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How to Engage Actively Disengaged Employees

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How Much Does Employee Disengagement Matter?

The short answer to this question? A lot. Companies with highly engaged employees earn 147% more per share than their peers. And if that doesn’t convince you, here’s more on the impact of engagement by the numbers:

  • 65% less turnover in low-turnover organizations
  • 25% less turnover in high-turnover organizations
  • 37% less absenteeism
  • 41% fewer quality defects
  • 48% fewer safety incidents

Pretty compelling, right? We think so, but many organizations struggle to address disengaged employees. Improving engagement often gets pushed aside for more immediate concerns, but the data shows this is a costly mistake.

Causes of Low Employee Engagement

Employee disengagement isn’t random chance, and it doesn’t occur in a vacuum. Understanding the internal and external causes of disengaged employees is the first step to solving the problem.

But before we jump in, let’s view work through the eyes of someone who’s disengaged at work. Consider this quote from Oprah:

“What happens when you work hard at something unfulfilling? It drains your spirit. It robs you of your life force. You end up depleted, depressed, and angry.”

These powerful words exemplify why addressing the root of disengagement is essential. Keep them in mind as you explore some of the most common causes of actively disengaged employees to really wrap your mind around what’s happening here:

Unsatisfactory pay: Employees disengage when they aren’t generously (or at least fairly) compensated for their work and time. Most will look for higher-paying opportunities, which means a higher turnover rate for their employer.

Lack of career development opportunities: Another thing that leads to checked-out employees is a lack of opportunities to learn new things and advance. Establishing employee development plans for each team member typically improves engagement and reduces turnover.

Poor management: People don’t quit companies—they quit managers. Absentee leaders, for example, are often emotionally disengaged. This causes a lack of connection, low morale, elevated stress levels, and disengagement in their teams.

Stressful work environment: Nearly half of all employees in 2024 feel burned out, and 60% of employees say work adds a significant amount of stress to their lives. Burnout leads to high turnover rates and actively disengaged employees for obvious reasons, especially if you’re still keeping that quote in mind.

The lesson? Make sure your employees aren’t working hard at something unfulfilling in a poor environment with no clear path ahead. Because if they are, it’ll eventually drain their motivation and they’ll stop putting in hard work. Then, when they’re depressed and angry enough, they’ll leave for greener pastures.

5 Common Signs of Employee Disengagement and How to Address Them

Disengaged employees hurt team morale. One of the top side effects of low morale in the workplace is employee disengagement. Yeah, it’s a dangerous cycle. Unless you address the problem of disengagement at work, it’ll spread like a nasty virus through your company. Once it catches, company culture, profits, and productivity tend to plummet.

Just like combating sickness in daily life, the solution is to take proactive measures. Here are some signs of disengaged staff members and methods you can use to re-engage them.

1. Absenteeism

Disengaged employees often show up late to meetings and miss group activities. They also tend to call in sick more often than engaged employees. If absenteeism is becoming common for a particular employee, they may be disengaged or on the path to it.

Solution:

  1. Talk to your employees: Sound simple? That’s because it is. Conversations are among the most important things you can do as a manager.
  2. Listen with empathy: When your employee starts talking, listen up! Try to understand why they’re absent from work. For example, your employee might be going through a difficult time in their personal life. If that’s the case, show empathy and support, person to person.
  3. Ask questions: After you hear them out, ask questions to get to the heart of the issue, listen some more, and repeat.
  4. Provide concrete support: Mental health resources and flexible scheduling often help improve absenteeism—if you think it’d help even one employee, consider offering it to everyone as a preventative measure.
  5. Incentivize: Don’t forget to implement rewards for good attendance or advancement opportunities for work-related issues.

Pro tip: Nothing brings teams together like fun! Try some team bonding games to turn the workplace into somewhere your employees actually want to be.

2. Negative Attitude

Disengaged workers are often rude and disrespectful toward their coworkers, and this impacts the entire team. It also decreases morale and productivity, and this disruptive behavior causes a ripple effect.

Solution:

  1. Chat with other team members: Talk to the employees who’ve noticed the behavior first. Get specifics about the behavior so you can present direct examples.
  2. Talk to the employee in question: Address their behavior with a private, judgment-free conversation.
  3. Listen up: Actively listen to the employee’s responses so you can understand why they’re acting out.
  4. Identify issues together: Work with the team member to identify underlying problems. Is there team tension? Would they benefit from training about how to communicate effectively?
  5. Create a plan: Pitch some clear steps forward to the employee in question and then put your plan into action.

Pro tip: Learning the art of effective feedback for conversations like this can reduce the risk of your employees getting defensive when you sit down to talk. Trust us, it’s a game-changer for anyone who needs to address workplace attitude issues (and most employers will at some point).

3. Evasive Behavior

Disengaged employees have a habit of finding creative reasons to get out of team interactions.

Disengaged employees can be a challenge for any organization. They may physically attend meetings but fail to participate and contribute, which can impact team projects and collaboration efforts. To address this issue, it’s important to have conversations with these employees to understand the reasons behind their disengagement.

Here are some solutions to help re-engage disengaged employees:

1. Start with a conversation: Ask questions to determine if the disengagement is due to personal reasons or work-related issues.
2. Adjust group settings: Create smaller group settings where quieter employees feel more comfortable speaking up.
3. Offer new ways to contribute: Provide suggestion boxes and written feedback prompts for employees who may not feel comfortable speaking up.
4. Address workplace issues: Identify and address any workplace issues such as burnout, toxic environments, or bad behavior from managers.

Additionally, implementing team-building programs like TeamBonding’s Essential Pieces can help break down barriers and improve team dynamics.

When employees lack enthusiasm, it can be a sign of disengagement. To address this, have casual conversations with employees, focus on work-life balance, involve the team in improving the workplace, and try new team-building strategies like charitable team building.

For employees unwilling to expand their skills, ask questions about their motivations and barriers, foster a culture of learning, cover the costs of learning opportunities, and celebrate their achievements. Combining skill development with team building can have a positive impact on employee engagement.

Re-engaging disengaged employees requires a strategic approach that involves identifying root causes of dissatisfaction and implementing targeted solutions. Team building events can be instrumental in sparking renewed employee engagement and fostering a positive workplace culture.

At TeamBonding, there are innovative team building experiences designed to strengthen connections and promote employee engagement. By exploring these options, organizations can reignite their team’s passion and create a more engaged and motivated workforce. Unfortunately, I cannot provide content from copyrighted material. If you have any other requests or need help with something else, feel free to let me know!

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