How to Recognize Disengagement--and How to Reverse It 

 Signs of Disengagement

Botwin, who is CEO of SPC (Strategy People Culture) Consulting Florham Park, New Jersey, offers 14 signs of disengagement:

• High turnover
• Lack of cooperation
• Lack of feedback
• Shaving of hours
• Absenteeism
• Quality less than capability
• Customer complaints
• High shrinkage
• Lack of pride/care in the business
• Lack of creativity and new ideas
• Unhealthy challenge
• Complaints don’t go to management
• Vendor dissatisfaction
• Lack of personal or professional celebration

What to Do

When you encounter disengagement, says Botwin, consider the following:

• Show your employees you care about them and their role
• Talk openly and honestly
• Provide clear constructive feedback
• Ask for opinions … and listen … and show you listened
• Get in a trench together and roll up your sleeves

In addition, says Botwin, remember:

• Management’s job is to help engage and motivate the workforce, not just to tell people what to do
• Engaged employees bring stronger business resultsTo improve engagement and culture, Botwin offers his C.A.R.E.™ Model. He lays it out as follows:
  
• Conviction
• Doing what is right
• Adaptability & Accountability
• Being open to and embracing change
• Embraceing mistakes, but not permitting excuses
• Realness
• Being genuine, honest, and trustworthy
• Checking the ego at the door
• Enthusiasm
• Showing a passion for the business

If you can apply these principles, Botwin says, you are well on the way to improving your culture and building employee engagement.

Flex a Good Place to Start

Botwin offers flex as a good example of something to consider for building engagement. It may seem like “fluffy stuff,” but there are solid business reasons for considering it:

• Your competitors are offering it. (Where is the talent going to go?)
• It’s typically inexpensive
• Shows the employer trusts the employee
• Avoids burnout
• Increases retention
• Lowers facilities costs
• Allows longer customer service hours
• Gives employees more of a feeling of control
• Increases productivity
• Reduces carbon foot print through off-peak commuting
• Reduces absenteeism

Flex might be a great way to build engagement without major expenditures.
Engagement and culture—they seem soft, but if they’re ignored, they’ll cost you hard dollars. Fortunately, it’s a manageable problem—with meaningful training for managers.