Disengaged Employees: Signs of Disengagement & How to Re-engage

Disengaged employees are often representative of a problem in the workplace. It’s important to be aware of the signs of disengagement so you can identify disengaged employees and work to re-engage them. When all employees are engaged, you can create a more productive workplace and better company culture. 

Recommended Training

Employee Engagement Customizable Courseware

• Identify employee strengths
• Create a growth plan
• Show meaningful appreciation

Learn more

What Is a Disengaged Employee?

There are two types of disengaged employees – not engaged and actively disengaged. Actively disengaged employees are pretty easy to spot, as they likely spend much of their time on their phones, don’t show up to work, and generally have a bad attitude. However, employees who are disengaged can be a little more difficult to spot because they blend in with the team and silently get by.

Signs of Disengagement

Although it’s harder to spot a disengaged employee, there are some key things that you can look for to help. Here are some of the most common signs of employee disengagement.

Work Performance

An actively disengaged employee’s work performance is likely poor or sub-par at best. But an employee who is not engaged may be consistently producing decent work. The problem may be that they don’t feel like they’re being challenged enough. There’s a difference in the quality of work between delivering good versus great work – and it begins with having the drive to go above and beyond and not being bored with the task at hand.

Your employees should constantly be looking for ways to improve themselves and general company procedures. If you can’t remember a time when one of your employees made an effort to make a change, a suggestion, or shared something they learned, it could be a sign of disengagement.

Frequent “Breaks”

Is your employee spending more time not working than actually doing their job? Are they constantly getting up for coffee, lunch, bathroom breaks, or walks? Are they consistently showing up late to work? Is there an increased use of sick days? These “breaks” are associated with absenteeism, and this is another obvious indication of disengagement. Absenteeism can have a big impact on the other workers in your organization as well if other team members see someone doing less work with no consequences.

Unenthusiastic

If your team accomplishes a great achievement, your employees should be excited about it. Look around the room, and you can likely distinguish those who are proud of the work they produced versus those who seem indifferent. If you notice that some employees have a lack of enthusiasm for their work, reaching goals and objectives, etc., this is another indication that an employee may be disengaged.

Lack of Communication

Another way to spot disengagement is to consider what kind of relationship the employee in question has with their supervisor or manager. Does the employee seem comfortable talking to their superior? Do they reach out to their superior on their own accord, and how often? Those who are not engaged or actively disengaged may not feel compelled enough by their work to bother reaching out to their superiors or talking through problems.

Complaints

A final sign of disengagement is complaints. However, as mentioned previously, those who are disengaged are not bringing these complaints directly to their superiors. Keep your ear to the ground, and you’ll likely get a better clue of what both actively disengaged and disengaged employees are disgruntled about.

How to Engage Employees

Now that you know some of the most common signs of employee disengagement, what do you do? Are you supposed to just let go of these disengaged employees? Not exactly. Though in some situations that may be preferable, there are actually re-engagement strategies that you can use to help get your employees back on the right track. Here are some effective ways to engage employees in your organization.

Consider a Workshop

You can go about this in two ways. You could enroll your employees in a workshop that helps empower employees to take control of their engagement levels at work and create a work culture that helps them thrive and gets them excited. You could also enroll your leaders and management in a workshop that equips them with the tools to address the concerns of disengaged workers and get to the root cause of disengagement in the organization, be it employee recognition, workplace culture, development opportunities, etc.

The Employee Engagement workshop from HRDQ can help produce more satisfied employees. This training course introduces leaders and managers to the tools and techniques for ensuring employees feel valued and supported in their day-to-day responsibilities. The program is organized into four distinct categories or strategies for employee engagement with self-assessments, interactive activities, and practical knowledge for becoming an effective and influential leader.  

Look to Leadership

Next, those in leadership positions need to take action. One of the first things they should improve upon is fostering an environment that encourages open communication. Creating a sense of belonging at work starts with leadership and ensures that employees feel they can openly and honestly talk to their superiors. When employees feel accepted and valued, they are more likely to bring up the issues they’re facing within the company.

Emphasize Purpose

Those in leadership positions need to emphasize company goals, purpose, and values in a way that applies to the employee’s role. Your team probably has a written set of these values, but they mean nothing if they are never put into action. A sense of purpose gives people the drive to complete tasks and love what they do – without it, job satisfaction plummets as the work can feel meaningless, which can lead to resentment.

Reassess Employee Roles

All too often, an employee is put in a role that does not utilize their strengths and weaknesses. This may even be why their work quality is poor or consistently “good.” After better open communication is established, you can see more clearly what a certain employee excels at and what they need assistance with. A few tweaks and changes to their current position and a little investment in their professional development with a bit of training may be all it takes to turn someone who is disengaged into a star employee.

Get Started with HRDQ Today

Disengaged employees indicate that changes need to be made in your organization. Knowing the signs of disengagement and how to re-engage employees is imperative. If you need assistance, HRDQ is here to help. Check out our Employee Engagement Customizable Courseware to equip your leaders with the tools they need to engage employees and create a productive work environment. HRDQ also offers other employee engagement training through online assessments, hands-on games, and more. Check out our complete collection of employee engagement and retention training resources to get started!