employee disengagement and its remedies
TRANSCRIPT
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THE TOP TRENDS OF STAFF DISENGAGEMENT AND HOW TO FIX THEM
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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
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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
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DETECTING EMPLOYEE DISENGAGEMENT
• A change in the feeling of the workplace
• Ongoing climate and employee satisfaction surveys
• Exit interviews
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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
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WHICH WORKFORCE WOULD YOU PREFER?
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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
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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
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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
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THE ORIGINS OF EMPLOYEE DISENGAGEMENT
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MANAGEMENT CAN CULTIVATE EMPLOYEE ENGAGEMENT
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POOR JOB AND WORK DESIGN CAN LEAD TO EMPLOYEE DISENGAGEMENT
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JOB AND WORK REDESIGN CAN LEAD TO EMPLOYEE ENGAGEMENT
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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’
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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
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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?
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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MANAGEMENT CAN CULTIVATE EMPLOYEE ENGAGEMENT
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QUESTIONS?
THANK YOU