4 Causes of Disengagement
If you look at your survey results and realize disengagement is present, it’s important to consider why people are disengaged with their jobs in the first place. Before you set up your employee engagement strategy, think about how these four common problems may be affecting your business.
1. Lack of growth opportunities
If your employees don’t feel that they are benefiting from your organization beyond their salary, this can discourage them from putting in 100% of their effort. Even if you’re unable to provide immediate opportunities for career advancement, your team members should be at least feel like they’re learning and receiving the support they need to grow.
Creating growth opportunities may come in the form of sponsoring conferences and training or even an in-house mentorship program. This will also increase employees’ feelings of competency, which has a direct effect on engagement.
2. Boredom
Boredom is known to be a top indicator of disengagement. This is because it can quickly decrease morale and lead to complete apathy about your organization. Employees want to feel not only useful but also challenged. They want to be able to contribute, while not having to run through the same tasks every single day. Though keeping recurring tasks may be simple, your employees will be most engaged when they get opportunities to work on new, interesting projects, especially if they’re able to take the lead.
3. Lack of recognition
Engaged employees don’t always need recognition to do the right thing, but in order to get people engaged and keep them there, you’ll need to show them that they matter. Team members will only see the value of going above and beyond if they feel motivated by their managers and peers. Three quarters of employees are satisfied with a simple thank you do their efforts, so if you’re not giving at least that much, your survey results may show low engagement.
4. Poor communication
If you don’t message your employees about important updates or encourage collaboration across a team, your employees may feel out of the loop or unsure what their goals are at all. This disconnect from your company culture and their own work can lead to rapid decreases in commitment. Employee engagement often depends on positive work relationships, which help build trust.
Implementing engagement initiatives like team-building activities can help you get on the same page. Team dynamics can transform a person’s experience, making a real impact on how much a person feels connected to their work.