New research by the Gallup Organisation, shows that 63 per cent of the UK’s employees are not engaged at work and a further 20 per cent are actively disengaged. Only 17 per cent of workers report that they are fully engaged by their employers.
Speaking on how to build a strengths-based organisation, on Thursday 25 October at the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development’s National Conference, Marcus Buckingham, Global Practice Leader, Gallup Organisation will say, “These findings prove that we are systematically mismanaging our employees, and the longer they stay with us, the more disengaged they are likely to become. As a nation, we are wasting our human capital”.
Disengaged employees drain capital from businesses and cost the UK economy between £39 and £48 billion per year – more than the entire budget of the NHS. And, according to Buckingham, the findings of the survey imply that all of the money being spent on leadership and management training is wasted. “It isn’t delivering what it is designed to do; if most organisations cut their leadership and management training budget, they would never know the difference,” says Buckingham.
He adds, “For most employees, their first year with you is their best and then from there it’s all downhill. The longer an employee is with a company, the more likely it is that they become unclear about expectations and whether or not the company actually cares about their welfare and development.
“All we can do is try to teach managers and leaders how to engage their employees and then measure the results. A motivational culture cannot be imposed upon the organisation from the centre, it has to be filtered throughout the whole structure. All organisations are the same in this respect, they are an incoherent mix of many different cultures that vary from one department to the next”, says Buckingham.
During the seminar, he will show how most organisations have actively disengaged and engaged ratios of 1:1. He will reveal six disciplines that can be applied to raise the level of engaged employees to a healthy ratio of 4:1. Buckingham will show how organisations can achieve this turnaround within 18 months.
The CIPD’s National Conference and Exhibition ‘People Mean Business’ takes place at the Harrogate International Centre from 24-26 October 2001. For further conference and exhibition details or complimentary exhibition tickets, visit the CIPD website: www.cipd.co.uk/nationalconference or call 020 263 3434.
