If Your Employees Still Aren’t Engaged This Could Be Why

“We’ve tried absolutely everything, but nothing has changed.”
 
So said a CEO to me recently, as we were discussing employee engagement and culture in his organization.
 
He was frustrated, as they were still experiencing the same issues as before:
 
💠 High turnover
💠 Inability to attract top talent
💠 Low productivity  
💠 High numbers of customer complaints
 
Which are the types of problems seen, when employees are disengaged.
 
However, once I asked what exactly they had tried that hadn’t changed anything, it became clear.
 
𝙏𝙝𝙚𝙮 𝙝𝙖𝙙 𝙖𝙥𝙥𝙡𝙞𝙚𝙙 𝘽𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝘼𝙞𝙙 𝙨𝙤𝙡𝙪𝙩𝙞𝙤𝙣𝙨, 𝙤𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙧𝙬𝙞𝙨𝙚 𝙠𝙣𝙤𝙬𝙣 𝙖𝙨 𝙦𝙪𝙞𝙘𝙠 𝙛𝙞𝙭𝙚𝙨.
 
In other words, they had implemented things like:
 
🍀Meal delivery for people working from home
🍀 Subsidized workout classes
🍀 Home gym equipment
🍀 Virtual happy hours
🍀 Employee discount programs
🍀 Surprise days off

In fact, this is one of the most common mistakes that leaders make when working on improving the organization’s employee engagement levels.
 
𝘽𝙪𝙩 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙩𝙧𝙪𝙩𝙝 𝙞𝙨 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙨𝙚 𝙖𝙧𝙚 𝙖𝙡𝙡 𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙣𝙜𝙨 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙖𝙧𝙚 𝙣𝙤𝙩 𝙜𝙤𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙩𝙤 𝙢𝙖𝙠𝙚 𝙖 𝙙𝙞𝙛𝙛𝙚𝙧𝙚𝙣𝙘𝙚 𝙞𝙣 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙚𝙢𝙤𝙩𝙞𝙤𝙣𝙖𝙡 𝙘𝙤𝙢𝙢𝙞𝙩𝙢𝙚𝙣𝙩 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙚𝙢𝙥𝙡𝙤𝙮𝙚𝙚𝙨 𝙛𝙚𝙚𝙡 𝙩𝙤𝙬𝙖𝙧𝙙𝙨 𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙞𝙧 𝙘𝙤𝙢𝙥𝙖𝙣𝙮 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙞𝙩𝙨 𝙜𝙤𝙖𝙡𝙨.
 
The very definition of employee engagement.
 
Of course, employees are going to like having these things, and, in fact, they should be part of a good workplace.

But, by themselves, they won’t solve the costly business problems associated with disengaged employees.

✅ Because they are a surface level response, and not a shift in the fundamental practices that really make a difference.
 
𝙎𝙪𝙘𝙝 𝙖𝙨 𝙧𝙚𝙘𝙤𝙜𝙣𝙞𝙩𝙞𝙤𝙣, 𝙤𝙣𝙜𝙤𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙛𝙚𝙚𝙙𝙗𝙖𝙘𝙠, 𝙩𝙧𝙖𝙣𝙨𝙥𝙖𝙧𝙚𝙣𝙩 𝙘𝙤𝙢𝙢𝙪𝙣𝙞𝙘𝙖𝙩𝙞𝙤𝙣 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙙𝙚𝙫𝙚𝙡𝙤𝙥𝙢𝙚𝙣𝙩 𝙤𝙥𝙥𝙤𝙧𝙩𝙪𝙣𝙞𝙩𝙞𝙚𝙨.
 
So, best to leave the Band Aid to its job of basic first aid, not to be used in the treatment of more serious issues.