In my last post I talked about disengagement.  Let’s continue the discussion, first, by giving you a “state of the people” address.  Then let’s look at some actions you can take to proactively position yourself for the next battle:

Some things you should know:  

• According to a recent study by the Washington-based Corporate Executive Board, the number of disengaged workers has doubled during the recession, to a startling 20%.
• Those who have survived rounds of layoffs feel beaten down, having been stretched too thin for too long, according to the January issue of “Human Resource Executive” magazine.
• HR’s most pressing post-recession task will be to provide highly engaged workers who are able to execute new business strategies that their executive committees are working so hard to develop.
• Many of the country’s largest companies are exploring new ways to attract the best employees, keep them engaged and prevent the cream of the crop from “jumping ship”.
• Many companies have survived the recession by taking a defensive posture and cutting back, but will face intense competition for their top performers within short order.
• 25% of high-potential employees are already actively looking for new jobs, and 10% of employees in the broader workforce are currently looking for other opportunities.

Are you okay?  I just heard a gasp. While you are wondering which 25% of your hi-pos are actively job hunting, and figuring out what the 20% of your disengaged workers are costing you, let’s turn to some positive ideas.

Here’s what top companies are doing, and they are doing it right now, to get the jump on this issue:

1. Making it easier to employees to move within the company without having to give up vacation time and/or other benefits. 

2. Creating executive compensation structures that match pay to performance and minimize risk.

3. On-the-job coaching of both middle managers and seasoned executives. 

4. More clearly defining employee roles.

5. Establishing better on-boarding/assimilation programs.

6. Professional development sessions, including both new employees and senior-level executives, giving employees a sense of belonging and connection with each other, helping them to see company strategy and how they each play a critical role in achieving company goals.

7. Creating flexible work arrangements, such as telecommuting, office “hoteling” and “9/80″ schedule, in which employees work nine-hour days during a two-week period and take every other Friday off.

8. Benchmarking jobs and using pre-employment assessments to cut the drain of time, money, resources, and morale with wrong hires.

9. Aggressive training of both current and new employees.

For more information on executive coaching, job benchmarking, its ROI, talent management assessments, managing performance priorities, team-building and leadership development, including state-of-the-art in house training programs, email me at julia@mentaliron.com or call me directly at 503-750-3950.  Allow us to help you find affordable solutions to re-engaging your workforce.

Tags: Affordable training, Chief learning Officer, Disengagement, Emotional Intelligence, Engagement, Executive Coach, human resources, pumping mental iron, Talent Management

This entry was posted on Wednesday, February 3rd, 2010 at 2:31 pm and is filed under Best Practices, Business Coach, Business success, Coaching, Disengagement, EQ, Emotional Intelligence, Engagement, Executive Coach, Executive Performance Coach, Executive pERFORMANCE cOACHING, Leadership, Leadership Development, Leadership Skills, Learning, Management, Management Consulting, Mental Iron, Productivity, Profit, Stress Management, Sustainability, Teamwork, Uncategorized, executive coaching, job benchmarking, pumping mental iron. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.