Yea, a shameless plug for one of the truly great TV shows of all times… Lost in Space.  But I digress, before I even progress.

Anyways…

In the last few weeks I have had the pleasure of meeting some of my colleagues at OI Partners, a leader in customized talent management and leadership solutions.  I’ve worked with them on and off over the course of a couple of business-lives and it was great catching up with them in person.

My favorite meeting was with Tim Schoonover in Cincinnati, but that could have been due to him taking me to a fabulous lunch with views of the Cincinnati skyline and waterfront, including the new Cincinnati Reds stadium. Trust me, everything looks great from the 18th floor!

Tim and I were discussing how Employee Hold’em categorizes employee groups into three segments when we analyze and interpret the data from a Workforce Engagement Assessment.  Tim commented that employees who are “Unengaged”  “plan to leave” while “Reluctant” employees “don’t want to stay.”  We joked that these employees were “lost in place“.

The “don’t want to stay” definition intrigued me. So I went to one of my favorite websites, dictionary.com to determine the meaning of “lost.” Here are a few that piqued my interest:

1.    Beyond recovery or redemption; fallen or destroyed
2.    To fail to hear, see, or understand
3.    To be unable to keep control or allegiance of
4.    Not used to one’s benefit or advantage
5.    Beyond reach, communication, or influence
6.    To be unsuccessful in retaining possession of

But do these definitions match with our own “Reluctant” and “Unengaged” categories?  As Sarah Palin would say… you betcha.

The first and last definitions go with our “Unengaged” category, employees that are already halfway out the door. Remember, these employees seldom tell you that they are leaving, but they sure are nice enough to tell ten of their friends and associates how lousy it is to work for you. In each of the last three national benchmarks on workforce engagement, about a third of employees  were unengaged with their employer.

The other four definitions work for the “Reluctant” employee and the employer who doesn’t understand what drives workforce commitment and engagement. When an employer fails to “hear, see, or understand” what motivates employees to stay longer and work harder, employees will move “beyond reach, communication, or influence.” Once this happens, the employer will be “unable to keep control or allegiance” of the employee, guaranteeing that the employee(s) in question will “not be used to one’s benefit or advantage.”(Yea, I know, I enjoyed that one too).  In each of the last three national benchmarks, roughly one quarter of all employees were “reluctant to leave and reluctant to work hard”

So, when you look at your workforce, recognize that nearly six in ten of your employees are just going through the motions, not going the extra mile for your customers, not highly motivated to work hard, not turning away calls from headhunters, and not recommending your organization as a good place to work.

This isn’t rocket science folks.  Take twenty minutes of your employee’s time over the course of a year and ask them about their relationship with you and their boss. Determine if they believe your organization and senior leaders are highly ethical.  Better understand their training and development needs and ensure their annual performance evaluation is fair. Check to see if they have the right tools and technology to do their job.

“But gosh Marc, twenty minutes is so much time off the floor, the loss of production would be harmful“.  Yea, I actually hear that… twenty minutes is much too much to ask.

And according to my calculations, it only gives you 99.9 percent of their work-year left to get back the small time investment you made by helping them find their way back to being an engaged and committed employee.

Remember, lost employees make for lost customers that never buy your products again!

Danger Will Robinson!