IMPROVE ENGAGEMENT FROM THE BOTTOM UP BY DETECTING
– AND REVERSING – DISENGAGEMENT
State-of-the-art work spaces, flexible
benefits, snacks in the kitchen
and pool tables in the board rooms:
on a quest to boost employee engagement,
organizations are coming at the
challenge from all directions, hoping to
keep employees feeling passionate about
their jobs, committed to the organization
and putting plenty of discretionary effort
into their work.
It’s easy to see why engagement is a
top priority for so many organizations;
there’s no shortage of research linking
higher engagement scores with bottomline
boosting factors as better retention
and productivity.
With such enthusiasm for engagement
– The Deloitte Human Capital Trends
2016 report found nearly nine in 10 executives
rated it as important or very
important – you’d think engagement
scores would be on a steady incline. But
a 2013 Gallup survey suggested just 30
per cent of workers are engaged, 52 per
cent are disengaged and 18 per cent are
actively disengaged.
That means most of your workforce isn’t
entirely on board with what the organization
is doing. They’re less likely to be productive,
and more likely to miss workdays and cost
you customers. They’re impacting the bottom
line, possibly in a big way: the Gallup
report estimated disengaged employees cost
U.S. businesses between $450 and $550
billion each year. Even more worrying:
where you find one disengaged employee,
you’ll likely find more.
Although it sounds counterintuitive,
it might make sense to take the spotlight
bikeriderlondon/Shutterstock.com
DRIVING OUT
By Melissa Campeau
20 ❚ SEPTEMBER 2016 ❚ HR PROFESSIONAL