It’s September, fall is upon us and the long summer weekends are over. It’s time to go back to school and back to work. As the season changes, employers need to be proactive to ensure they are revving up the workplace again. According to the recent Gallup Organization’s most recent Employee Engagement Index reports, 22.5 million workers are currently disengaged. Each one of these employees costs their employer $13K per year in lost productivity. Only 22% of all workers are truly engaged and committed to their company. (Gallup Organization)

As we learned in last week’s blog post, recession adrenaline has played a large role in disengagement and frustration. Many employees are starting to show resentment because of the extra effort they are putting in with little thanks. Four out of 10 of today’s employees feel disconnected from their employers, and a quarter show up at work “just for the paycheck.” Only one-third of the employees surveyed viewed their management as strong leaders. (Management Issues)

Reversing and/or preventing employee disengagement requires employers to gear up for the new season and ensure they are changing behavior in the workplace.



Symptoms of disengagement:

1. Employees disconnected to their employers- late for work, low productivity, decreased motivation
2. Employees unhappy and feeling under-appreciated with compensation – resentful, bitter, frustrated
3. Lack of direction and clarity in employee job description- confused, overwhelmed, feels work goes unnoticed

The I Love Rewards Prescription:
1. Build relationships with your employees to show your appreciation and to ensure that recognition is genuine. Also encourage peer to peer recognition so that employees feel valued not only by their leader but also by their colleagues. Almost half (48%) of workers are not satisfied with the relationship they have with their boss. (Adecco Survey) Fifty-nine per cent of workers claim they are not satisfied with the level of support they receive from their colleagues. (Adecco Survey)
2. In times like these, it is hard to offer more compensation. Rather than providing raises, provide rewards. Adecco agrees that rewards improve morale and help ease compensation complaints. (Adecco USA) Use rewards in the workplace to rev up engagement. A survey conducted on Adecco’s behalf by Harris Interactive, showed that 66 percent of American workers are not currently satisfied with their level of compensation. (Adecco Survey)
3. It is the employer’s responsibility to clearly define goals to their employees. It is also their responsibility to update them and hold their employees accountable weekly to ensure they are completing goals and receiving support to attain goals. In return, employees will believe that employers are truly invested in their future and will invest their time with the company. (Adecco USA) Finally, weekly goal setting will complement performance reviews. It is much easier to look back on how weekly goals were attained rather than trying to think of what every employee did over the past 6-12 months.