4 Signs of Disengaged Employees and How to Fix It

Employee engagement is essential in enhancing productivity and retention. When there is a proper employee engagement system in place, your employees are more likely to be aligned with your business’s values and goals. With an engaged workforce, there’s no doubt that you’ll notice a positive impact on your business. Creativity, productivity, and high performance are just a few of the benefits that engaged employees bring to a business. 

However, having disengaged employees can have the exact opposite effect. According to a Gallup survey, 51% of employees are not engaged at work, which can hurt your business in the long run. If employees become actively disengaged, they can be harmful to your business, not only at an individual level but affect the morale and motivation of the whole team.

So, What Are Disengaged Employees?

To start off, engaged employees are those who are passionate about their work. They do everything they can to help the business do well and be successful. When an employee is engaged, they work hard and help drive the company towards its goals. 

On the other hand, disengaged employees are not emotionally committed to the company they work for. They don’t put any energy or passion into their work and are dissatisfied with their role or the company itself. These employees don’t just affect their own productivity and output; their negative attitude can also impact those around them. To help you find any disengaged employees in your company, here are some signs to look out for.

Signs of Disengaged Employees

1. Decline in Productivity

One clear sign of disengagement that you should look out for is when your once highly engaged employees begin to show a decrease in productivity. Everybody has highs and lows when it comes to being productive, but when a decline in productivity is prolonged, it can become a big concern in the long run. Drop-in productivity in one employee can also affect the team as well. This employee may not contribute much to the projects assigned, halting the work of their team and may lead to missed deadlines. Shortcomings like this will hinder the effectiveness and performance of a whole team.

2. Low-Quality Work

Disengaged employees are less concerned about the work they’re producing and therefore less likely to work to a high standard. With that said, their quality of work may also be taking a turn in the wrong direction. Delivering low-quality work may be one of the first indicators of productivity decline and on the path of disengagement. 

However, it’s critical to bear in mind that a downturn in both productivity and quality of work can also be associated with a number of different reasons. That’s why it’s important to sit down with your employee and have an open and honest discussion to ensure that these targets aren’t being missed due to any personal issues or stress-related concerns.

3. Rise in Absenteeism

Engaged employees, for the most part, are happy to go to work because it is important to them to do a good job and help achieve the company’s vision and mission. But as employees become more and more disengaged, they begin to lose sight of the end goal, and their motivation to go to work begins to fade. As a result, absenteeism begins to increase in companies when employees begin to feel that their work is not fulfilling them. Be aware of the growing number of absences within your company, as this is another sign of employee disengagement.

4. Withdrawal from Team

If one of your employees used to be a pretty social member of the team but has begun pulling away, it’s likely they’re disengaged. Withdrawal can be a sign of many things, including possible issues among colleagues. If you end up investigating and this doesn’t happen to be the case, it can then be a clear sign of disengagement. Employees who no longer feel connected to the company may begin removing themselves from non-necessary activities and limit the amount of time they spend with people from the company. 

How Can You Fix Disengagement?

Employee disengagement can spiral out of control quickly if not addressed immediately. But don’t worry, the first step is to recognize these signs within your teams then you can start working towards re-energizing and re-engaging your employees. 

In order to find out how to re-engage your employees, you first need to find out what’s caused them to switch off in the first place. The majority of employees won’t feel comfortable openly discussing any negative feelings about your company or openly admitting that they’re not feeling engaged. Running confidential employee engagement surveys can be a great way to get into their mindset and gauge the exact location of disengagement.

By conducting these surveys regularly, the results will help you locate all potential areas of disengagement and determine the most impactful areas to work on. Once an analysis is completed, it’s essential to instill a progress plan to enhance your employee engagement system and re-engage employees. With a clear progress plan, you’ll be able to track your goals and share progress across your organization.

When you provide the necessary solutions for your employees, they’ll feel more valued and align themselves toward the business’s goals, significantly improving the overall bottom line.