Whatever the size of your business or charity, you want it to thrive and grow. And your employees are the most important factor in that growth.
So it makes good business sense to keep your employees engaged with your business and keen to support your vision and goals.
And yet most businesses have some disengaged employees at some times, and if that is not managed, the disengagement can spread and make a negative impact on your growth and competitiveness.
The recruitment market is difficult at the moment and all employers are facing challenges to attract and retain top talent. If your current employees are not feeling engaged, then you face the danger of losing them. Those that stay may underperform and disrupt the team – or they may take long periods off sick.
How do you manage the people who are not engaging?
Some of the signs of poor engagement are easy to see. They include high sickness absence; high staff turnover, missed deadlines, people not “pulling their weight”.
But what are the underlying factors which cause these problems? Poor communication; lack of recognition; micro-management; lack of autonomy; stifling of innovation are all things which can lead to an unhappy team.
Communication is key
Any business needs to share its vision and goals with its employees. How can they be expected to support you to achieve those ends, if they are not aware of them? You may believe that you have communicated your vision, but is that being reinforced by managers and supervisors at every level, or are the messages becoming muddled and losing focus? If your employees don’t understand your vision or where their role fits into achieving that vision, then they are likely to feel excluded and undervalued.
Two way communication is also important. Your employees have their own values, ethics and personal goals and those need to be encouraged and aligned to the organisational vision and goals. Business leaders and managers need to understand what those drivers are for the individuals in their teams and to ensure that the workplace can help the employee to fulfil those goals as part of the business’s growth.
How often do you thank your staff?
The annual performance appraisal process is all very well, but it is not enough to give some recognition just once a year for a job well done.
And recognition doesn’t have to be in the form of a salary increase or a financial benefit. It can be as simple as a manager thanking someone for their effort, or noticing if they have achieved something (however small). We all need to be noticed, and to feel that we are making a difference.
Any business can make a start by putting a formal recognition scheme in place. It doesn’t have to cost very much, but can make a big difference to improving morale, performance and leading to employees feeling valued and engaged.
What is the cost of having disengaged employees in your business?
You may not have included the cost of disengaged employees in your financial planning, but you would do well to give it some thought. The cost of replacing just one employee can be expensive – and a highly disengaged workforce can lead to high staff turnover and your recruitment costs will spiral. High sickness absence is also a business expense which is often overlooked when looking at financial forecasts, but if your people are disengaged, then you are likely to see an increase in absence.
And the people who stay at work but remain disengaged will disrupt the team, infect others with their own negativity, and productivity will fall. In some instances, this can lead to lost revenue, if client facing staff are feeling disengaged and the clients can see this.
Your time (or that of your managers) is likely to be taken up with managing difficult and unhappy employees and minimising the disruption caused. This removes management focus from meeting goals, supporting clients, leading the team to greater heights.
Can this downward spiral be stopped and reversed?
The good news is that you can address the issues which lead to disengagement and improve the morale and productivity of your team and help them to feel valued and motivated.
Much of this change lies with training your managers to support their teams effectively. This involves getting to know the individuals, their personal values and goals and how they work best.
The key steps are:
- Clear and consistent communication
- Recognition of the work done by employees, through a structured recognition programme and through managers noticing and thanking people.
- Regular one-to-one check ins with employees to understand goals, desires, barriers
- Learning and development opportunities for all
- Training and developing your managers in people management skills
If you would like to learn more about employee engagement, see our earlier blog or contact us for a call about your specific needs.
