Hang on Millennials and hold on Generation Z. There’s another demographic that seems to be taking over the workplace landscape, except their influence and impact isn’t profound; it’s profane. We’re talking about disengaged employees (AKA zombies) who can mutate a high-performance workforce into a frightening zombie squad.
However, before dealing with the zombies who roam the halls, you need to know what and who to look for. Here are some common characteristics of disengaged employees:
- They’re going through the motions and phoning it in. Gallup has found that a whopping 70% of employees are disengaged (read: they’re at risk of becoming, are currently being converted, or are presently card-carrying zombies)
- They don’t care about the enterprise’s bottom-line. Gallup estimates that disengaged employees cost the U.S. $450-$550 billion in lost productivity each year; and a WillisTowersWatson study of shareholder filings found that enterprises with poor employee engagement delivered a 21% return over a 5-year period, compared to 64% for enterprises with strong employee engagement
- They’re not delivering a positive customer experience. Research by Right Management found that 83% of disengaged employees admit they don’t have good understand of how to meet customer needs; and a Cvent study found that customer retention rates plunge 18% when disengaged employees are in the mix
- They’re creating more zombies. Gallup found that nearly 18% of disengaged workers actively undermine what their engaged colleagues accomplish
- They’re freaking out top talent. The American Management Association identified a strong link between disengaged employees and high turnover; researcher Roger Herman found 75% of employees who quit don’t leave what they feel is a bad job—they flee what they believe is a lousy boss
From Walking Dead to Working Inspired
If a closer look at your workforce reveals that you have a small, medium or large zombie squad roaming the halls: don’t panic. Tackling this epidemic in your enterprise doesn’t require a costly or risky reboot.
What you need is to give employees workers, both the engaged and disengaged, a way to meaningfully connect, effectively collaborate and plug into the bigger picture. That’s the core formula for a collaborative work solution (CWS), which is the safest way to keep zombies on TV screens instead of roaming your enterprise and wreaking havoc.
How to cultivate a “Zombie-free” workforce
Clarizen’s collaborative work management solution was singled out as the “leader of the pack” as it was positioned among the “Leaders” in the Forrester Wave™: Enterprise Collaborative Work Management report, and earned a top 5.00 score in several areas including: content collaboration, work management, team management, reporting, globalization, security, go-to-market strategy, and customer satisfaction.
