In many of the HRM NOW! blogs, I have talked about various gaps.
We have the pay equity gap, the PPE gender gap, and now we have a new gap for HR professionals to ponder – the disengagement gap.
But before we get to that, let’s discuss pondering.
Pondering is something more HR professionals should do. HR is good at strategizing, executing and implementing, but pondering is something to add to the HR toolbox.
To ponder is to weigh in with the mind, think about and reflect on, and with this disengagement gap, HR may need to ponder the causes. There seems to be some illogical human behaviour in the disengagement gap, and this is something HR should definitely ponder.
What is the disengagement gap and why is it happening?
An article on HRD calls the disengagement gap ‘a complacency conundrum’:
This DG or the complacency conundrum seems to be incessant in modern day workplaces. A recent North America survey showed the following:
- 70% of employees are disengaged
- Only 35 % are planning to leave their organization
This is a strange workplace behaviour. Employees are not happy with their work but are unwilling to change jobs.
This is especially strange when North America has some of the lowest unemployment rates in years. Low unemployment rates should make it easier for employees to leave jobs they do not like. However, this was not happening in 2018, where 74% of employees were willing to leave their jobs, but in 2019, only 35% are. Why the drastic drop?
HR professionals must consider why the change in employee’s attitudes. It’s not because employees love their jobs, because most do not. All HR departments should begin a quest to understand how to engage their employees on a personal level. HR departments that start to ponder and develop some solutions to resolve this disengagement gap will see great performance benefits.
Discussion Questions
Improve your skills as a new HR professional by clicking on Dr. Natalie Baumgartner’s website. Pick one of her posts to read and review, and then ask yourself how an HR department could start to implement some of her ideas about employee engagement.