Achieving employee engagement is a worthwhile cause for your organization. When employees are engaged, they feel a connection to the organization and its outcomes. The end result is that they are a lot more excited about doing their work, they will work harder, and they will want to stay. So let’s look at the reasons that employees are not engaged, what happens when employees aren’t engaged, and how it can be turned around.
Six Reasons your employees may not be engaged:
- The work itself is not stimulating to that employee
- Relationships with co-workers are uncomfortable or non-existent
- There are few or no opportunities to use their strong skills and abilities
- The relationship with the immediate superior is uncomfortable and/or non-existent
- They don’t feel that their work contributes to the organization’s goals
- They don’t have any autonomy and independence
What happens when employees are not engaged?
It’s fairly easy to spot an employee who isn’t engaged. Typical signs include the following:
- They quality of their work goes down
- They are silent and they stop participating in group activities
- They take a lot of breaks
- They leave early and start late
- They start taking more sick leave
- They are not motivated or excited to contribute to their own, or the organization’s success
What can companies do to make employee engagement grow?
According to Motley Fool CEO and Co-Founder Tom Gardner’s Video “Grow Employee Engagement at Your Company,” there are five factors that boost employee engagement:
- Earning a comfortable living wage
- Being aligned with the purpose and values of the organization – they express their own core values and bring them into the organization
- Working with people they like and being excited to come to work every day
- Feeling challenged at work – when things get too repetitive for them, they can get excited about and motivated by something new
- Having flexibility in their schedule
