Employee Engagement is Suffering: What Businesses can do about it

Employee Engagement is Suffering: What Businesses can do about it

The statistics on the lack of employee engagement in Canada are shocking, according to a report by the Canada Human Resource Centre.

The Centre reports that lack of worker engagement is at a staggering 60 percent. The Management Journal’s semi-annual Employee Engagement Index reports that 60 percent of employees are not engaged, 15 percent are actively disengaged at work and only 25 percent are actively engaged. Further, the Centre identifies the ten most frequently mentioned issues that employees say companies do poorly, with poor management, lack of career growth opportunities and poor communication topping the list.

– 60% of employees are not engaged – 

For businesses, ignoring employee disengagement impacts the bottom line. Statistics show that unhappy workers cost the U.S. business economy from $450-$550 billion each year in lost productivity. (*Gallup, State of the American workplace).

Studies have shown that the cost of employee turnover*, including hiring and training more and new employees, can reach $30,000 for management- level positions. (*Zanebenefits, Employee Retention – The Real Cost of Losing an Employee) 

– Hiring and training more and new employee can reach $30,000 –

In British Columbia, BC Stats has built an Employee Engagement Model*, demonstrating drivers that have the potential to increase or decrease overall employee engagement, and identifies the connections between the drivers and employee engagement characteristics. (*B.C. Government, Employee Engagement Model)

While employee engagement and the difference between employee satisfaction and engagement* has been identified by the level of commitment an employee has towards the organization, the engagement is best described by its results**: that engaged employees demonstrate higher levels of performance, commitment and loyalty and are dedicated to achieving the company’s mission, while disengaged employees do not.(*ADP, Employee Satisfaction vs Employee Engagement)(**Psychometrics, A Study of Employee Engagement in the Canadian Workplace)

So once employers identify metrics on employee engagement and realize there’s a problem – what is a solutions-oriented approach?

Team building can certainly help, but a caveat – avoid team building activities that defeat the purpose and alienate team members, like unwanted, rigorous physical activity.  Focus instead on activities that actually work*, and can have a measurable and positive impact on productivity. (*American Express, Team Building Activities That Actually Work)

Outback Team Building & Training has identified the keys to creating team-building activities that actually work.  They understand the keys to getting all your team members engaged in a meaningful way, which is why they have been trusted by some of North Americas biggest companies including Microsoft, Cisco, Phillips, Coca-Cola, and many more.

A bad team-building event can have the opposite effect as intended. If the event isn’t done correctly in a way that will engage and involve everyone on the team it can leave some members feeling further alienated making them even more disengaged. 

That’s why we are excited to announce that we have worked with Outback Team Building & Training and they have given us their Top Team Building activities to offer to all BCBusiness readers for free.

Just enter your email below and we will send you your copy of the Top Team Building Activities, so you can get to planning your next team-building event.