It’s back to work but is anybody there?!
Clive Leach | January 20, 2010
It’s the New Year, we are back to work and have hopefully got through the 18th January ‘Blue Monday’. Apparently the most depressing day of the year, when a combination of holiday aftermath, worry over debt, failed New Year’s resolutions and a general lack of motivation all conspire to undermine our sense of purpose and well-being!
Perhaps then, this is a good time to think about how engaged we really are at work. Looking around we see everyone at their posts, but is everybody really there?
If we believe the wealth of recent research on employee engagement the answer is probably that only about 3 out of 10 people really are ‘there’ and are fully engaged at work. The chances are that of the 7 who remain; 2 are actively disengaged, creating negativity and potentially undermining the organisation; whilst the other 5 may be spending time ruminating about the sad state of the world or plodding along daydreaming rather than being positively focussed on the tasks, challenges and opportunities at hand.
These alarming figures mean that 70% of employees may not be as productive as they could be!
Now, don’t forget that this is about the people who are actually at work. The costs of absenteeism through work related stress and general ill-health are widely known and addressed in HR policies and strategies. But absenteeism is only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to lost productivity. What we are looking at here is presenteeism which is 1.5 times more prevalent than absenteeism and costs a huge £15bn a year in the UK alone.
Presenteeism is the lack of active engagement by employees at work though ill-health; mental stress such as work related worry, anxiety, conflict, lack of control or fear of job loss; personal issues and concerns; boredom, lack of purpose, goal focus or effort.
But presenteeism is not just about people worrying about their problems or spending too much time on Facebook. Many employees appear fully engaged and they have enormous loyalty to their organisations, staff and customers. They are passionate about their work and may consistently put in extra hours, even when they are sick and really need to rest. Some people genuinely believe they are indispensable and that the organisation cannot function without them. This can all have serious impact upon the individuals’ mental and physical health, their family and social relationships and their overall quality of life.
Above is an example of ‘unstable’ engagement. It takes place in the absence of well-being and results in eventual burnout, serious underperformance, increased presenteeism and high turnover. So to tackle presenteeism organisations need to focus on how to develop sustainable ongoing engagement. Research shows this only takes place when there is an equal focus on engagement and employee well-being.
A 2008 Towers Perrin study of over 650,000 employees has shown that the key driver for employee engagement is the belief that senior management sincerely care about the well-being of their employees. The good news is that there are increasing numbers of success stories where employees working lives have been transformed in both the public and private sectors. From local councils to multi-national corporations, organisations are benefiting from significant increases in civic pride, productivity, performance, profitability, quality of service delivery and customer or client satisfaction.
Championed from the top, important work is being done to raise awareness of well-being amongst managers to shake off the ‘soft and fluffy image’ and demonstrate the evidence-base. Practical positive psychology based interventions are being used to increase well-being and build resilience in employees so they can focus on their strengths and purpose and become better able to deal with the inevitable change and challenges work and life bring. These are being implemented alongside lots of other measures that have been proven to increase engagement, such as effective communication, coaching and flexible working conditions.
The results are impressive. Overall return on investment in terms of reduced absence and productivity is cited as 6:1. World-class organisations have a ratio of 8 engaged to every 1 disengaged employee. But the ratio for average organisations remains at 1.5 engaged for every 1 disengaged, so there is still a long way to go.
The emerging reform of Australian Government and proactive approach of Australia’s most successful companies show that testing economic and political times are not an excuse to stop investing in employee engagement and well-being initiatives. Quite to the contrary, because in periods of upheaval and crisis presenteeism still has to be tackled and resilient and motivated workforces are needed more than ever.
But remember, employee engagement and well-being strategies are not just focused on resolving or preventing problems. They are also about looking after the people who are present and who are doing fine, helping them to do even better – to strive towards their goals and to flourish both professionally and personally. We just need a lot more of them!
References:
McLeod, D. (2009). Engaging for Success: Enhancing Performance Through Employee Engagement
Robertsoncooper (2009). UK Perspectives on Employee Engagement & Well- being 2009-10.
Towers Perrin (2009). Employee Well-being: Taking engagement and performance to the next level. Perspectives Series.
Towers Perrin (2008). Global Workforce Study (2007-2008)
Clive Leach is an evidence-based coach, facilitator and trainer based in Sydney. He delivers workshops and speaks on issues relating to employee engagement, well-being, resilience and coaching in both the Australian Public Service and the corporate sector. Clive will be presenting at the 2nd Australian Positive Psychology Conference at Monash University in February 2010. He will be speaking on the role of positive psychology and coaching in enhancing services for young people. If you would like any further information on the ideas outlined in this article please contact Clive at coach@cliveleach.com or visit www.cliveleach.com
SHARE WITH:
Clive Leach M.Org Coaching is a licensed MTQ48 Practitioner. Clive works widely as an organisational coach and facilitator within the government, corporate and education sectors supporting people to feel good and function well. His portfolio of work within the corporate, government and education sectors extends to Asia-Pac and the UK. Clive has spoken at numerous national conferences on the application of positive psychology and coaching within organisations and communities. He has been published in the International Journal of Evidence-based Coaching & Mentoring Vol. 9(1).
Jim Bahr - VictorsFood
January 21, 2010 at 9:09 pm
Excellent article
It’s great to see attention being paid to these aspects of engagement. People are complex, so need to be engaged on many levels. The shift from life-time employment security to short-term contracts makes it incumbent on employers to find new ways to understand and engage workers, including team building programs and focussed events, wellness programs and others. http://www.victorsfood.com.au
Clive Leach
January 21, 2010 at 9:47 pm
Thanks!
Thank you for your comments Jim. Having coached many victims of the GFC who lost their jobs last year it brings home the importance of not relying soley on work for one’s sense of purpose and well-being. Regards, Clive
foggy
January 23, 2010 at 8:45 am
its back to work
Clive Leach
January 27, 2010 at 5:56 am
Thanks Foggy!
This is a good idea – sharing the holiday tales – anything that increases positivity in the workplace is a good thing and has benefits often way beyond the effort to do it in the first place – especially on the first day back! The only downside might be that there maybe some colleagues who, for various reasons, didn’t actually have a good holiday. This would need to be handled with some sensitivity.
alison gordon
January 27, 2010 at 3:39 am
presenteeism
Thanks for your blog Clive – I really enjoyed it, particularly your point about economic struggles being the most critical time to nurture the "human" aspect of the employee.
I was, however, a little confused by your explanation of the term "presenteeism".
Though what you say makes sense, I understood the word to describe an employee simply working overly excessive hours – so rather than a lack of engagement as you put it, too much engagement.
This isn’t necessarily the result of stress, or job insecurity, or anything negative at all – just simply that they don’t know when to turn off the computer and go home. This may just be their personality type, where the situation would be the same regardless of what they did for work or where they worked.
How would you suggest employers deal with this kind of employee?
Clive Leach
January 27, 2010 at 5:49 am
Good point!
Thanks for your comment Alison. Presenteeism is recognised by all the research and surveys as something that occurs when employees are not as engaged or productive as they might be – this is often through ill-health, mental stress sometimes caused by overwork or, as I have indicated, lack of any focus or effort at all.
In the particular example you refer to when an ‘engaged’ employee is working excessive hours, it really only becomes presenteeism if the work starts to have a negative impact on the employees health and relationships etc. It raises the issue of what ‘excessive hours’ means. If I am lucky enough to be in a job or role that fits in with my values, my calling or true vocation in life, I might be perfectly happy and able to work 100 hours a week with no ill-effect at all. In another role I might be bored or stressed after working just a few hours. There are many people for whom their work never starts at nine or finishes at five and they manage very well.
However it is important that employers do not place expectations on employees to work excessive hours, recognise when and why this is happening and that organisations should help employees to achieve and ensure a work/life balance. The most effective employee engagement programmes might include coaching to help employees identify both work related and personal development goals, or opportunities for employees to participate in community based programs and interventions that enable them to put their engagement and energies in to something that has benefit beyond just the organisation.
Regardless of how happy or willing an employee might be to work all the hours the reality is that it is not healthy for anyone to have all their well-being eggs in one basket. Things change, people lose their jobs and for some people whose work has been everything this can result in serious distress. So in reality employers should support staff to realise that there is a bigger world out there and everyone has a place in it!
foggy
January 27, 2010 at 4:20 pm
thanks Clive