Disengaged employees cost you money, it really is as simple as that. An engaged employee is one who is invested in the goals and aims of your company, and focuses in providing value to your business every day they come into work. Disengaged employees waste company time, slack off more frequently and take more sick days. They don’t contribute enough, and their lack of contribution means they do not provide enough value for their remuneration.
In the US, it’s estimated that disengaged employees cost around five hundred billion dollars in lost revenue per annum. It’s a significant problem worldwide – a recent survey conducted by Gallup indicated that only thirteen percent of the global workforce feel that they are engaged in what they do. Compare that to the sixty-six percent who feel that they are actively disengaged. It’s easy to see why so much money is lost each year because of the lack of effort made towards employee engagement.
To reap the benefits of being a sustainable and successful business, a company needs an engaged workforce. How is this best achieved?
The philosophy and strategic direction of the leadership
This is relatively straightforward – an engaged employee is one who is truly at one with his company’s mission statement, and agrees with the strategic decisions that are taken.
Leading business leaders understand that everything they do, and how they are seen to be doing what they do, resonates throughout their workforce. Poor leaders are ones who believe their employees are just people who need to do what they are told to do.
Successful companies are ones where employees are spoken to and – more importantly – listened to.
Performance and accountability
Plenty of companies now take employee engagement extremely seriously – in fact managers are evaluated upon how engaged the people they are responsible for feel. Departments with the employees who feel the most engaged are those led by managers who successfully infuse engagement as a true core value. They do this by employee involvement and openness.
Communication
The best leaders in the most successful organisations work out the ways by which they are able to communicate the impact of engagement on the way that the company is performing. This is done continuously throughout the year and not just on annual basis when the time for appraisals and performance reviews swings around.
Via communication it should be made clear that successful engagement is one of the key attributes of the way your company conducts itself.
Employee development and opportunities
The work’s biggest performing organisations start the engagement process from each employee’s first few moments with the company. Such organisations take engagement extremely seriously, and they have clearly-defined and thorough development programs. An engaged employee is one whom understands they have the opportunity to work on their continual development, both personally and professionally.
Companies face an enormous number of challenges if they want to be successful – and a successful company is one that understands fully the importance of employee engagement.
Want to know how Recruit & Retain can help you keep your employees more engaged at work? Give us a call on 020 3633 3756 or drop us an email at info@recruit-retain.com.