Three Ways to Battle Employee Disengagement
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More and more research is confirming what experts in employee engagement have been saying for years. Happy, excited, motivated and inspired employees are the key to business success. Disinterested, disengaged staffers, on the other hand, can all but sink a company.
That makes finding ways to encourage higher levels of engagement extremely important. That’s especially true right now. In the face of a challenging economy, businesses need every bit of productivity and efficiency they can get from their workforces. This is a horrible time be dealing with rampant disengagement.
Winning the ongoing war against disengagement isn’t easy. In some cases, it can be a rather complicated process that requires a strong understanding of exactly what’s happening on every level of the company.
That being said, there are a few general prescriptions for success in this area. Let’s look at three ways to encourage the kind of engagement that can really improve a business’ performance.
First, honesty really is the best policy. Nothing impacts whether employees are engaged more than their sense of the company’s trustworthiness. That trustworthiness is often a byproduct of hot forthright and honest the company is about what’s happening.
Second, recognition matters. If you’re not making your employees feel as their efforts are noticed and appreciated, you risk encouraging an increase in the population of disengaged workers.
Employees function their best when they know that their efforts are resulting in the production of something meaningful and valuable. Companies should strive to publicly recognize their top performers.
Third, thinking about the employee as a whole person can encourage people to become more engaged. This is why workplace wellness programs and other forms of outreach have developed such a strong following among HR experts. They’re another way of providing employees with a concrete reason to enjoy and appreciate their jobs.
While it isn’t always easy to isolate specific causes of low engagement or to formulate a specific solution to these problems, we do know that certain approaches almost invariably have a positive impact on morale.
These include honesty in management, frequent and authentic recognition of quality job performance and the presence of other elements like wellness programs. All can contribute to a happier, more satisfied and more profitable workplace environment.
Interested in Disengagement?
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Excellent, excellent post. Recognition is critical to engagement, indeed! And as you rightly note, specific, authentic and actionable praise gives people a sense of value, purpose and meaning in their work — something we all want and need more of. More on this thought here: http://globoforce.blogspot.com/2009/11/specific-actionable-and-authentic.html
Derek Irvine, Globoforce´s last blog ..Strengths, Weaknesses, Ignored: How Are You Recognized at Work?