From the Turning Good People Into Top Talent blog series
By Bob Moore, CMC, Managing Principal, Talent Management Institute
When Deloitte Consulting asked HR and business leaders around the world about their top personnel concerns, employee engagement was the number one concern. According to Deloitte’s “Global Human Capital Trends 2015” report, about 87 percent of respondents listed lack of engagement as their top problem, up from 79 percent a year earlier.
In February, a Gallup survey found that only 32.9 percent of respondents were “actively engaged” in their work. About half of all workers were described as “not engaged,” and another 16.8 percent were “actively disengaged.” As dismal as these data are, they are among the most positive that Gallup has recorded in the past three years.
Disengaged, unplugged employees can lead to lower productivity and increased turnover. Disengaged workers don’t deliver the high performance levels required for small and mid-size companies to stay competitive.
What are the solutions you can implement that actually improve the situation? Consider the following three approaches:
- Survey your situation to better understand what is going on. You can even do it yourself with a free tool created by SurveyMonkey and the Society for Human Resource Management Foundation. Visit surveymonkey.com/mp/employee-engagement-survey/
- Remove barriers to productivity. Employees frequently “unplug” because they’re overwhelmed by heavy workloads and the lack of team leader support. For example, how much time is required for meetings which most employees believe are unnecessary?
- Hold all managers and team leaders accountable for the work environment they create, including the CEO or business owner. Improving employee engagement must be a priority and its importance continually emphasized. Top talent will only thrive in an environment that brings out their best. Implement practices designed to help employees get better. Consider more one-on-one coaching and providing real-time performance feedback. FYI, the annual performance review is obsolete.
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Bob
Bob Moore, CMC
Managing Principal