Disengaged Employees – Importance and meaning

Disengaged Employees- Meaning

A disengaged employee is someone who doesn’t enjoy working and never put in extra effort and does work for the sake of it. It is highly unlikely for them to become an evangelist of your company and culture. Infacts employees who are highly disengaged consciously cause problems in the company and speak bad of it to others that may lead to an increase in the number of disengaged employees in the company.

In this disengaged employees glossary, we also cover-

• Disengaged Employees – Gallup
• What causes employee disengagement?
• Disengaged Employees? Do something about it

Let’s look at them successively, one at a time.”

Disengaged Employees – Gallup

As per Gallup, the highly disengaged employees are not just unhappy at work, they are also the ones with a constant thought that their needs are not being met and hence they are resentful showing their dissatisfaction in some way or the other. They go on to really undermine the accomplishments of engaged colleagues.

For instance- When you ask an employee to take up a new project instead of being happy and welcoming for the opportunity he replies to the mail after days of receiving it and even then never puts in enough effort. He does the bare minimum for every task assigned to him, takes no initiative, gives no suggestions, is not interested in brainstorming sessions whatsoever. He holds back and keeps criticising the manager and work because he is not invested enough.

What Causes Employee Disengagement?

The work you do must be fulfilling, and positive as it consumes most part of our weekdays. Here are several elements that might be leaving some or most of your employees disengaged.

1. Responsibilities are not justified for the compensation
2. There is no growth or skill enhancement scope
3. The employee is not happy with stakeholders like their manager
4. The workload is causing burnout
5. Employee is not the right fit for the company culture
6. The employee feels unappreciated

Disengaged Employees? Do something about it

Re-engaging the disengaged employees may seem like a lot of work but all it takes is a little change in approach. Here are some simple tips-

1. Ask the right questions to listen and act
2. Give a subtle reminder that they are being watched
3. Once in a while don’t bring numbers in the review meeting, keep it honest and real
4. Say ‘Thank You’ and appreciate the efforts 
5. Show and let them be the part of a bigger picture
6. Create more opportunities for them to work and learn the new
7. Try offering flexibility in terms of work hours to the employees
8. Let them know how their work is making a difference
9. Share both good and bad news with them

Also Read: Reengage Your employees with these best employee engagement tips