DRIVING OUT
IMPROVE ENGAGEMENT FROM THE BOTTOM UP BY DETECTING – AND REVERSING – DISENGAGEMENT By Melissa Campeau
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tate-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 20 ❚ SEPTEMBER 2016 ❚ HR PROFESSIONAL
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