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Boss and Atonement: What to do when employees lose interest

Recent study results indicate that management personnel in many companies either partially or completely ignore the main needs and expectations of their employees. The good news is that management can easily remedy this.

Twenty-one percent of German employees feel no emotional attachment to their company and exhibit destructive behaviour in the workplace, negatively impacting the performance and competitiveness of the company. These results were published by the Gallup Engagement Index 2010 at the beginning of the year.

In Great Britain, 22 percent of employees don't feel connected on any deeper level with their companies; and in France, this number is even higher – 28 percent. However, these numbers pale in comparison to the world leaders – India (37 percent) and Russia (38 percent).

"Love Lockdown" with catastrophic results for companies
Lack of employee motivation is very costly for many companies: Analysts say that emotionally disconnected workers behave differently than employees with strong emotional attachments. One difference is higher absence times. Marco Nink, Strategic Consultant at Gallup, wrote, "Emotionally attached workers additionally tend to change their employers less often." Just now in these times of shortage of skilled workers, this "readiness to change horses" represents a large challenge for the economy.

According to Engagement Index 2010, the strongest emotional attachment was scored by American firms (28 percent). Great Britain took fifth place in the international index with 20 percent. With 13 percent, Germany finds itself floating in the midfield of the investigated countries. However, China brought up the rear: In the "Land of Smiles" only two percent of employees sense a high degree of emotional connectivity to their companies.

Gallup identified a central factor for the degree of emotional connectivity of employees: the behaviour of management. In Germany, 45 percent of emotionally disconnected workers were immediately dismissed by their direct bosses. "These persons are neglected by their management," according to Nink. As an example: All too often, emotionally disconnected workers feel no attachment to their superiors.

How to easily build committed teams
For management staff, the mission is clear: Build more closeness with employees. This is really a balancing act for many in these times of mounting pressure to succeed and the increase of on-site distributed teams. However with modern tools, such as online meeting software, even great distances can be bridged.

Video conferences are no longer the exclusive province of those at the highest levels of management with costly telepresence systems. Web conferencing product GoToMeeting even comes with integrated video conferencing in HD quality and supports up to six webcams simultaneously – at no additional cost to the basic subscription fee. Supervisors thereby have the opportunity to "show some face." Gestures and non-verbal communication are on the advance in the office world once again!

The advantages: Regardless of where the employee or supervisor is located at the time, an online meeting can be started with just a few mouse clicks – comfortably at the writing desk at home, or anywhere else you happen to be (which also helps hold organization resource expenditure to a minimum). GoToMeeting lets you answer employees' questions ad hoc, make quicker decisions and avoid frustration. Video conferencing is also a more impactful way of delivering positive feedback to employees.

Try it out now to establish a better emotional connection to your employees.
Request the demo version now: ###DCI_TEL_SALES###