Jabra: Two-Thirds of Employees Just Don’t Care!

Jabra Blog: Two-Thirds of Employees Just Don’t Care! By Holger Reisinger

An astonishing seven out of 10 employees are disengaged and bored with their jobs. In addition to damaging company morale, productivity and the bottom line, this dissatisfaction takes a staggering toll on innovation and our global economic well-being. Let this be a wakeup call for leaders everywhere to take action.

I have bad news for corporate leaders everywhere: Most of your workers just don’t care.

They don’t care about their jobs. About your organization. Or your customers.

That’s the depressing conclusion I’ve come to after reviewing a workplace survey of U.S. companies and quoted extensively in Forbes. The study found that an astounding 70% of U.S. workers are disengaged from their jobs.

You read it right. Seventy percent!

That means that seven out of 10 workers are going through the motions, putting in their time and then leaving. They’re unhappy in their work, and invest neither energy nor passion into it. Some are so disengaged that they even work to undermine your organization. You know who they are. The manager who “checked out” years ago. The assistant who responds “it’s not my job” when asked to fill in for a coworker. The employee who’s more interested in checking emails and Facebook than participating in the staff meeting.

On the other hand, just three out of 10 are engaged – the ones who feel inspired, work with passion and feel a profound connection to the organization. You know them, too. The accountant who double – and then triple-checks everything before sending the quarterly report to the printer. The sales rep who calls on a prospective customer outside her sales territory despite knowing she won’t earn a commission on the sale.

The High Price of Disengagement

This overwhelming level of worker discontent comes with a steep price tag. According to the article, the most disengaged workers cost U.S. companies between $450 billion to $550 billion a year in lost productivity.

Since the U.S. accounts for roughly 20% of the world’s economy, a little math indicates that global revenue lost to highly disengaged workers is truly astounding—more than $2 trillion.

Financials aside, if seven out of every 10 of your employees simply don’t care, imagine the negative influence they exert on the three who do. Or the brand-tarnishing impact they have on your customers. Or the additional expenses they rack up with sick days, on-the-job accidents or just poor quality Work.

Globally, consider what we’re missing out on because of employee disengagement. Imagine the innovations and scientific breakthroughs that don’t occur because of worker complacency. The new and potentially time- and money-saving technologies that never get to the drawing board. Or never make it to market for that matter.

Now imagine how profitable our organizations would be if we could cut that 70% rate of disengagement merely in half, to 35%. Global productivity would zoom. Morale and customer satisfaction would improve dramatically. Brand awareness would soar.

The Fix Begins With Us

So how do we address this issue of worker disengagement? Let’s begin by recognizing disengagement for what it is: A failure of management. As an eternal optimist, I believe that people truly want to work, be engaged and create value for their organizations.

As managers, it’s our responsibility to provide a work environment that drives worker engagement. We need to sharpen our leadership skills and put the right people in leadership roles. We need to create corporate cultures that make employees feel valued, empowered and connected. We need to organize work so that it’s inspiring, challenging and meaningful.

And we need to start now.

I invite you to join me in exploring this issue further in the weeks ahead. Together, we can make a difference by winning the hearts and minds of our workers.

Because seven out of 10 disengaged workers are seven too many.

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