A presentation I gave to the BusinessSA conference May 8, 2012.

1. THE TOP TRENDS
OF STAFF
DISENGAGEMENT
AND HOW TO FIX
THEM

2. 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

3. 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

4. DETECTING EMPLOYEE DISENGAGEMENT
• A change in the feeling of the workplace
• Ongoing climate and employee satisfaction surveys
• Exit interviews

5. 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

6. WHICH WORKFORCE WOULD YOU
PREFER?

7. 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

8. 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

9. 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

10. THE ORIGINS OF EMPLOYEE DISENGAGEMENT

11. MANAGEMENT CAN CULTIVATE EMPLOYEE
ENGAGEMENT

12. POOR JOB AND WORK DESIGN CAN LEAD TO
EMPLOYEE DISENGAGEMENT

13. JOB AND WORK REDESIGN CAN LEAD TO
EMPLOYEE ENGAGEMENT

14. 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’

15. 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

16. 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?

17. 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

18. 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

19. 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

20. 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

21. 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

22. 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

23. 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

24. 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

25. MANAGEMENT CAN CULTIVATE EMPLOYEE
ENGAGEMENT

26. QUESTIONS?
THANK YOU