Tackling the 'Great Disconnection' starts with valuing workers - Michelle Mook

At the same time as reading this, I’m hearing business owners saying how difficult they’re finding recruitment. When attracting talent is so challenging, what business can afford to lose the talent they do have?

Left unchecked, disengaged team members turn into leavers. Replacing people is difficult, and expensive. The cost of replacing a leaver is estimated at 12-18 months of their salary – a cost many businesses can ill afford.

An engaged workforce means fewer leavers, but it also has a significant impact on productivity.

Lower sickness and absence levels; improved advocacy among customers and staff; higher customer satisfaction; improved innovation; and a rise in overall business productivity and profit.

When you map that against the impact that losing talent has on an organisation – lost expertise; juggling workloads to accommodate staff shortages; time to recruit, onboard and train new people; productivity dips while new team members get up to speed and the associated risks around quality and customer satisfaction as new people come on board – it’s clear that an engaged workforce isn’t just “nice to have”. It brings real bottom line benefits.

The reasons people feel disengaged are the same in almost every employee engagement survey we run. And – despite what a lot of employers think - it is hardly ever about money. The engagement drivers rated lowest by employees in most businesses are feeling valued; opportunities for growth and development; and communication.

Making sure teams feel valued is about connection: knowing people as individuals, understanding their career aspirations, knowing what motivates them, and supporting them to achieve. The pandemic has changed the way many organisations work, but hybrid working is not to blame for a lack of connection in a business.

Managers need the skills to manage effectively. Already in 2022, we have seen investment in leadership and management training surpass 2021 levels, which shows that business owners are recognising this.

But there are still a lot of businesses in which managers are not making time to understand and invest in people to help them stay engaged and add value to the organisation.

We’ve seen more investment in team building, too, as leaders recognise that with the benefits of hybrid working comes a greater risk of disconnection and seek new ways of bringing their teams together.

Leaders and managers must also stop relying on old communication methods in new working models, which require new, imaginative ways of communicating to make sure everyone feels informed, valued, and part of the team.

I always ask the leaders and managers we work with whether, hand on heart, they know what every person in their team needs to feel valued. You’d be amazed how many don’t.

I’d encourage every business owner to find out what engages and motivates the people in their organisation - and do more of it. Investing in your team is the key to avoiding the ‘great disconnection’.

Michelle Mook is the founder and MD of learning and development firm, Pro-Development (UK) Ltd.