Detached Workers are a Threat to Company Profits

A study released a few weeks ago shows that employers are at risk of lower productivity and higher inefficiency due to their employees not being fully engaged. The study,conducted by Towers Watson,an international professional services company that helps organizations improve performance polled about 3,600 workers in the United States." Almost two thirds (63%) of the workers polled feel they are not getting the resources and support to do their jobs effectively. They further indicated that their work environment doesn’t actively support the employee’s well-being.

Towers Watson has conducted additional research to support these findings when they looked at 50 global companies and examined their operating margins. They found that companies with highly engaged employees had operating margins almost triple those of organizations with a disengaged workforce. Detached workers lack an emotional connection to the company,they don’t see a clear vision from company leadership and don’t have supervisors who take time to interact on a personal level.

Some specific measures that can be taken to engage your workforce include:

• Removing obstacles that keep workers from performing their job well.
• Finding different ways to share stories of outstanding performance.
• Management that is approachable and involves all workers in decisions that affect them or at least has open lines of communication.
• Ensure that workloads are reasonable for a healthy work-life balance.
• Offering opportunities for advancement and development of future leaders.
• Adequate training for leaders so they have the tools they need to support and motivate their teams.
• Make sure that every employee is informed of exactly how the company is performing.

Engaging workers now will put companies on the fast track as the economy continues to heal. There is an opportunity to address gaps by using the training resources offered through the Centralina Workforce Development Board.

This article was composed by Vail Carter,Vail is the Business Services Coordinator for the Centralina Workforce Development Board. His prior work experience includes non-profit management and banking. He recently led a statewide skills survey of North Carolina employers and authored the report that was released this year. Vail has presented at several state and regional workforce conferences.

Tags: Workforce and Economic Development