Is Employee Engagement a thing of the past?

Is Employee engagement a thing of the past?  I have been thinking about this topic for quite some time now, and have listened to employers discuss their workforce.  It seems that employers want the best of the best, but what do they do to keep them.  Just like in relationships both employers and employees wear a “6 month mask”.  What is a “6 month mask” you ask?  When an individual receives a call with a job offer, they are excited, anxious and determined to do the best job they can. 6 Months go by and the true colors of both the employer and employee can come out.  There are several things that can be done to fix this.

1.      Employers should utilize employee engagement surveys to open their eyes to what possible problems might exist then help the employee resolve the issues.  Employers are often afraid to know what their employees think or might not even care as long as the financial ROI is happening.

2.      Employers could engage and use job coaches to help individuals produce the best they can while having someone there to help them with their behavior.  This could help the negative and dis-engaged employee return to being an engaged employee who will produce their best work.

3.      Employees need to remember what it felt like to be unemployed and have the gratitude they had on that first day of work.  Looking at every day on the job as the first day they were hired will help this employee remain engaged and grateful for the job.

4.      Employees need to remember to avoid the negative people at lunch or on smoke breaks because negativity breeds negativity.  Constantly hearing the complainers talk about the long hours, the “crappy” boss they have, all the responsibilities they have little or no time for, or any other negative remark will start to infiltrate the mind of that once engaged employee and they could become negative.

5.      Employees should go for their passion in employment and if their current job is not it, they need to remember that their behavior is the only thing that can get them fired.

6.      Employers should remember that to gain and maintain the best talent they need to be a good employer, have much better communication across the board with the employees and make sure that the employees do not feel lied to or mislead with their job responsibilities. 

I have spoken with numerous employees and the biggest complaint I hear is that they feel their employer is not engaged with them, that they do not care about the employees success, and that they wished the “Other Duties as Assigned” was removed from the job description, because they feel that employers abuse this statement and try to get more out of fewer employees instead of hiring another person to help.

My question to you that I hope you ponder over is “How engaged are you with your job/career?