What are 4 Signs of Disengagement?

There is a glut of articles about the employee engagement crisis, with statistics that point to a 10-year low. They’re all but screaming, “We’re doomed to disengagement!”

Before you start firing up those coals for a summer barbecue or putting together integration activities (step away from the karaoke machine, please) in a Hail Mary attempt to bring those disengaged employees back in the fold, we want to address employee engagement, disengagement, and how you can identify those staff members who have one foot out the door.

Actively Disengaged vs Not Engaged

Engagement isn’t black and white. You’re not either in or out. There’s a spectrum of commitment that employees experience. It’s important to note the key differences between actively disengaged and not engaged.

Feature	Not Engaged (Disengaged)	Actively Disengaged
Daily Behavior	"Sleepwalking," doing the bare minimum.	Acting out, complaining, undermining.
Cultural Impact	Passive; lacks energy.	Toxic; spreads negativity.
Productivity	Low to moderate (consistent).	Very low/Counter-productive.
Retention	High risk (will leave for slightly better pay).	High risk (but often stays to vocalize discontent).
CustomInsight Reference	Represents a "lack of productivity."	Represents "significant damage" to the firm.

Not engaged employees represent a missed opportunity for growth and innovation. Actively disengaged employees represent a direct cost to the bottom line. The latter group not only produces less but also actively works against the productivity of engaged employees by creating a distracting, negative work environment.

Weirdly, your “not engaged” group might be quite satisfied. The key is to identify your engaged, not engaged, and actively disengaged employees. Find the “why” behind their attitudes toward the organization and address them!

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What are the Signs of Disengagement?

Increase in Absenteeism:

Doctor appointments, sick days, work accidents that cause medical leave, mental health days, unexplained absences, and more. When your employees start to miss work … a lot … it’s a sign something is happening.

Strategy:

Identify Trends Work with HR to identify which areas of the company are experiencing higher rates of absenteeism.
Monitoring Keep track of employee absences and address unauthorized absences immediately.
Policy & Procedures Have a clear attendance policy and requirements/procedures for taking time off.

A Negative Attitude:

A negative attitude includes employees who show up late to work and meetings; employees who don’t take responsibility for their work and blame colleagues, the organization, or their manager for their poor productivity; employees who reject feedback and play ‘the victim.’ And, of course, the ever-complaining, ever-gossiping employee who is always talking badly about coworkers, managers, and the organization.

Strategy:

This is more than “just a feeling”. As a manager, you need to document, document, document. Document specific, observable behaviors.

Policy & Reporting Have a clear harassment policy, including anonymous reporting mechanisms that all employees can access.
Behavioral Training Train employees on expected workplace behaviors.
Performance Management Create employee performance plans to address negative attitudes and follow up.

Decreased Productivity:

Missed deadlines, unfocused work, mediocre outcomes, and having to redo tasks to meet basic requirements are all signs of an employee who’s just not committed.

Strategy:

This can sometimes be a chicken-or-the-egg issue. As managers and organizational leaders, you need to get to the why behind the decrease in productivity.

Resource & Tool Assessment Do your employees have all the resources they need to get the job done? When systems and processes hang on outdated software and tools, employees burn out fast.
Workflow Monitoring Look at the estimated time to complete work versus real time. Why? What happened? Monitor workflow to understand what’s happening.

Lack of Interest and Learning:

Employees who stop learning stop producing. It’s as simple as that. These employees don’t learn the new software or attend continued education classes. They don’t want to take on new tasks. They just want to stick to the status quo.

Strategy:

When your workers aren’t interested in their work anymore, they’re more likely to detract from the organization than add to it. How can you tell?

Identify the "Wait" Mentality Beware of the “wait” mentality – that worker who just sits and twiddles their thumbs until someone leads them to their next task.
Lack of Initiative These workers will be the last to volunteer for a new opportunity.
Accountability Issues They won’t take the lead on any projects and, often, don’t complete their end of the work (blaming external circumstances for their poor performance).
Team Friction Nobody wants to work with them because it brings them back to high school and group work in biology vibes.

Should an Organization Try to Engage the Disengaged?

Disengaged employees and actively disengaged employees can be toxic. They’re “that employee” who can suck the energy out of a room just by showing up.

Are they worth your organization’s time? We’d argue that most of them are. I know! Don’t pull out your hair. Here’s why:

Engagement is a Strategy:

I f you have many disengaged employees, it’s indicative of something happening in the organization – something that needs to be addressed and fixed. By working to fix this, you will have a positive impact on the organization culture and all employees, including those disengaged ones.

"Conduct an engagement survey to identify what motivates and demotivates your staff. Get the data to take meaningful action." — Learn more at CustomInsight

Reduce Turnover:

Turnover costs organizations billions of dollars each year. You want to stop that rotating door and start getting your staff to stick. Replacing talent is expensive. It is time-consuming. And onboarding and getting new hires up-to-speed is exhausting for everyone.

Re-engagement is possible. It takes time and commitment from the organization to identify what’s happening and the role the organization, senior leaders, and managers might be playing in this disengagement crisis. There are exceptions, and your HR and senior leaders will need to address each circumstance, case-by-case. At the end of the day, no matter what the headlines read, no organization (save Vadar's Imperial Army) is doomed to disengagement.

What are 4 Signs of Disengagement?

How to Tell When Your Employees Have Checked Out

Actively Disengaged vs Not Engaged

What are the Signs of Disengagement?

Increase in Absenteeism:

Strategy:

A Negative Attitude:

Strategy:

Decreased Productivity:

Strategy:

Lack of Interest and Learning:

Strategy:

Should an Organization Try to Engage the Disengaged?

Engagement is a Strategy:

Reduce Turnover:

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