Connecting the Disconnected

In the post pandemic new normal, disengaged employees is the new challenge. It is severely undermining business performance. Gallop recently released State of the Global Workplace: 2022 report. 60% of people reported being emotionally detached at work. 19 % felt miserable. Only 33 % reported feeling engaged – and that is lower than 2020. This no pore just a “people issue”. It’s become a bottom line issue. As per Gallop, employees who are not engaged cost the world $7.8 trillion in lost productivity, equal to 11% of global GDP !

And this dis-engagement or dis-satisfaction is not about giving flexibility of work in the new hybrid working. That’s because, as Gallup finds, it’s not just the hours, work-life balance, or workplace location that leave workers dissatisfied. 

Through our experience in helping organisations get more out of their investment in human resource, we have identified 5 top reasons for the employee disconnect. And 3 strategies that work for creating the required connect. Here is what they are.

5 Reasons for Disconnect

1.    A major reason for the employee disconnect is lack of visibility of how their job relates to the purpose of the business. Employees are not able to understand how their job contributes to business success. Most of the times hard targets are pushed on to teams and individuals without a clarity of why those are required. The “what” is demanded from them. The “how” is defined for them through processes. However, the “why” remains un-answered. And that’s a big contributor to why employees feel disconnected in an organisation. No amount of employee engagement can overcome this disconnect.  

2.    Coupled with the issue of assigning targets without explaining why, is the aspect of lack of empowerment. Is enough empowerment to deliver the results given? Organisations many times fail to “hear” the voice of the employee on how things could be done better and more efficiently. Goal setting is to be done top down in the organisation – that’s true. However, the employee needs to be given a say to set out the key actions that will help achieve the results. This “top down and bottom up” approach is not something that organisations are able to put in place. And that increases the disconnect.

3.    Another important contributor for the employee disconnect is the lack of visibility to their growth. Growth paths are essential to be showcased. Possibilities and probabilities need to be clarified. A foggy career path is not a comforting thing for anyone.  

4.    The moment we put a team together a team culture is formed. When not attended to in the right manner, the work culture can deteriorate and become very toxic. Negative work cultures can never lead to higher productivity. Who sets the culture? Well not HR ! Culture is set by the business leaders. Many organisations, specifically startups / SMEs, make the error of not investing energy and resource in setting the company culture. We all know that IT assets need an AMC to maintain their efficiency and keep them operational. Organisations need to realise that their Human Assets need nurturing through a well formulated work culture. And this organisation culture needs to be kept alive through constant messaging.

5.    The pandemic has highlighted the need of a support system. However lack of support system has always been a key factor that contributes to the feeling of discontent. The new normal is packed with emotional stress. Employees need a way to bond together. They need formal and informal support systems to help them through small and big challenges. Lack of such a support system leads to the feeling of “No one cares. I am alone”.

3 Strategies for Creating the Connect

Increasing salaries and spending money on “off sites” are common remedies organizations resort to when trying to re-engage with employees. These are good to do, though will fail at creating a real connect with employees.

a. Align Actions with Business Objectives

Employees should be able to make a sense out of what they are doing- the cause for which they are working. They need to have a clear line of sight to what are the main strategic moves the organisation is making. And then be able to connect their job content with the Key Results the business is wanting to drive. A sharp focus on driving key results connected to overall business strategy is required. Many businesses have been able to do this by creating and implementing OKRs – An Objectives and Key Results Framework. Working with OKRs provides for dynamic changes in the working while keeping the team and the organisation aligned to the overall business strategy. It is a great way of creating a business connect for the employees.

b.   Empower to Deliver Results

This is more to do with the way of working of leaders than organisational processes. It starts with right skilling the employees and sharing clarity on the Key Results expected. Then allow the teams to come up with how they are going to deliver on results. I have talked about this to many business leaders. A lot of them tend to think the team will fail if not told how to go about their job. And my response is, make a shift from controlling to enabling. As a leader you still monitor and run check-ins on progress made. But adopt an enabling approach. What does the team need to get the job done. Let the team reflect on what they are doing right, what they are doing in-correct and how can they deliver. That enables a sense of being in the game. That creates a very powerful connect for everyone. And it leads helps delivering much better results. 

c.    Build a Performance Culture

A good gauge of culture is to hear what employees say when they exit an organisation. How was it to work in that company. How did they feel. Sustainable growth is heavily dependent on the work culture that is built within an organisation. And employees stretch because they want to, not because they are told.

Expected cultural values need to be articulated and communicated very well. And they need to be demonstrated through action of the leaders. People need to see evidence that leaders are adhering to the stated values. I often say this -

 Culture is not about putting posters

on the walls;

It is about creating meaningful conversations in the halls ! 

In Summary

Businesses cannot ignore the criticality of creating a meaningful connect with the employees. And creating such a connect will require deliberate decisions and actions by business leaders. It’s not the job of HR department. It’s to be driven by business leaders. Businesses that successfully negotiate the turbulent and dynamic new normal, will do so by ensuring a strong connect is built between the organisation and the employees. 

Stay connected and look forward to our white paper on High Performance Organisations !