How is HR Facing Employee Disengagement and Quiet Quitting?

Annie Papadopoulou

Employee Benefits, employee commitment, Employee Disengagement, Employee Engagement, HR, Quite Quitting Jun 21, 2024 0

Employee disengagement and quiet quitting are two big challenges that HR teams face today. Disengagement happens when employees lose interest in their work and stop putting in their best effort. Moreover, quiet quitting happens when employees do the bare minimum required and mentally check out from their job without actually resigning. Both of these issues can harm a company’s productivity and morale.

In this blog post, we will explain what employee disengagement and quiet quitting are, why they happen, and how HR teams should address these problems, understanding these challenges can help create a better workplace for everyone.

What is Employee Disengagement and Quiet Quitting?

We previously mentioned employee disengagement and quiet quitting that are extremely similar, but they have some differences between them. However, Human resources departments can take the same approach to eliminate both of these categories. Let’s explain further what both of them are and the reasons employees develop these approaches towards their work.

Employee disengagement:

Employee disengagement occurs when professionals lose their enthusiasm and commitment to their jobs. This is caused because they might feel disconnected from the company’s goals or unmotivated by their daily tasks.

However, there are various factors that may be responsible for this, such as lack of recognition, poor management, or limited opportunities for growth. Disengaged employees often display reduced productivity, lower quality of work, and minimal involvement in team activities. Their lack of engagement for the company or their position can negatively impact

the performance of the team and the work culture.

Quite Quitting:

Quiet quitting is a term used to describe employees who choose to do only the minimum required work without formally resigning from their position. These employees are not engaged or motivated for their job. They only complete their basic responsibilities but avoid extra tasks, changes for innovation, or taking any kind of additional responsibilities.

Managers would possibly not recognise or knowledge quiet quitting but is a damaging issue for the team performance and company culture. This behaviour can stem from dissatisfaction with the job, or a lack of alignment with the company’s values.

How HR is facing this?

Both of these terms are damaging to the company and the productivity of the other employees. HR should act fast and avoid these situations. It can be easier said that it can happen in any workplace because an individual is not aligning with the company culture, but it can also be a deeper organisational issue that the HR needs to be address. Some ways HR can face disengagement and quiet quitting are:

Positive Work Culture

The term quiet quitting is generally new, but the phenomenon is existing for a long time. Often, HR departments are trying to increase engagement in a wrong way that may have the exact opposite effect. For example, monitoring employees more closely or being more strict with them.

Employees want to feel that they matter, so the company should sustain a people first approach. HR should ensure that they will recognise when the job gets done and maintain a positive culture that supports all employees to succeed in avoiding disengagement.

Moreover, HR should be responsible to recognise if there is a reason employees are not motivated, such as the lack of managerial skills of a team leader or work overload.

Job Description

Employees are hired for a specific job description, often during their time in the company new responsibilities occurred and given to them. HR should make sure that these responsibilities align with the position of the person.

Also, it is important to discuss with the employees about these new responsibilities and how they feel about them. Some employees might be excited and motivated for a change, or others may feel that they are forced to do something they do not like.

Engagement Strategy

To help keep employees motivated, HR should have an engagement strategy. An engagement strategy may include:

Training days for career development.
Recognition programmes.
A clear career path for every team member.
Receiving feedback from employees.

These are simple steps HR departments can take to motivate employees and provide to them opportunities for growth.

Final Thoughts

By understanding these issues and addressing their root causes, HR teams can create a more engaged and motivated workforce. Implementing strategies to recognize and support employees, fostering a positive work environment, and providing opportunities for growth can help combat these problems, leading to a healthier and more productive workplace.

Inspiration :5 Ways HR Can Address Employee Disengagement and Quiet Quitting in 2024 | Inc.com