Editor’s Note: This post is by Paul Slezak, Cofounder and CEO of RecruitLoop – the World’s largest marketplace of expert Recruiters and Sourcers available on-demand.
If you’ve ever put salt in your coffee instead of sugar, you can understand the awful taste disengaged workers leave in employers’ mouths. When an employee plays video games or yaks it up on personal calls at work, it can feel like a personal insult to the company and to the hiring personnel who brought them onboard.
What’s more, disengagement hurts companies’ ability to turn a profit. Distracted workers cost U.S. businesses a whopping $350 billion in revenue annually. Why such a big chunk of change? Well, it may have to do with the fact that only 3 in 10 workers are engaged—meaning the other 7 are wasting their time and employers’ money.
Another side effect of disengagement is high turnover. Approximately 2.7 million workers quit their jobs each month, making employers spend more than $11 billion to refill all those empty desks.
The obvious solution is to hire the right workers in the first place. But engaging those workers isn’t so simple.
Almost everyone seems engaged in the interview, because they want the job for which they applied. But this good behavior can taper off after they’re actually hired. Besides, even the most engaged employee disconnect if they’re thrown into an environment that doesn’t motivate them—or worse, one that harms their morale.
The real solution requires employers and recruiters to understand that disengagement stems from needs that are going unmet. It’s your job to engage employees by creating a workspace that meets their needs.
Our friends at Company Folders has put together the ultimate guide to employee engagement. You’ll learn what employees need from their jobs, what they’re really doing at work, and how you can help.
Author
Paul Slezak
With over two decades of experience in the recruitment and human capital industry, Paul Slezak has established himself as a transformative force in the realm of leadership and career coaching, group facilitation, and talent acquisition. His unique perspective, drawn from his early career as a leader in global recruitment firms and his entrepreneurial success with his own start-up, has enabled him to make a significant impact on leaders, teams, and organizations across the world. Paul's passion for helping others achieve success and high performance is evident in his commitment to transforming leaders and their teams at local, national, and international levels. He specializes in promoting the importance of human-centered intelligence, focusing on soft skills such as authenticity, transparency, and trust to complement business-centered acumen and drive better workplace outcomes. As an impartial facilitator, Paul brings his expertise to team offsites and strategy days, ensuring alignment on goals, values, and culture while keeping participants on task. His engaging and energetic presence, coupled with his unique "entertraining" and "edutaining" delivery style, enables him to connect with audiences both large and intimate, sharing personal and professional anecdotes that inspire and energize.
