Everyone benefits when employees feel motivated and engaged with their work. While the level of engagement may vary based on an individual’s personality, it’s also up to the company to provide a workplace that has good morale and fosters productivity. If a workplace fails in these regards, it can lead to employee disengagement. Broadly, this can be defined as a lack of enthusiasm and commitment from employees toward their jobs and company.
Employee disengagement can be disastrous to the success, productivity and employee retention of an organization. If you see employee disengagement happening, it’s crucial to address it as soon as possible. In this article, we’ll do a deeper dive into employee disengagement and why engagement matters for your business.
Disengagement is a key metric for businesses to monitor. Employee engagement means a happier and more productive workforce. It also means you’re more likely to hang on to top performers. Meanwhile, disengaged employees can drain resources, affect morale and have other negative effects on your business. Let's take a deeper look at how disengagement impacts core areas of business.
Employee disengagement can lead to higher attrition and turnover rates. When workers don’t feel engaged with their work, they won’t hesitate to seek out better, more engaging opportunities at other companies. High turnover is costly for a business, as recruitment, training and the loss of knowledge can all be detrimental. By reducing disengagement, you can reduce turnover and keep quality employees for longer.
Disengaged employees may not be as productive or efficient. If they aren’t engaged with their work, they likely won’t feel the urge to do much more than enough to keep their jobs. This also means less initiative and new ideas coming from your workforce. In short, disengagement can decrease overall productivity and bring down team performance, while engaged employees are more likely to contribute to an effective and efficient workplace.
Employee experience and satisfaction can be significantly affected by their level of engagement. Disengaged employees may have a negative perception of their company and have lower job satisfaction than engaged employees. This can lead to low morale, which can spread and infect the overall workforce and cause a toxic work environment. It’s best to foster engagement to improve the employee experience and create a more positive work environment for everyone.
To address employee disengagement, you need to find the root causes. There are quite a few factors that can lead to disengagement, so let’s highlight a few of the most common ones.
A negative work environment and toxic work culture can quickly lead to employee disengagement. Keep in mind that employees have to go into this environment nearly every day, so if work has consistently negative energy or if their environment doesn’t give them what they need to perform, they won’t want to stay long or work hard. Employees need to feel valued and supported in an inclusive environment where they can trust and get along with their co-workers. A toxic workplace where they’re ill-equipped and where everyone would rather be anywhere else is the opposite of an engaging workplace.
A healthy work-life balance is essential for employee engagement and overall well-being. If employees feel consistently overworked, they are likely to become burned out. Burnout leads to poor performance, less productivity and, of course, less engagement. Long hours, unrealistic deadlines and lack of work-life flexibility all need to be addressed to avoid burnout and work-life imbalance.
A clear line can often be drawn between the quality of management and employee engagement. Engagement starts from the top down, and employees are sure to follow by example if managers aren’t engaged or providing the support employees need. Poor management practices like micromanagement and ineffective communication only exacerbate these issues. Make sure management is providing clear guidance and effectively leading employees.
Employees want to feel like their hard work and contributions are valued. Failing to recognize and reward employees who are deserving is a surefire path to disengagement. While many people enjoy doing their work, even the most dedicated employee is going to have trouble finding motivation if they never reap anything for the effort they put in. Implementing reward systems is a great way to keep employees engaged, motivate them to push themselves, increase productivity and show them that the company cares about their well-being and progress.
Now we have a better grasp on the common causes of employee disengagement, but what can you do to actively address the problem? Here are some ways your business can effectively engage or reengage your workforce:
With Worklytics, you can get comprehensive insights into employee engagement and productivity. Our platform identifies patterns and trends contributing to disengagement in real time. This allows you to address problems as they arise and implement preventive measures to keep disengagement at a minimum. Worklytics data is anonymized, protecting the privacy of your employees. Interested in learning how Worklytics can improve your business? Book your demo today.
