noun: a person who is or appears lifeless, apathetic, or completely unresponsive in their workplace.

With Halloween in our midst and zombies on the brain, let’s talk about the fact that workplace zombies actually exist and chances are, you have some walking in your midst…

The Signs

“Only 27% of employees are actively engaged. These are the employees that are committed to the mission, vision and values of the organization; they go the extra mile. That means 73% of all employees are either ambivalent or disengaged.”

Before you can begin to fix the issues of disengaged employees, you need to know the signs and ways to identify employees who are not engaged.

1. They are absent…a lot. They find every reason NOT to be at work and seem to have very little interest in actually showing up. These employees always have a reason for why they were late, kind of like the kid that says “the dog ate my homework”.

2. Productivity and quality suffer. Employees will do the absolute minimum to get by and mistakes are made frequently. You will see an increase of customer complaints regarding these employees.

3. Disconnected from coworkers. When you have an office party or volunteer staff function, you can always count on these employees NOT to show up. Of if they do show up, they leave as quick as possible and say very little to anyone.

Let’s talk about that 73%.

When you break it down, 13% of employees are actively disengaged and 60% are ambivalent. Here’s the hard truth: Once an employee has crossed over from ambivalent to disengaged, the most responsible thing you can do as a manager and a leader is transitioning them out of your organization.

Leaders often feel a sense of responsibility for the disengaged employee. “I should’ve coached them better” or “I should’ve tried harder”. The sad truth about the disengaged employee is they are a poison to your business. If you do not get them out, they will spread their negativity and their disengagement to your entire staff.

Make sure you know the difference between the employee you can coach and the one that just needs to go. Don’t know the difference? Contact me today and we walk through it together.

Protect Your Business

“The most responsible thing you can do as a manager and a leader is transitioning [zombies] out of your organization.”

Not sure if your team is engaged? Are you worried about a few potential zombies on your team? Please contact me today and we talk about the solutions to increasing your employee engagement!

Sources:

The 5 Employee Engagement Warning Signs

Video Blog: Employee Engagement – The Disengaged Employee