Forget The Walking Dead. You should be worried about the Walking Disengaged.
One Company’s Country’s Horror Story
Employee disengagement is costly. The Walking Disengaged (aka the actively disengaged) make up 18 percent of the country’s workforce. Active disengagement costs the U.S. economy between $450 billion and $550 billion each year. That’s more than the entire gross domestic product of Georgia — the state and the republic.
What does this scourge look like? Gallup describes the actively disengaged as being “emotionally disconnected from their workplaces and less likely to be productive.”
Or, as Homer Simpson summed it up, “If you don’t like your job, you don’t strike. You just go in every day and do it really half-[hearted].”
Planning for Attack
Combating disengagement is all about prevention. To prevent disengagement from spreading, seek out what’s causing it. Mosquito nets and hand-washing save far more lives than malaria drugs or penicillin.
Hunt down what’s turning your leaders into walkers. When you use surveys, view them as conversations. Don’t just ask; respond and follow up.
You may be surprised at how seemingly simple some of the problems are. For example, how many calls does your HR department field every day to answer simple questions like, “How much time off do I have?” Those conversations are a drain on morale for both parties. Avoid this engagement-sucker by giving your employees access to their own HR information with Employee Self-Service.
Another morale killer deals with money. Relax: We’re not talking about pay grades. You work hard to pay your employees competitively. But do you pay them efficiently (i.e. on time and accurately)? Think of a time when you had an error on your own paycheck. Didn’t it feel unjust? Avoid this engagement trap with an all-in-one Payroll and Time and Labor Management system.
Now you’re on a roll. Keep seeking and destroying the causes of disengagement wherever you find them.
Find Your Sanctuary
Disengagement will gnaw at your workforce until you find — and prevent — its root cause. You can protect your people by eliminating overlooked causes of disengagement. All you need is the right HR technology.
Happy hunting!
Original Artwork by: Tyler Kelting