Engagement or lack of....

I attended an HR Leadership Council conference recently, and want to share some disturbing findings:

• 95 % of employees don’t understand their company’s strategic goals
• 50 % of the average employee’s time is spent on non-productive work
• Globally, the number of highly disengaged employees has increased from 1 of 10 to 1:5 since 2007!
• Data suggests that rising stars have been particularly hit. 5 times more high potential employees report that they are not putting in full effort in their job, AND 1 in 4 believes he/she will be working for another employer within one year.
• Only 20 % of employees are actively aligning their efforts with company goals. This is bad news for excellence in execution.
• The disengaged are staying with the employer more than before! While they before were looking for alternatives they now just stay due to risk aversion. Combine this with the fact that the rising stars are more actively looking for alternatives than ever before!
• Managers are less likely than ever before to flag bad news! Less than 20 % of executive teams are informed of bad news that is material to company strategy and performance....and the company earnings at stake before we flag a problem is increasing too!
• 97 % of senior managers believe that innovation will be more important in the coming years. At the same time managers are less likely to encourage and support employees to try new things. Managers are becoming more risk averse!

It would be ignorance to assume there being easy solutions to these challenges. But there are in fact some low cost steps we as managers can take in times like these.

Some very practical and inexpensive success factors and suggestions:

1. Performance management. More than ever assure that your critical staff has goals that are linked to the strategy, that goal progress is monitored and documented!
2. Informal performance management: more than ever keep in dialogue with your staff. Follow up on progress; ask if they have what they need to succeed etc.
3. Job-interest alignment is the overall most powerful commitment driver. Ensure people have tasks and projects that they find interesting and challenging. The only way to know is to ask. Do not assume you know what make people tick. Check and double check!
4. Manager quality is the second most important driver for commitment...hmm.. More than ever: think through the way you manage and how you could increase commitment and engagement.