Some people will see that employee engagement is low and dismiss it. "No one WANTS to be at work."
I used to work in an industry where some would say they would keep their job if they won the lottery. Sure, not the $5 winnings from a scratch ticket, but the life-changing big fat pile o' money.
What are they communicating? They love their job.
Not everybody does, and not everybody hates it, either. It is fair to say that most people do not feel a connection to work. This is meaningful because work is more than a transaction, or at least it could be.
Generally, people want to be productive. That goal looks quite different from person to person. Someone who really enjoys carpet cleaning might feel great after a day of transitioning carpet from grody to glamorous... even if they are the only one who can easily see the difference. Other folks might find that work tedious and never-ending because it's just going to get dirty again.
If people don't feel like they're making a difference and they don't feel like they matter to the people at work, what chance is there that they will be even moderately engaged? The image below is a screenshot from the article linked at the bottom of this post.
On the hierarchy of needs, if people don't feel like they belong, they will likely not be problem-solvers or idea-generators. They will make sure their physiological needs are met and not much more. If this sounds familiar, it was called "quiet quitting" where employees would do the bare minimum to not get fired. That is, meet the most basic needs, but not advancing beyond that point.
At the end of the article, Dr. Harter provides the following recommendations (directly and fully quoted bullet points, not my work) for what leaders can do to remedy this issue:
Define what they want in their workplace culture and how that aligns with the organization’s purpose and value to customers.
Lead with their own strengths while clarifying the organization’s purpose, approach to people, key decisions and performance. Specifically, include a plan for upskilling managers to build stronger bonds between employees and the organization through clear priorities, ongoing feedback, and accountability.
Prioritize identifying and selecting managers with the innate ability to engage and inspire employees, especially in a workplace environment where employees feel detached.
I agree with Dr. Harter and offer a slightly brighter glimmer of hope. Prioritizing managers with innate abilities is good. Unless you don't have room to move people or hire new. Upskilling managers is a great move, but if they're not already adept at employee engagement, more may be needed beyond priorities, feedback, and accountability.
One of the ingredients of an effective leader who engages their team and in turn creates engaged employees is empathy. Imagining another person's situation is immensely important to starting to understand their point of view, circumstances and needs. If one can start to appreciate this new comprehension, they can go to the employees and ask them directly and specifically about their experience.
Directly and specifically - not confrontationally. A leader who says, "I'm concerned about how much you like your job. What is one of your favorite parts and what would you change this second if you could?" This isn't the right move in every situation. It might be an employee engagement survey to start. It might be a 360 evaluation of everyone to see how the team is doing overall.
Back to the glimmering hope... this can be taught. Many people are in management because they were really good at something else. The training for managers is typically mechanical, procedural, and driven by KPI's. Two courses of action will help remedy this:
Include "Peopling for Leaders" in the managerial training process. Learning empathy, effective communication, and humility are great places to start.
Hire an outside service provider to help existing leaders level up their employee engagement skills.
outside because it's developmental, not punitive. The training should be separate from an employee's evaluation because each person's journey should be different from one another
outside because the employee might need to vent frustration or throw out wild ideas without fear or concern of this coming up in a different context later
Nobody should hate going to work. Since most employee engagement issues can be traced back or are directly related to their relationship with their supervisor, leadership development training is a very accessible way to improve workplace culture without having to deal with the stress and struggle of an entire reassignment or firing or hiring process.
Source: Author Jim Harter, PhD https://www.gallup.com/workplace/654911/employee-engagement-sinks-year-low.aspx
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