognition Lead to $322 Billion in Lost Productivity
- Employee Disengagement Increases Turnover Rates by Almost 50%
- A Disengaged Workforce Can Lead to Losses as High as $550 Billion Each Year
- Two-Thirds of Employees Are Disengaged at Work
Tackling the problem of disengaged employees head-on makes good economic sense. These statistics illustrate that disengagement is costly both for productivity and performance. It has a massive impact on your bottom dollar and ability to compete in the marketplace.
So, what can you do to tackle the problem? Before identifying strategies to turn the actively disengaged into engaged employees, we need to understand the root causes.
Why Do Employees Become Disengaged?
We all know of an employee who started at work with all guns blazing, totally engaged, and enthusiastic. However, five years down the track it’s a different story. That same employee has transformed into a grumbling one with a negative attitude.
Why do employees find themselves disengaged? There is a wide variety of reasons eventually leading to disengagement. However, here are the four most common ones:
Poor Alignment With The Organization’s Mission
A primary cause of disengagement is a failure to connect with company values, vision, and purpose.
If your employees don’t understand how their jobs impact the organization, they will lack motivation and will not expend any more energy than necessary. Often the underlying issue is poor communication and poor leadership within the organization.
However, when employees see that they are contributing to the company’s goals and that their efforts have meaning, they are more likely to feel motivated.
No New Challenges
Another critical factor is the employee’s perception that the organization provides few opportunities for growth or advancement. All workers want jobs that allow them to develop their skills and abilities.
Supporting employees to continue learning and growing will lead to higher productivity, positive culture, and greater loyalty.
Moreover, employees who feel challenged and whose leaders care about their development are less likely to succumb to disengagement.
Feeling Undervalued
A belief that employees’ contributions are undervalued and their opinions don’t matter is also a clear sign of low employee engagement.
Disengaged employees often complain that their ideas and opinions do not count. They may feel that the organization is not interested in hearing their views.
Finding ways to ensure that all employees feel valued and listened to by the organization will positively influence engagement levels. Open communication and employee recognition are some of the solutions.
Stress And Burnout
The final common factor is stress. The actively disengaged employee may think their job is under threat. Or perhaps employees feel overloaded. Either way, stress is one of the biggest contributors to disengagement.
Finding solutions and providing employees with strategies to handle stress are crucial to reducing employee disengagement. Offering flexible working and a better work-life balance are just some steps you can take.
How To Re-Engage The Disengaged
There is no one-size-fits-all solution. The complex reasons behind employee disengagement require various responses from management. It will involve an investment of time and ongoing fine-tuning.
For those companies that invest, the potential rewards are great:
- Businesses with highly engaged employees benefit from 10 percent higher customer ratings and an 18 percent increase in sales.
So what practical steps can your business take to ensure employees are engaged? The following strategies will turnaround disengagement and also help with keeping employees engaged.
Open Communication
Just as you have two-way conversations with your customers, you should also have two-way conversations with your employees. Companies that encourage open dialog, communication, and employee feedback score higher on overall engagement.
Two-way conversations can easily be hosted via a blog or discussion forum on the company intranet. You can also gather employee feedback through intranet polls and surveys.
Management must also be seen as seeking and listening to staff views and acting on those views. So, it’s essential to report to staff on what’s happened in response to their feedback. Be open and honest with the workforce and explain if action can’t be taken.
During organizational change, many employees can become stressed about job security or changes to their roles. Keeping the lines of communication open, being honest, and listening to and responding to their fears will be even more critical. A discussion forum or special page dedicated to managing change on the intranet is a handy tool for achieving just that.
Promote Positivity
Being positive can be just as infectious as negativity. So, empower employees, particularly highly engaged ones, to share stories, exchange ideas, and disseminate best practices across the organization. Use the intranet, town halls, webinars, and team briefings to spread those positive vibes.
Reward Effort And Quality Work
As an organization, you should offer credit where it is due. Give acknowledgment freely and say “thank you” often. We all respond better to praise and positive feedback, so creating a culture that recognizes and rewards effort is crucial to tackling disengagement.
Employee recognition programs and peer-to-peer shoutouts on instant messaging platforms are visible ways to reward employees. A ‘hot news button’ on the intranet homepage could also highlight employees who have gone the extra mile or made significant contributions.
Make Employees Work Easier
Providing employees with the tools they need to do their jobs more efficiently and effectively significantly impacts the employee experience.
Intranets deliver all the tools staff need daily, including employee directories, corporate calendars, automated workflows, and knowledge management. An intranet enables staff to get the job done faster and more efficiently, helping to fire up engagement in any organization.
Encourage Learning And Development
Employees who are left to stagnate when it comes to training and development are likely to develop a negative attitude. Employers with highly engaged workforces value ongoing learning and development.
The company intranet offers online training and staff development. E-learning could take many forms, including podcasts, webinars, quizzes, how-to videos, or blogs. It has the advantage of delivering consistent content to all learners and minimizes disruption to normal activities. It also allows staff to train at their own pace and outside regular working hours.
Digital learning can also be used to re-engage employees with the company’s overall vision and values so they better understand the bigger picture.
The Importance of Engagement Metrics
Re-energizing the disengaged isn’t just a short-term project with a few milestones to tick off. It’s a continuous journey.
Organizations should compile a set of metrics to monitor progress and ensure things stay on track. Just as you have key performance indicators for other aspects of the business, you should collect performance information concerning engagement.
So, what kind of data are we talking about? An annual employee engagement survey is an excellent start.
Employee Engagement Survey
The best surveys are short, on point and only require a few minutes. The survey needs to go beyond measuring job satisfaction or happiness levels to add value. Given the link between disengagement and a disconnect with the company’s vision, the survey should gauge employees’ sense of how they contribute to the bigger picture.
Questions like, “Do you understand the company’s values?” and “Is there a clear link between your job and the company’s mission?” will help you to measure that aspect.
Other important questions to ask when addressing causes of dissatisfaction include whether staff feel they have the right tools to get the job done and whether there is enough professional development.
Gallup has come up with a core set of questions to guide you. Use the Q12 employee engagement metric as a helpful starting point for devising your own survey.
Whatever specific questions you ask, the survey will provide a baseline assessment of your current situation. Over time, it will enable you to measure your progress.
Net Promoter Score
Another metric commonly used by companies is a variation of the Harvard Business Review’s customer net promoter score.
Instead of asking customers how likely they are to recommend the company, employees are asked for their responses. The responses are then placed on a scale of 1-10, with the positives or promoters at one end, passive neutrals in the middle, and negative detractors at the other end.
The aim is to have a positive score with more promoters than detractors. A score of 50 or above indicates you’re doing a great job of creating a positive company culture.
Conduct Exit Interviews
Employees who are leaving the organization can provide a wealth of information about what’s really going on.
Staff will have plenty of valid reasons for wanting to leave. However, exit interviews give you an overview of underlying trends or issues that might be causing widespread disengagement.
Harvest Feedback With Polls And Pulse Checks
Opportunities for staff to give feedback on issues of concern through polls or pulse checks are another valuable data source.
Often, employees feel more comfortable giving anonymous feedback. When there’s no fear of repercussions, you are more likely to harvest honest views. From an organizational perspective, polls and pulse checks are quick, cost-effective ways to gather insightful data.
Remember to report the results to workers. It’s all part of that two-way, honest, and respectful dialog that underpins successful engagement.
Disengaged Employees: The Bottom Line
Disengaged employees often fly under the radar, hidden in plain sight. Their impact on team morale, company culture and financial wellbeing has been largely overlooked. However, as we’ve seen, the consequences of disengagement are far-reaching.
Organizations can no longer ignore the adverse effects of disengaged employees. They can influence team dynamics, company reputation, recruitment efforts, retention rates, and profitability.
Moreover, workers’ lack of engagement can challenge leaders in generating support for the company’s vision, potentially hindering progress and growth. The domino effect of turnover and quiet quitting, triggered by actively disengaged employees, can easily lead to a chain reaction. Addressing the issue of disengagement is crucial for the success and sustainability of any business.
FAQs
Why is it essential to remember employees have personal lives that can impact their work engagement?
Employees’ personal issues and circumstances can significantly affect employee engagement. While work is important and companies have bottom lines to meet, employees inevitably have good and bad days. It’s a reality that personal matters can impact professional performance.
Creating a supportive work environment that accommodates employees’ personal lives allows them the space to address any stressors, health issues, or external factors temporarily affecting their work.
Managers can build trusting relationships by recognizing employees as individuals with unique situations. A dip in engagement doesn’t necessarily reflect a lack of interest or skill. It could be due to personal challenges or life events that are not work-related. Punishing employees for such dips in engagement can be counterproductive to long-term talent retention.
How can managers play a crucial role in preventing employee burnout and disengagement?
Managers are crucial in preventing employee burnout and disengagement by fostering a positive work environment. They are the critical link between employees and the organization, and their actions directly impact the wellbeing and engagement of team members.
Managers can address the early signs before they escalate by maintaining open lines of communication, providing regular feedback, and demonstrating empathy. Excessive workload can contribute to burnout, so managers should closely monitor this and other metrics like absenteeism and turnover.
Furthermore, the organization can contribute by offering flexible work arrangements and promoting work-life balance.
Why is it important to recognize and celebrate small wins in the workplace?
Recognizing and celebrating small wins in the workplace is crucial for promoting a positive, engaged environment. Acknowledging and celebrating small steps validates individuals’ efforts and encourages them to continue contributing positively to the company.
How can you identify what motivates employees?
Employee motivation is complex. What drives one employee will be different from the next.
To identify what motivates your employees, pay attention to the moments when they display genuine enthusiasm. This could be in response to a new project, team event, or even payday. Doing so gives you insights into their values and what motivates them.
If workers are excited about new projects, they might appreciate more variety in their daily work. Those who enjoy team social events may value collaboration and teamwork. On the other hand, if payday is the only source of motivation, financial concerns may be affecting their performance.
Understanding these cues helps you tailor opportunities to engage workers, including offering new challenges, organizing cross-team collaborations, or providing incentives for excellent performance.
When it comes to maintaining high engagement, what’s the importance of understanding the team’s goals and connecting them to company goals?
Understanding your team’s individual goals and aligning them with the company’s overarching objectives is crucial for maintaining high engagement. You can create a work environment that fosters a sense of purpose and fulfillment by grasping what motivates and drives your employees.
When employees see how their aspirations are connected to the company mission and vision, they are more likely to feel invested in their work and be motivated to contribute their best efforts.
About MyHub
We are a leading provider of intranet solutions. Our easy-to-use software powers the digital workplace in businesses of all sizes worldwide.
Sign up for a free demo or 14-day trial and explore how intranet software can help keep employees engaged in your organization.
0 Comments