Reconnecting with disengaged employees is crucial for team success. Discover simple, yet powerful strategies to value their work, offer meaningful recognition, and encourage growth—without relying on flashy perks.
“Coming together is a beginning. Keeping together is progress. Working together is success.”
Henry Ford, American industrialist and business magnate
Recently, I was thinking about the days of universal Zoom, back during the peak pandemic times, when we were all emotionally bereft and mentally exhausted and therefore felt entitled to mute ourselves and turn our screens off for each and every conference call. It was, in some ways, a golden age for introverted, casually committed employees, but it was murder for those of us on the other end of the screen, staring into the dead eye at the top of our laptops and yearning for just one person to offer us a half-smile or nod politely back.
Well, it’s no secret that we’ve never entirely left that era. With employee engagement decreasing generally and more remote workers than ever before, fighting for company participation and connection can feel like pushing a boulder up an endless hill. The steps needed here aren’t groundbreaking, but they also aren’t necessarily easy. Supervisors, too, are still dealing with the holdovers of the remote era, but it may be time for some old fashioned, boots-on-the-ground managerial work. Here are some places to start.
Value Their Work and Compensate Them Well
I told you they weren’t groundbreaking steps. But seriously, anything else you do as a manager is meaningless unless this—showing your employees that you value them by paying them well—is the bedrock from which you’re building or rebuilding your organization. There’s a Gallup poll making the rounds describing our under-engaged workforce, with only 32% of US employees feeling “involved and enthusiastic.” That same poll also indicates that one of the key deciders in someone’s feelings of commitment and connection to their workplace is whether or not they feel seen and appreciated.
In an age where workers are exceedingly frank about money and far more likely to broadcast their compensation stats to fellow employees, it’s more important than ever that the people in power recognize the financial needs and expectations of the people working for them. Along with work-life balance, compensation is still the primary measure by which people assess whether a company is the right fit for them. As someone who has left a job for one where my paycheck was markedly bigger, I cannot overstate how much happier I was working for the people who were willing, at a base level, to pay me what I thought I was worth. It makes a huge difference.
Recognize Their Work (and Their Need for a Break From It)
But of course, we human beings are all really very soft and mushy on the inside, and as much as money matters, we also like to be told that we matter. As mentioned above, work-life balance is huge, and managers looking to reinvigorate a detached team should start by encouraging people to take care of themselves and take time off. It might seem counterintuitive to suggest that one way of making people want to work more is to let them work less, but under scrutiny, the argument holds water. It’s a truism that absence makes the heart grow fonder, but there’s also a “data-driven case” to be made for giving people time off: 94% of vacations from work mean a better ROI on returning to the office, and people who take “11 or more vacation days are more than 30% more likely to receive a raise.” Why? Because their outlook upon returning to work is far brighter.
Of course, there’s another easy way to remind people that they matter and the work they do is important: tell them. That same Gallup poll indicates that only 30% of respondents had been praised or acknowledged for doing good work in a week’s time. It’s safe to assume some extensive overlap between that percentage and the percentage of employees who feel engaged at work, and if this is an area where you’re lacking, I have good news for you: encouraging people is free. Letting people know that you’re grateful for them and acknowledging their recent successes, either privately or publicly, will cost you nothing but lead to huge benefits when it comes to employee outlook. So write the email or the handwritten note, or just walk from your desk to theirs and say it in person. It’s worth it.
Encourage Development
My relationship with professional development has always been somewhat ambivalent. On the one hand, there will always come a moment, at a conference or seminar or, if I’ve been really unkind to myself, a webinar, where I will ask, “What am I doing here? What are we even talking about?” It’s a mixed bag out there, and not all PDs are created equal.
On the other hand, more often than not, I leave a PD opportunity with ideas and, perhaps more importantly, a desire to implement those ideas. Almost without fail, I have returned to the office from my time away ready to 1) steal methods and practices from other people who seem to be doing it better than me, and 2) redouble my efforts in the areas where I already feel especially capable and confident. And when I’ve come to these epiphanies on the company dime, I’m more likely to take the leap when the next opportunity rolls around, knowing that the only risk to me is the possibility of wasted time and the occasional eyeroll-inducing incident.
Investing time, money and energy in encouraging your employees’ development lets them know that you care about them in the long term. Yes, you want them to come back and work more productively and innovatively. But the implicit message is that their growth and professionalism are important to you, whether you as a manager benefit directly or not. When you care, they care. It’s as simple as that.
Seek Humane and Humane Interactions
You’ll notice that this not-so-groundbreaking list does not include a subsection on perks or incentives. That’s on purpose. There is nothing wrong with systems that offer gifts and company concerts and employee benefits like free products and services. In fact, these are often major factors in determining whether to apply for or accept a job with a particular organization. They are not, however, the things that make people really feel at home once they are in a company. Every teacher I ever had incentivized my learning with the prospect of good grades, but the teachers I really loved were the ones who treated me like a person—the ones who saw me and used their position to build a relationship with me, pushing me to be my best and cheering me on along the way. That’s what counts here, too.
It doesn’t matter whether you’re someone with a less-than-enthusiastic in-office culture or a supervisor struggling to manage a disconnected team of remote workers. It’s your job to make people feel less like automated cogs on an assembly and more like vital, vibrant players on a vital, vibrant team. It isn’t rocket science. It’s just good leadership.
Andrew Forrester is a writer whose work has appeared in Parents Magazine, McSweeney’s Internet Tendency, and elsewhere. Andrew also teaches English and creative writing in Austin, Texas, and has a Ph.D. in English literature from Southern Methodist University.
Learning and professional growth go hand in hand. For regular career insights and information on continuing education programs offered by UT’s Center for Professional Education, subscribe to our monthly e-newsletter, It’s Your Career.
