Posted by
Lynn McConnell on Monday, July 21, 2008 at 3:21 PM
Categories:
Talent Management,
Job Benchmarking,
Performance
ALL PRESENT AND ACCOUNTED FOR? LOOK AGAIN……
Presenteeism is alive and well in the workplace. Generally, presenteeism is a term for those ‘walking dead’, the so-called loyal employees who drag themselves to work when they should be home in bed.
But I contend that Presenteeism goes beyond those ‘walking dead’. Any employee who is not fully engaged and working to their top capacity can be guilty of Presenteeism. What’s the harm in surfing the net occasionally, or Googling the latest Madonna videos, or taking an extended lunch, or making extended personal phone calls?
According to which report you read, statistics state that from 50% to 81% of all employees now in the workplace are disengaged, or not performing their jobs to their full capacity – they are practicing Presenteeism. Some may be actively looking for new jobs, others just wasting time chatting, gossiping, griping, or talking about the latest episode of “The Bachelorette”.
What’s an employer to do?
The first thing to do is make sure that you are hiring the right people into the right jobs. Technical expertise is not enough – the job must reward what motivates the employee the most. Even though an employee might have the skills to be a good researcher, if they are a person who loves being part of a team and gets their energy from interacting with others, they will soon wither and become disengaged by being stuck doing research by themselves. Or throwing someone into a sales job where they are forced to deal with people all day long might be stressful for someone who prefers to work alone.
Looking beyond the knowledge and technical experience a job calls for is imperative in this day of downturning economies. Businesses need to know that the people they are employing are engaged and productive. In order to keep employees engaged you have to provide them with work that is meaningful, challenging, and fun. They have to feel that what they are doing is making a difference, and that they are important to the success of the company they work for.
Learn more about the
job benchmarking process that will help ferret out these ‘soft skills’.