How Employee Disengagement Is Hurting Your Business

The average employer might not give disengagement much thought as long as the work gets done.

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TYour employees might not be happy, but they’re completing their task lists and turning up for work on time. While it’s easy to let disengagement be a problem you don’t have to face, it should be one you consider addressing sooner rather than later. Otherwise, it might start hurting your business in some of the following ways:    

Spreading to Other Employees

Once you’ve learned how to measure employee engagement, you might have realized that general dissatisfaction in your workplace is starting to spread. It might have started with one or two employees, but now a large percentage of your team appears disengaged. Many business owners don’t realize disengagement doesn’t end with one employee. Instead, it can begin with one and slowly spread throughout a team, leading to an entirely unsatisfied and disengaged workplace that starts having severe consequences for your bottom line. 

High Staff Turnover Rates

It can cost far more to replace an employee than to keep one, so keep this in mind when disengagement in your workforce leads to high staff turnover rates. When workers aren’t happy with how they’re treated, valued, and taken care of in a business, they won’t have any problem looking for work elsewhere. You might have spent thousands of dollars training them to be a standout employee, but you’ll likely have to repeat the process multiple times unless you address the causes of disengagement and improve your workplace.

Absenteeism

All disengaged employees don’t just quit and find jobs that make them happier. Instead, their dissatisfaction, stress, and burnout lead them to call in sick or simply not turn up. When a business has high absenteeism rates, other employees must pick up the slack, simultaneously increasing their workloads and stress rates. 

According to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, management, professional, and related occupations have the highest absence rate out of all employees. If you notice this is a problem in your business, now might be the right time to rectify it before those absences become permanent. 

Poor Customer Service

Happy, engaged employees go the extra mile for their customers and represent the company well in all transactions. They like the company they work for and want to see it succeed. Disengaged, unsatisfied employees may do the opposite. If they don’t like their work or their company, they might be more than happy to provide a less than satisfactory shopping experience and guide your paying customers toward your competition. 

Business Reputation

You might have spent several years building up your business reputation, but it can be tarnished within a much shorter period if you have disengaged workers. Employees who don’t like the company they work for might have negative things to say about it and don’t care who hears them. Before long, your corporate image might suffer, and sales numbers can follow suit. 

Employee disengagement might not seem like a big deal, especially as not all employees will like their jobs. However, mass disengagement can sometimes be more impactful than you think. If you’re worried about absenteeism, high turnover rates, and a poor reputation, now might be the right time to combat this problem and create a more satisfied workforce.

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