Do you consider yourself to be an engaged employee? A staggering 85% of people are either not engaged, or worse, actively disengaged at work according to Gallup. That’s only 15% of employees worldwide working with passion, driving innovation and moving their organisation forward.
While the impact of disengagement on employee wellbeing is significant (more about this in my previous blog on mental health in the workplace), employee disengagement is also responsible for $7 trillion in lost productivity globally.
Causes of disengagement
While leading a workshop with leaders and managers from airport ground handling at a recent conference in Istanbul, it became very apparent that there are many similarities in the challenges we face to engage our teams, whatever industry we work in. Whether it’s manufacturing, engineering, automation – or indeed ground handling.
Research shows that factors influencing disengagement include a lack of investment in training & development, poor leaders & managers, poor communication, poor change management and poor cultures. The list goes on. And when we shared our experiences in the workshop, all of the above came up. Along with a lack of fairness, not being appreciated and a lack of clarity about direction and business goals.
Importance of alignment
In order to feel engaged, your people need to be aligned to the needs of your organisation. And, as I have previously touched on, this has to work both ways. Your organisation must also be aligned with the needs of your people.
Put it this way and it sounds fairly simple, but there are multiple variables that can positively affect alignment. Visible, capable and empowering leaders, as well as managers who are engaged. Employees who have a voice that is challenged, but also valued and respected. And organisational integrity in values that are reflected by all employees, all of the time.
Engaging factors
As you can see from some of the photos of the day, the fantastic workshop participants in Istanbul were highly engaged – but what factors affect engagement?
Working as a group, here are some of the key elements that we discussed, and a lot of them were around development – learning new skills, training opportunities, future prospects and potential for progression. Similarly, leadership, culture, team, trust, belonging and feeling a sense of empowerment or being heard were all seen as vital.
Why bother?
That might seem like a lot of things to get right, but the rewards are proven – and potentially huge. Research from Korn Ferry reveals that engaged employees are 32% more productive and generate 43% more revenue than those who are not engaged. What’s more, organisations in the top quartile of engaged employees achieve 10% higher customer metrics, 20% higher sales and 21% higher profitability.
The business case is clear – employee engagement is a crucial link between investment and the bottom line. It is the organisations that make the effort to find out how their employees feel about them, and then act on this feedback, who will enjoy the highest returns.
The problem of disengagement won’t go away on its own. Run a training workshop for your team to increase engagement, wellbeing, productivity and profitability.
This blog is based on an interactive workshop led by Mark Hemming at Ground Handling International Leader’s Academy Conference in February 2020.
