If you’re an employer, you readily accept that there are varying degrees to which your employees are engaged with your organization. And by “engaged,” I mean willing to put forth extra effort and intent to stay with the company. Their sense of connection to and affiliation with your organization may swing from one end of the spectrum to the other on any given day…you know that too. But once that swing carries them over the line into “disengaged,” they have likely reached the point of no return. There is no saving them. They are now almost fully focused on finding a new job and that leaves them very little time to add any value to your gig. In fact, they’ve figured out how to add just enough value so you’ll tolerate any perceived reduction in their productivity. You suck at letting people go who are under-performing anyway. It will be months before you’re ready to take any measurable action with them…
And the really cool thing (for them) is that they can actively, aggressively, and quite effectively conduct their job search from the comfort of the desk, office, and paycheck you’re providing them. Recruiting 2.0 is on the scene big time and it is at their finger-tips – beaming from that computer you’ve given them to do their work. With some time spent on your clock every day, they’ll land the perfect role…elsewhere. And because you’re not paying attention, this is what it’s (conservatively) costing you to fund their job search (assuming they make $60K annually).
|
What a Normally Engaged Employee Does |
What a Disengaged Employee Does |
What it’s Costing You |
|
| 8:00 | Arrives at the Office | Begins their commute |
$14.42 |
| 8:00-8:30 |
Actively and Productively Contributes |
Arrives at the Office |
$14.42 |
| 8:30-9:00 | Facebook, baby |
$14.42 |
|
| 9:00-9:30 | Scrub the Job Boards |
$14.42 |
|
| 9:30-10:00 | Submits several on-line applications |
$14.42 |
|
| 10:00-11:00 | Actively and productively contributes | ||
| 11:00-11:30 | Fine tunes the resume and cover letters |
$14.42 |
|
| 11:30-12:30 | Networks over lunch |
$28.85 |
|
| 12:30-1:00 | Actively and productively contributes | ||
| 1:00-1:30 | Facebook, baby |
$14.42 |
|
| 1:30-2:00 | Researches, Browses the Internet |
$14.42 |
|
| 2:00-2:30 | Twitter Job Chat |
$14.42 |
|
| 2:30-3:30 | Phone interviewed by a prospective employer |
$14.42 |
|
| 3:30-4:00 | Networks over coffee |
$14.42 |
|
| 4:00-4:30 | Actively and productively contributes | ||
| 4:30-5:00 | LinkedIn, BeKnown, BranchOut, baby |
$14.42 |
|
| 5:00-5:30 | Leaves the Office |
$14.42 |
|
| 5:30 | Leaves the Office | At home sipping a cold one… | |
| DAILY OPPORTUNITY COST, BASE |
$216.31 |
||
| DAILY OPPORTUNITY COST, BURDENED |
$259.57 |
||
| DAYS IN JOB SEARCH |
45 |
||
| TOTAL OPPORTUNITY |
$11,680.74 |
Now figure out how many disengaged employees you have and multiply that number by the $11.7K above. That’s some serious dough, my brother. And it’s dough that could very easily be diverted to lots of other stuff that might in fact keep the rest of your workforce from swinging to that point of no return. Don’t read this post and go “oh shit, I need to block access to all the job boards and social networking sites.” You’re solving for the wrong problem there (and creating other ones, IMHO). Rather, get better at continually measuring and monitoring where EACH INDIVIDUAL EMPLOYEE is on the engagement continuum. No, you don’t do that through a survey! You do it by talking to them…all the fracking time…about how they are doing, what they are doing, whether they’d rather be doing something else. You do it by showing genuine interest in their career and their life.
According to the National Parents Resource Institute for Drug Education, children whose parents talked to them “a lot” were 37 percent less likely to use drugs than children whose parents “never” brought up the subject. Replace ‘children’ with ‘employees,’ ‘parents’ with ‘employers,’ and ‘to use drugs’ with ‘look for a new job.’ You get the idea. I hope.
Image Credit:slworking2 (via Compfight)
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