Employees feel disconnected and neglected. Here's what you can do about it

Employers are attempting to do damage control in the wake of the great resignation, but by focusing on the employees who have left, they’re turning their back on the people who have stayed.

More than a third of employees feel disconnected, and 13% feel neglected by their employer, according to a report by Perceptyx, a business management consultant. Its latest HR Benchmark Database report surveyed 15 million employees about their relationship with their current employer. Researchers based their results on how employees fare in three categories: basics of people management, healthy workplace climate and a future with said employers.

“The employee experience has radically changed in the past two years,” says Emily Killham, director of research and insights at Perceptyx. “Some of these employees are in a situation where they're struggling and crying for help.”

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Employees who feel neglected are particularly concerning, because they struggle with poor people management, do not feel they fit into their organization’s future and do not feel they are in a psychologically safe work environment. As a result, they are twice as likely to leave their organization than other employees. However, Killham says these employees genuinely care about their work, which is why they display negative feelings rather than apathy.

“Some of the labels used for our least engaged people tend to vilify the employees themselves,” Killham says. “But these are people who are saying, ‘Please save me before I leave.’”

As for the disconnected group, these employees only have their needs met in one category and are still negatively impacted by the company culture. Killham characterizes this group as only doing what is expected of them as they struggle with feeling unfulfilled at the end of each workday. While these employees mostly intend to remain with their organization, she notes that they will likely tell people that their company is not a great place to work.

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“I think there's a temptation for organizations to just write them off and get rid of them,” says Killham. “But if you fired 100% of your people tomorrow and hired new people with the same system in place, you would likely produce the same results.”

Instead, Killham suggests that employers understand the root causes for these feelings of neglect and disconnection by listening to employees, assessing where they are lacking support and making a change. Employers who do this are likely to have their employees categorized as either “contented” or “energized.”

Notably, the contented category accounts for 44% of those surveyed, serving as the backbone of today’s workforce. While these employees are likely to recommend potential candidates and customers to their organization, they do not see themselves spending the rest of their life with their current employer, Killham explains.

“They tend to feel a great passion about their work, but they do not necessarily feel the same passion about their organization,” she says. “We have seen a large percentage of desk-bound, knowledge workers gravitate towards this category throughout the pandemic after an increase in flexibility — they are able to fit their personal lives in a new way.”

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This is good news for employers who have been adaptive over the past few years. However, Killham does not think that contented employees should be the goal, but rather organizations should push toward having energized employees.

“[Energized employees] are the least likely to leave and the most likely to recommend key talent and customers to your organization,” Killham says. “They have everything they need when they show up to work to be excellent and not worry.”

For employees to feel energized, Killham asks that employers start with their listening strategy — employees need an environment where they can ask questions and feel safe to fail. Killham also doesn’t think throwing money through bonuses or incentives will be enough to invigorate employees. Instead, a company’s cultural problems have to be pinpointed and addressed.

“There’s an employee revolution going on right now in terms of what employees want out of their experience,” says Killham. “So once you know there's a problem in your organization, you've got to make a change. If we're not acting, we're not going to see the change we hope to see."

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Workplace culture Employee retention Wellness
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