THE TOP TRENDS OF STAFF DISENGAGEMENT AND HOW TO FIX THEM

DR GERRY TREUREN

•Researches turnover, job search, change management

•Centre for HRM, School of Management, University of South Australia

─ world class research into people management

─ undergraduate and postgraduate study programs

─ several different practitioner seminar series

─ website at www.unisa.edu.au/chrm

─ active LinkedIn group – all welcome

WHAT IS ‘EMPLOYEE ENGAGEMENT’?

• Willingness of an employee to happily involve themselves in their job and the work of the organisation

• Employee engagement is a combination of

─ job satisfaction

─ organisational commitment

─ willingness to go beyond the formal requirements of the job

─ personal identification with the organisation

DETECTING EMPLOYEE DISENGAGEMENT

• A change in the feeling of the workplace

• Ongoing climate and employee satisfaction surveys

• Exit interviews

SIGNS OF EMPLOYEE DISENGAGEMENT

• Increased whining, complaining and disputes requiring management intervention

• Reduced compliance with organisational policy and rules

• Increased customer complaints

• Reduced employee effort

• Increased theft

• Absenteeism, late arrival and early leaving

• Increased turnover

WHICH WORKFORCE WOULD YOU PREFER?

WHICH WORKFORCE WOULD YOU PREFER?

• In 2008, 82% of the Australian workforce was estimated to be disengaged

• Loss of 2.5 working hours per employee per day

• Cost of $42 billion to Australian employers

Which workforce would you prefer?

─ In 2008, 82% of the Australian workforce was estimated to be disengaged

─ Loss of 2.5 working hours per employee per day

─ Cost of $42 billion to Australian employers

─ Companies with engaged employees have 2.6x earnings per share

Australia’s post-GFC disengagement epidemic

• Long-term consequences of the Global Financial Crisis

─ Employee resentment to employer-imposed work intensification, lean management and cut-backs

─ Growing employee pessimism and wariness

─ Employee wish to find alternative employment

•

• The expected post-GFC stampede of employees has not happened

• Instead disengaged employees are sitting and stewing in jobs they resent

THE ORIGINS OF EMPLOYEE DISENGAGEMENT

MANAGEMENT CAN CULTIVATE EMPLOYEE ENGAGEMENT

POOR JOB AND WORK DESIGN CAN LEAD TO EMPLOYEE DISENGAGEMENT

JOB AND WORK REDESIGN CAN LEAD TO EMPLOYEE ENGAGEMENT

POOR JOB AND WORK DESIGN CAN LEAD TO EMPLOYEE DISENGAGEMENT

• Variety of tasks─ ‘I have to do the same thing every day…’

• Identity of work ─ ‘I just do my bit. I have no idea what

happens after I finish’• Significance of responsibilities

─ ‘My work makes no difference to anyone or anything’

• Autonomy of employee─ ‘I know what to do, just let me do it!’

• Feedback on employee outcomes─ ‘I have no way of knowing if I have done

my job properly’

CULTIVATING EMPLOYEE ENGAGEMENT THROUGH JOB AND WORK REDESIGN

• Management can redesign job design and work processes to improve engagement

• Some ways to redesign jobs and work processes─ Diversify and rotate work duties─ Emphasise the importance of an employee’s

job to the organisation, to customers, to the world

─ Enable employee autonomy and decision-making, and the use of judgement

─ Increase the employee’s accountability and awareness of their performance and give them the skills to do something about it

FRUSTRATION — NO SENSE OF PROGRESS — CAN LEAD TO EMPLOYEE DISENGAGEMENT

• Does Amabile and Kramer’s Progress Principle apply to your organisation and employees?─ Small, mundane workplace issues can

make or break an employee’s attitude

• Regular, annoying holdups can undermine employee commitment

• Small as well as big breakthroughs can gradually build employee engagement

• Does the employee regularly feel like they have made progress in their work?

CULTIVATING EMPLOYEE ENGAGEMENT BY REMOVING WORKPLACE ROADBLOCKS

• A feeling of making progress – however small – very important to employees─ Frustration and blockage is damaging to

employee engagement

• Work with employees to identify roadblocks to their daily achievement─ Their own skill and knowledge limits─ Organisational blockages and redtape

• Management’s role – to assist employees to get their job done

PSYCHOLOGICAL CONTRACT BREACH CAN LEAD TO EMPLOYEE DISENGAGEMENT

• Management and employees create an implicit, unwritten ‘contract’ about their mutual expectations of each other─ ‘If I do this, you will do that’…

• The employee side of the contract is formed by─ Industry and organisational standards─ Promises made to them by management─ Their interpretation of the terms

• If this contract is ‘breached’ by management, an employee may not feel obliged to honour their side of the bargain

PSYCHOLOGICAL CONTRACT BREACH CAN LEAD TO EMPLOYEE DISENGAGEMENT

• Possible sources of psychological contract breach─ Poor handling of a dispute─ The gruff manner of a manager─ Work-family conflict─ Below market or unfair wages and

conditions─ Unexpectedly unpleasant environment─ Safety risks─ Role conflict and ambiguity─ Job insecurity─ Ad hoc management style─ Misunderstanding of the terms of the

psychological contract

CULTIVATING EMPLOYEE ENGAGEMENT BY DEVELOPING A POSITIVE PSYCHOLOGICAL CONTRACT

• Do you know how employees see the relationship? Find out!─ Through regular conversations ─ Survey evidence

• Try not to breach the psychological contract─ Breach leads to disengagement and

turnover

• Cultivate positive mutual expectations─ Create a ‘relational contract’ based on

trust and mutual recognition

OUTSIDE EVENTS CAN LEAD TO EMPLOYEE DISENGAGEMENT

• Events outside the organisation can shift employee attention away from their work─ Employee engagement can decline as a

consequence

• Causes – examples─ Childcare and eldercare responsibilities─ Sickness─ Financial worries

• Management’s negative response can directly add to disengagement

CULTIVATING EMPLOYEE ENGAGEMENT BY INCREASING EMPLOYEE EMBEDDEDNESS

• Need for─ Flexible work arrangements─ Active and genuine employer support

• Management can minimise the adverse impact by cultivating attachment

─ Employee fit with job and organisation─ Employee linkage with other employees

and the work of the organisation─ Awareness of the real and perceived cost

of leaving

• Training of managers for these situations may be needed

EMPLOYEE ATTITUDES CAN INCREASE EMPLOYEE DISENGAGEMENT

• Some employees will see the workplace as a glass half full, others half empty• Some may be resistant to change• Some may be very tolerant of ambiguity

• Two employees may react very differently to the same situation─ One accepting and supportive─ Another might react and oppose

• Disengagement may be the (inexplicable) result of a person’s response to a situation

• Positive attitudes can be cultivated

CULTIVATING ENGAGEMENT BY RECOGNISING EMPLOYEE ATTITUDE

• Management can cultivate positive attitudes• Through ongoing communication• Involvement in decision-making• Ongoing education

• Recognise that employees will vary in their response to events─ May necessitate different strategies of

employee involvement

• Make conscious choices of personality type during recruitment─ For example, if your organisation is facing

major change, don’t recruit the change-phobic

MANAGEMENT CAN CULTIVATE EMPLOYEE ENGAGEMENT

QUESTIONS?

THANK YOU