Signs of disengaged employees in your workplace

Often, if an employee is unsatisfied and disengaged at work, the signs can be fairly easy to identify. Here are a few telltale signs to look for that can clue you in to how your workplace culture might be affecting your employees’ engagement.

• Decline in productivity: A disengaged employee may miss deadlines or turn in work that isn’t up to quality standards.
• Social and professional withdrawal: Disengaged employees may be less likely to engage in friendly conversations with their manager and/or coworkers. They may also be less likely to take on new projects or contribute during meetings.
• Lack of accountability: When an employee repeatedly says they’re going to do something and then doesn’t follow through, it may be indicative of an overall sense of disengagement with their job.
• Change in attitude: If a typically positive employee has become somber and silent, it could mean they’re no longer engaged with their role.

Why employees become disengaged at work

If an employee is showing signs of disengagement, you need to determine if your workplace culture is the reason behind the change in their behavior. It’s also important to make sure the change isn’t due to another extenuating, non-work related circumstance that you can support your employee through.

Employee disengagement may occur for a number of reasons, including:

• Lack of meaningful relationships: When there isn’t a sense of camaraderie at work, it’s easy for employees to check out and lose motivation. Especially with the recent increase of remote work, building bonds between employees takes extra effort. Stronger relationships can help motivate employees to work together as a team and boost one another’s productivity.
• Limited growth potential: If employees don’t see a path forward for their career at your company, they’re less likely to be motivated to deeply engage with their work, and may be looking elsewhere for more promising career opportunities.
• Little or no recognition of accomplishments: Employees are more likely to thrive when they feel respected and appreciated. If you aren’t regularly recognizing them for their efforts, you may see a decline in their participation and engagement. Lack of financial recognition can also contribute to employee disengagement. If your staff members don’t believe they’re being properly compensated for the level of work they’re providing, then they may be less likely to put forth their best efforts.
• Micromanagement: When employees don’t feel trusted to complete their work without constant monitoring or questioning from their managers, they’re more likely to check out. Micromanagement can make employees feel less empowered to make decisions without running them by higher-ups, which can then delay projects and slow productivity.
• Ineffective training: If employees aren’t equipped with the proper training and guidance to complete their work to your satisfaction, it’s on you as a manager to set them up for success. Otherwise, they’re more likely to become disinterested or provide you with less-than-stellar work.
• Lack of purpose: Increasingly, employees want to feel their work is making a difference in the world, contributing to a cause they can feel proud about or making meaningful progress toward reaching departmental or company-wide benchmarks. If an employee feels as though their work isn’t making a difference to the company or society, they have less reason to be engaged with their role.

How disengaged employees impact your business

Learning to identify disengaged employees is crucial to helping your business thrive, as employee disengagement can hurt not just your company’s culture, but its bottom line as well. Some negative impacts that might occur include:

• Decreased sales and profits: When employee disengagement leads to decreased productivity, it can trickle down to sales and profits. When employees aren’t putting in their best efforts, all aspects of the business can be affected, from bookkeeping, to marketing and customer service, all of which might have a negative impact on your numbers.
• Lowered morale: Even one disengaged employee can have a contagious affect on your company’s culture, leading to more and more employees experiencing disengagement. This kind of widespread negativity about the workplace can lower morale, which can be bad both for business and your company’s culture.
• Higher turnover: When employees aren’t engaged, they’re typically experiencing issues that make them more likely to want to leave their jobs and look for a new, more inspiring workplace. High turnover can lead to less institutional knowledge among your staff, making it more difficult to train new workers. Hiring new employees can also be expensive, which may impact your overall budget.

How to combat employee disengagement

Just because an employee is disengaged doesn’t mean all hope is lost. You can try these techniques to help improve your employees’ experiences at work:

• Get to know your employees better: Understanding your employees on a more personal level can help you better learn their strengths, communication styles and what motivates them at work. It can also make them more willing to open up to you about how you can improve their experience at your company, which is key to unlocking better engagement for your employees.
• Evaluate compensation and benefits packages: Have you been appropriately rewarding high-performers for their work? Take a closer look at what your employees are paid and the other benefits you offer to ensure it matches the level of appreciation you want to show to your staff.
• Celebrate wins and don’t harp on mistakes: Recognizing employees’ efforts, both publicly and privately, can be a good way to help them stay engaged and show you trust them to do great work. On the flip side, if an employee makes a mistake, help them understand what they can learn from it and move on, as creating a culture of shame and blame can decrease engagement.
• Find ways to break the ice: Giving employees opportunities to socialize with you and their coworkers now and then can help them build relationships and strengthen morale.
• Embrace flexibility: Show respect for your employees’ lives outside of work by offering a reasonable amount of flexibility. If employees are less stressed about personal factors, such as getting their kids to school on time or being able to schedule medical appointments, they’ll be less likely to check out at work. In fact, they’ll likely offer the same respect you’re giving them, which can make them want to work harder to help you achieve your business goals.

The importance of employee engagement

Keeping your teams engaged with their work goes beyond goals like productivity. It’s also about fostering a positive workplace and promoting employee satisfaction. If they feel like the work they’re doing has a purpose and is fulfilling, it can help them innovate and contribute to the company’s goals.