How to deal with disengaged employees and re-engage them

As we’ve spoken about in our other blog posts, employee disengagement is directly affecting a company’s performance so engaged and motivated employees are the cornerstone of a successful business.

Engaged employees are passionate about their work, and they are often happy to go the extra mile to get better results, this of course is completely different from signs of disengaged employees.

We’ve written frequently about how to get employees engaged, but what about how to deal with the disengaged employee? How do you go about getting them re-engaged, happy and motivated?

We’ve collected five ways you can get rid of employee disengagement and how to re-engage your employees, keep on reading to find out how to do it!

Organize a team-building event

A team-building day or session is the perfect way to get employees working together, involved in team tasks, and excited about doing so.

You could go on a trip to somewhere like an escape room where employees can bond and get to know each other outside of the office. You could also go for a team dinner or drinks if you want it to be a little less formal. 

The amount of research into team-building is staggering and the overwhelming finding is that team-building is a perfect way to engage employees and improve team functioning.

Hold a meeting 

If you don’t have regular 1 to 1 meetings with employees, this is something you should start doing. 

The goal of such a meeting with a disengaged employee should be to listen intently and try to get them to open up about what’s going on to make them feel so disengaged.  

Make clear to the employee that you want them to feel happy at work and ask what could be done to improve their attitude. Be non-confrontational and make them feel they can share what’s on their mind.

Be mindful that there could be something going on in their personal life that is affecting their work attitude so respect boundaries and don’t press them to speak if they don’t want to. In this situation, make clear that they have your support and are welcome to compassionate leave or time to attend appointments, for example. 

Be more flexible

People work best at different times of the day. An employee might be feeling disengaged because they don’t work well early in the morning or late in the afternoon, for example.

If you are able to put flexible working hours in place, then do so as employees may benefit from greater working freedom and feel more engaged as a result.

Offer training or development 

Another reason for disengagement may be that an employee feels as though they aren’t progressing or developing in their position. 

One way to address this is by providing further training to staff, or by offering them the possibility to develop professionally, such as by taking a course in something they’re interested in that could benefit them at work. 

Another strategy is to give an employee greater responsibility in their position. 

Training and development also have numerous other benefits like creating a more skilled workforce, keeping up with the latest industry developments and staying ahead of the competition, so it's a win-win solution.

Involve employees in business progress

If an employee feels responsible for business results and successes, they will be more likely to be engaged and involved in working to achieve these results.

Make sure you regularly update your team about progress and get them passionate about the work they’re doing. Show them the direct results that their work is having to increase a sense of responsibility and personal achievement. 

Using a business dashboard is a perfect way to communicate results with your employees and get them involved with their work. Display their KPIs on TV dashboards and use gamification features to ignite friendly competition amongst the team.