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“There are no uninteresting things, only uninterested people.”
―
G.K. Chesterton
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According to a Gallup report from last year,
13% of employees from 142 countries are “engaged” in their jobs.
However, twice as many are “actively disengaged”—they’re negative and potentially hostile to their organizations. The majority of workers, though, are simply “checked out,” says the report.
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“… detailed research reports that the average time spent on private activities at work is between 1.5 and three hours a day. By measuring the flows of audiences for certain websites, it has also been observed that, by the turn of the century, 70% of the U.S. internet traffic passing through pornographic sites did so during working hours, and that 60% of all online purchases were made between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m.
What is sometimes called “cyberloafing” has, furthermore, not only been observed in the U.S. (in which most work-time surveys are conducted), but also in nations such as Singapore, Germany, and Finland.”
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Well.
Let me being with two factoids from research I just looked at:
– Workers spend somewhere between a little less than 20% to up to 40% of a typical work day … well … not working <they shop, watch porn or do something other than what they are getting paid to do>.
– A little less than 80% of workers state “their work sucks”
Uhm <part 1>.
That basically means that not only are most employees not really working a full day <yet still fear work burnout> even when they are actually working they don’t like what they are doing.
Uhm <part 2>.
It is a serious problem if your employees are uninterested at work. Fucking serious. And I mean any one of the uninterested options:
– Uninterested in their job.
– Uninterested in the company.
– Uninterested in the company brand.
– Uninterested in learning more.
Shit.
Uninterested in learning anything <beyond what they are currently doing>.
I clearly understand that stating uninterested disengaged employees is bad for a business is simply stating the obvious.
And, yet, not only did I just read two articles with research suggesting while most employees fear burnout they actually do not work anything close to burn out levels … I also viewed information stating employees ARE disinterested and disengaged.
Let me tell you how bad the research looked.
The research suggests more and more employees <someone somewhere even used the “most” word> are disengaged and maybe slightly interested <enough to remain employees> but not overly interested in the work they do … and certainly not passionate.
I have include a pretty sobering infographic which states that employees feel overworked, overwhelmed, and they don’t like what they do.
Basically … well … they are unhappy.
It is obvious <and research supports this> that all this disinterest and unengaged attitude costs companies.
Real money and intangible money <in lost productivity, absenteeism and turnover>.
It’s also harmful to employees because this disinterest actually stresses them.
Yikes.
You would think less work and being less engaged would actually be relaxing … less of a stress burden.
But in reality employees DO want to provide value.
Employees DO want to be valued.
Employees DO want to be part of the company value <and vision>.
Not being able to do so creates stress <as well as unhappiness which inevitably ultimately leads to being disengaged>.
The thing that bothers me the most about it is that it’s pretty easy to fix.
Ok.
The thing that bothers me the most is HOW we go about trying to fix it.
We create ‘team events’ and offsite activities and some even throw more money at the employees <incentives, raises & bonuses>.
In addition we invest gobs of energy creating a ‘positive work environment’ as well as invest gobs of money upgrading technology and ‘employee widgets’ <which, of course, they have told us in feedback that they want>.
And all we senior managers do is sit back and scratch our heads and think “ungrateful employees” when they remain disengaged.
We can all run around talking about workload and reducing stress as much as we want but it ends up missing the real issue.
People do not become engaged unless they care <or have an interest>.
Uh oh.
You cannot buy, or motivate, care.
Well.
You can with a minority of employees … let’s say the ones motivated by money and the ones motivated by ego/ambition <with a sliver of employees who actually feel a responsibility to their job role.
While we rarely talk about it in the business world <because we talk about burnout so much> is the fact that the proportion of people who say they never work hard has long been far greater than those who say they always do. … yet … we see article after article and book after book pontificating about the stressed-out world we live in <which is crushing us supposedly>.
And, once again, we business leaders run around missing the ‘right thing to do.’
On one hand we try and buy their desire, passion and caring and on the other hand we reward how someone LOOKS doing their job rather than what they actually do.
Ok.
Doing what I just wrote creates disinterest and disengagement for the majority <whose preference is to do what they are paid to do well and responsibly without being judged on presentation and how they look doing it>.
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The key to career advancement is appearing valuable despite all hard evidence to the contrary. … If you add any actual value to your company today, your career is probably not moving in the right direction.
Real work is for people at the bottom who plan to stay there.”
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Scott Adams <creator of Dilbert>
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Here is what I think.
First.
This isn’t my main priority as a business owner <because selfishly this may not directly benefit my business> but this is an overall suggestion.
Research clearly states people do shit other than their work during work hours.
You can either fight it or figure out how to make it an advantage to your business.
Show you appreciate not just them but their talent & skills <even if it is not directly associated with what you hired them for>.
Let them explore their own passions and interests, and work on side projects.
Deloitte suggests that if you do something like this you give them autonomy and let them improve on their skills (mastery) two of the biggest motivators for work.
Second.
Encourage interdepartmental learning and engagement. I know. In a world that seems to thrive on specializing and focus this may seem out of whack. However, people who understand how and what everyone else is doing, their frustrations and successes, their likes & dislikes, has a tendency to keep the organization in tune with the humanity of a business organization <so people don’t feel like pieces of replaceable machinery>.
In addition … while I apologize to the New England Patriots haters <because this is a Patriots tactic> … doing something like this enhances the likelihood when someone ‘goes down’ you can shift a new body into the role with less stress to the overall organization.
By the way.
This is NOT done with fake team meetings or town halls or any forced interaction crap … this is an organizational culture decision where you set up the physical aspects to enable it <common areas> and the leadership aspects <department heads, middle management, etc.> are actually SEEN doing it in the common areas.
Lastly.
Build a culture to fight disinterest.
In fact … build a culture that abhors disinterest.
Recognize that there is no such thing as uninteresting things only uninterested people.
This actually means you have to encourage honesty and embrace purpose <personal & organizational>.
This creates some challenges to managers.
There has to be openness for people to say they are underworked without a feeling they will get fired for it.
In addition you need to be very cognizant of generational aspects. Older people naturally assume younger people should be working harder and putting in longer hours <like they did when they were young>.
In addition you have to be open to having people pursue some personal purpose as well as feed into, and engage with, the organizational purpose <this puts a lot of stress on hiring practices>.
To be clear.
I am not avoiding income and earnings as a motivating factor. But you also have to avoid creating the unfortunate scenario of, work hard or hardly working, the money’s the same.
A business seeking to engage and interest employees must embrace equality in both stimulation and substance.
By the way … this is not a sociological thing or just an organizational behavior thing … it is very personal <in a business way>.
Whether a job is good or bad is based on “Motivator Elements” and “Hygiene Elements.”
– Motivators are things like achievement, recognition, and competence. A lack of them doesn’t make you miserable, but you need them to feel satisfied at work.
– Hygiene elements are things like salary, positive relationships with co-workers, and fair administrative policies. A lack of them will make you miserable, but having them won’t make you satisfied.
Engaging and interesting employees must create an environment with balanced elements.
Look.
There are so many organizational culture articles and books out there your head will explode. Many businesses seek formulas and simple ways to align an organization <which is always difficult> and motivate employees <which is a highly misguided objective>.
The simplest common denominator among employees is easy – almost everyone seeks some type of meaningful activity.
Meaningful activity has some basic aspects:
– It has to provide some personal value <think Maslow stuff>
– It has to provide some recognizable value to the organization
– It has to be recognized or rewarded at some point
– It has to be a recognizable component of the larger organizational purpose <even the smallest of small activities has to feel ‘dynamic beyond its own purpose’>.
A business that offers a larger purpose to employees and encourages employees to help fulfill the purpose will have an engaged and interested employee base.
Anything else you may offer an employee is simply a feature or a ‘cost of doing business.’ if all you do is give people ‘cost of doing business’ features and expect them to be interested an engaged you will be sorely disappointed.
All things are interesting so if your people are uninterested and disengaged make your business interesting to them.