I read an article in a magazine today that said most studies show that nearly 70% of employees are disengaged!
I thought that this number was fairly high until I thought of a few of my past positions. Truth is, I can recall sitting at one of my old desks (won’t say which one) reading through job position openings that were available in other companies because I was so disengaged with my employment.
I believe becoming disengaged is quite easy when we become familiar with a job. In my opinion, this often happens when we don’t have enough ‘new’ stuff going on. We have the routine down. We can do the job with our eyes closed if we have to (and, perhaps, sometimes we do!) The challenge is no longer present because we know what we are doing, how to do it, how long it will take and how much time we can spend doing other things, such as filing our nails, talking to our friends or hanging out online, answering personal emails.
Not to say I did any of these things, you know . . . just to say how easy it is to do when you are checked out of your job.
So what can make us check back in? The article was aimed at employers who were trying to get their employees back on track. What was it that they could do, as employers, to pull their employees back into the job.
In my opinion, this really has to be done on the employee’s level. Yes, you can give an employee more work. But if that employee is checked out because she wants to be (and this does happen!) and not because she is bored or underworked, then piling more work on her desk is only going to make her work less efficiently. She’ll become aggravated that she has more to do and will not do it well.
Instead, I believe we have to monitor our own selves and see if we are checked out; and if we find that we are, it is time for us to take responsibility and check back in!
How do we do this? We can switch jobs, meaning leave the company for another. We can switch positions, meaning remaining in the company but doing something else for a while. We can take a class, learn some more skills, and apply them to other work in the office. We can talk to the manager about our feelings and ask if there is other work available that might motivate and excite us.
I think the worse thing to do is to remain at a job in which you are checked out. Really, I’ve seen it with people who stay years and years past their prime. They are doing a disservice not only to themselves by shortchanging their skills by not using them fully, but they are doing a disservice to both the company and the clients as well. How effective will you be in your job if you are unhappy with what you are doing?
Are you checked out? If so, make a plan this week to check back in!