Those disengaged employees that employers may be hearing (and worrying) about have some news for their bosses: not only are they "detached" from their work, but they also feel unappreciated and think that bosses' internal communications and training programs need work. Lots of it, in fact.
According to HRDive, a new report from interactive video technology provider Rapt Media, titled "U.S. Employees: Detached, Disengaged and Disenchanted," found that 69 percent of employees are open to other opportunities or already seeking their next job, 35 percent don't think their employers care about them as a team member or person, and 57 percent feel their leaders are detached from the workforce.
Those are pretty substantial numbers, gleaned from a study of 400 full-time employees of large American organizations.
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But wait, as the ad says, there's more. Sixty percent of respondents said they are bored by their organization's internal communications, with 44 percent saying that they're stagnant; that those internal communications haven't changed in the last five years — and 74 percent forgot some or all of the last mandatory training they completed. Nearly a third (27 percent) of employees feel that their bosses don't appreciate them, or they're not sure whether they're appreciated or not.
In fact, just 32 percent of U.S. employees are engaged — but here's another shocker: according to the survey, 24 percent of employees are "fibbing or lying" when providing their employers with positive feedback on employee engagement surveys.
There is a silver lining, however, although employers may not be thrilled to hear it: Those surveyed have ideas on how to make things better. In fact, 73 percent have suggestions for improving internal communications.
HRDive pointed out that this latest study identified "an obvious lack of innovation, personalization, emotional connection and creative thinking in the workplace." That's definitely not good. But other considerations are the facts that employee loyalty has already been lost — as evinced by so many already looking for their next job — and the high cost to employers annually of disengaged employees: $450–$550 billion annually in lost productivity.
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