Did you know that having a happy, productive team can be the key to a successful, profitable business?
When an employee is disengaged or unproductive, this can cost you a lot of time and money and it can also cause you a lot of stress.
If you need to constantly follow up with your disengaged employee it can be exhausting and frustrating. It’s also likely it’s already impacting the morale of the whole team.
Here are some signs you have a disengaged team member:
- Disengaged employees don’t care about being on time, they’re often late for work, come back late from lunch, miss deadlines regularly or just don’t even bother to finish their work and leave it for someone else to finish.
- They’re usually the ones complaining about their pay and regularly asking for a pay rise, complaining about their team-mates, they never take responsibility and they will always find an excuse or they’ll blame someone else for their mistakes.
- Disengaged workers will never ask questions or ask for help, they think they know everything and won’t listen to feedback or instruction.
- Disengaged employees aren’t excited about “being on the bus” and they’re not interested in your culture and values.
- They’re not interested in growing with the business or development opportunities. They’ll do the bare minimum. They’ll stand around and wait to be told what to do.
- Disengaged employees don’t like contributing or collaborating, they prefer to work on their own and hide. They’re usually saying “That’s not my job”.
- Disengaged employees often make up stories or just generally gossip and cause trouble amongst the team. They may also bully other employees.
Sometimes the reason your employee has become disengaged will have nothing to do with you or your business. They may have personal issues that they’re dealing with that you don’t know about. Asking if they’re OK might give someone the opportunity to tell you about an issue that is affecting their work.
Set clear expectations
- This really should start as early as part of your recruitment process. Make sure candidates know what to expect and what you expect from them if they are successful in their application.
- Set performance standards, make sure your employees understand your performance management process – this could be having regular catch ups to see how your employees are going or it could be a more formal performance appraisal process.
- Make sure you have really clear communication and have regular team meetings where employees are encouraged to ask questions.
Empower employees
- Empowered employees will usually be more engaged. They’ll be loyal, committed and more productive. An employee that knows they can make their own decisions will have more autonomy – give them the right tools and resources.
- Employees don’t like to be micromanaged.
- Invest time in educating and training your team.
Feedback – give and receive
- Listen.
- Feedback should be two way. Ask your employees for feedback, this could be an Employee Engagement/Satisfaction Survey or it could be less formal (or both).
- Give praise to an employee for a job well done.
- Give constructive feedback when an employee needs to be told they have done something wrong or they need to improve. Help them and give them the tools to improve.
Set goals
- Set business, team, and individual performance goals and check them regularly.
- Measure performance.
- Implement a bonus/incentive structure.
Increase happiness at work
- Make sure your employees are happy when they come to work.
- People will perform better when they’re happy.
- Employees that are unhappy are very often disengaged and unproductive.
Be Available
- Make sure you’re always available when one of your team members has a question or concern
- Your employees will feel comfortable to reach out if they know you are available.
Know Your Employees’ Strengths
- Ensure you have your employees in the right positions.
- Know what their greatest strengths are and build on them.
- You could also consider some behavioural profiling like DiSC to find out their strengths.
Listen
- A good leader will always take the time to listen.
- Make sure your employees know that you care and that you’re interested in what they have to say.
If you need to employ people for your business to function, it’s important to make sure your employees are happy and productive to ensure your business is profitable.
We can help you stop wasting time and money by providing you with expert on-demand HR services for an affordable monthly fee.
For further expert advice on human resources or if you have any questions about anything HR related, get in touch.
Karen Hillen is your HR Partner, she helps businesses by providing HR support and advice services.
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