Disengaged People are Costly!

As we reach the end of another financial year take stock of your financial situation and look at what your people are really costing your business.
Use this time to assess if you have people who are turning up in body but not in mind. Chances are you have people in your team who are disengaged to some extent and it is costing your business money.

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Some turn up present in body only - a bum on a seat. Then there are the ones who turn up fully PRESENT, in mind and body. Check out Thought Leader, Mark Hodgson’s graphic on the 6 levels of employee engagement and the value or cost to your business at each level.

An international survey conducted by GALLUP shows employee engagement in the Australian workforce is dire.

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Percentage of workforce Engaged - 24%

• Percentage of workforce Not Engaged - 60%
• Percentage of workforce Actively Disengaged - 16%

The actively disengaged people are costing you money to have on board. They are leaking profits and you should remove them. They are doing your business more harm than good.
Here’s how they are leaking dollars off your bottom line:
1. The value of your time
Your time is money – spend it wisely. You don’t want to be tied up in people drama. Time spent with those who are PRESENT is how you add value.
 
2. They are not walking to the beat of your drum
The disengaged are not on the bus. The level of disengagement will determine if they are actually sabotaging your business. You want people promoting your business, even when they are not at work.
 
3. Customer dis-satisfaction
Competition is fierce in today’s economy. Your customers have more choice than ever before. Your relationship with them is worth more than gold. Having your people deal with your customers in an incompetent manner will simply leave a bad taste in their mouth – and they will tell others…. They won’t recommend you. They will probably dump you, eventually, if you do not remove their frustration. Do everything you can to keep your customers satisfied and remove your disengaged people.

4. Mistakes are costly
A half-assed effort reaps half-assed results. The chance of a mistake, big or small is increased. Often you are not aware of a mistake until long after it has been made. Often by the time you realise the damage is done. Damage control is costly. It takes your eye off the prize.
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5. Those who are PRESENT get frustrated 
Nothing irritates a superstar employee more than someone taking up valuable company time and resource with incompetence. How many times do you hear a story of the known office lazy bones who takes twice as long to get a task done. Who turns up late and leaves on time – every day. Just recently, one of my customers had a poor performer in their ranks and the colleagues asked their manager why every other employee was spending their time helping this one individual. It was toxic.
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That grinds the best down after a while. Better solution is to remove the bum off the seat. Give the eagles the chance to soar higher.

To give this a real dollar value, imagine your people as an annual dollar value.
Think of 60% of that amount. That dollar value is the cost of disengagement to some extent in your workplace.  So, let’s say that your payroll is $1,000,000 – that means, disengagement is costing you $600,000 a year… It’s pretty shocking!
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You are getting a varied amount of return for your investment each year depending on the level of engagement.  

The 16% of actively disengaged are actually COSTING you money. And in the example above, not just the $160,000 each year. That’s $160,000 a year for the salaries and does not address the screw-ups made that you have to get others to fix! Disengagement is expensive.

Think of the remaining dollar amount which is 24% of your total payroll amount, that $240,000 in salaries is actually driving the lion’s share of your revenue – maybe even up to $500,000 in our example. Imagine what would happen if you drive that engagement even a few percent higher – nothing short of amazing!

That is where you are getting BANG FOR YOUR BUCK. That is where you are adding value to your bottom line. 

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​If you could pull a few tried and tested levers to notch the dial of present to really PRESENT in your workplace it could have a 10-fold effect on profits.
It’s win:win for your business, your customers and your superstar people.
If you need some support, contact The People Scene today to drive your profits  [email protected]