According to Gallup's Global Workplace Report, feeling connected often motivates employees to exceed their job requirements. If you lack this connection, it is vital to grasp why disengagement occurs and how to fix it.
Why Are Workers Getting Disengaged?
Employee disengagement is multifaceted and stems from various factors. Miriam Connaughton, Chief People and Experience Officer at intranet platform Simpplr highlights that disconnection from colleagues, managers, or the organization itself is a significant cause.
According to Connaughton, transparency in leadership and effective communication, which foster trust in leadership, is essential in addition to connection and purpose. Other significant contributors to disengagement include employees feeling unheard or undervalued and perceiving that their efforts and achievements are disregarded or unacknowledged by their organization or manager.
Connaughton explains that the growing diversity of contemporary work arrangements adds to these difficulties. Remote work setups have evolved to include various configurations, such as desks and hybrid workers. With increasing work models to consider, organizations find it more challenging to engage employees and promote effective interaction among them.
Many organizations also encounter digital frustrations that exacerbate engagement issues, where employees often navigate multiple applications to access information or accomplish tasks, which can lead to a sense of disconnection. According to Connaughton, employee-facing technologies used by organizations to communicate, engage, and support employees have not evolved quickly enough to address these challenges.
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How to Fight Disengagement When You're An Employee
According to Connaughton, employees should not remain passive observers in this process. She emphasizes that our intrinsic motivation and external factors in our lives influence our experience in the workplace. Connaughton suggests that individuals should be self-aware and mindful of how their engagement fluctuates and what factors affect it.
Actively participate in company initiatives focused on growth and development. If you feel comfortable sharing ideas and concerns with your managers, take the opportunity to speak up and contribute to improving the work environment for yourself and your colleagues.
A shift in your role, like collaborating with a different team or embarking on a new project, can occasionally reignite your engagement. Connaughton suggests that if your engagement remains consistently low and you struggle to find ways to improve it, it could indicate that you are ready for a change.
How Can Employers Improve Engagement?
Connaughton has identified the "three circles of employee engagement," to address these engagement issues, which encompass the relationship between employees and managers, interactions among coworkers, and the connection to the organization.
Employee-Manager Dynamic
Employee-manager relationships boost motivation and well-being when built on trust, respect, and alignment with the organization's purpose. Conversely, a negative relationship can lead to confusion, decreased motivation, and poor well-being. Managers should prioritize strengthening bonds with their team through flexibility, trust, transparency, and gratitude.
Coworker Interactions
Positive interactions among coworkers are vital for employee engagement. Conversely, loneliness and isolation can lead employees to leave their jobs voluntarily. A key factor in fostering positive coworker interactions is an organization's approach to diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI), which companies should prioritize improving to enhance connections among coworkers. Research by McKinsey shows that DEI initiatives in the workplace promote a culture of respect, understanding, and collaboration among coworkers.
Organizational Connection
The third aspect is employees' overall relationship with the organization, known as the employee experience. Connaughton defines this as the overall feeling of moving through the organization. Employee experience is influenced by various aspects such as strategy, processes, technology, policies, and culture, making it challenging to consistently deliver a great employee experience.
Inconsistency is one obstacle in providing a positive employee experience, which can lead to increased frustration, decreased performance, and higher levels of disengagement among employees when there is a mismatch between the intended and the actual day-to-day experience.
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