As bad as it sounds, a truly engaged employee is hard to find. A global study conducted by Gallup found that only 13% of employees worldwide are truly engaged at work. The United States fares a little better than most in the study, but still fall at 33%. Does your company fall in line with this number?
How do I tell if my employees are engaged?
Engaged workers are identified due to their consistent effort in their current roles, making them stand apart from their disengaged counterparts. These engaged employees can be seen as the ones who drive innovation and move the business forward, with a passion and connection to the company. Compare this to a disengaged worker who become viruses, constantly draining those around them. Disengaged employees are not only unhappy at work, but they act and voice out their unhappiness affecting those around them. These employees reduce productivity at any organization, along with reducing manager’s time to focus on proactive tasks, due to their time spent on correcting disengaged behaviors.
Three Types of Employees:
1) Engaged- Employees connected with their company, feel a connection with their job and employees around them.
2) Disengaged- Employees who come to work “checked out” that put in their hours, but have no initiative or passion for their work.
3) Actively Disengaged- Employees not focused on work, act out their frustration to those around them, and undermine managers and what other employees accomplish.
How Can I Fix This?
Of course the thought of firing all of the disengaged employees immediately comes to mind. But that’s just not going to work, plus a good majority of the disengaged employees have skills and knowledge that is priceless to your success as a company. Have you ever thought of rewarding the behaviors in which you intend for your employees to have? A properly designed employee incentive program can provide a platform to encourage the behaviors you want, even when your physical presence is not possible at all times. Converting your employee base to become engaged is a truly effective strategy that increases performance and provides sustainable long-term growth.