The majority of global workers are disengaged but managers can do something about it.

Gallup released their State of the Global Workplace 2023 Report recently.

If you’ve never heard of Gallup, they’re a management consulting company that do insane amounts of research. They don’t talk to a few people, they talk to thousands so their results are considered to be reliable and robust in the human resources industry.

Here’s a summary of their findings:

1. In 2022, 23% of the global workforce were thriving, a record high since research began in 2009 but still lower than I’m sure anyone would like. Gallup define thriving as having meaningful work, feeling connected to the team and organisation, feeling proud of work, taking ownership of performance and going the extra mile.
2. 59% employees are ‘quiet quitting’ or watching the clock and putting minimum effort in and 18% are loud quitting, taking action that harms the organisation
3.  Stress is at a record high with 44% of employees reporting they felt stressed a lot of the previous day.
4. 53% of employees say it’s a good time to look for a new job.
5. 51% of employees intend to leave their job but those that are engaged would need a 31% pay bump to go while disengaged employees only need 22%.
6. Feeling engaged has 3.8 times as much influence on stress as location. In other words, employees feel less stress when they feel connected to their organisation and have meaningful work, being in the office doesn’t change a bad workplace culture.
7. Employees who are quiet quitting want to feel more respected, included and appreciated (41%), better pay and benefits (28%) and wellbeing initiatives like more breaks, less overtime and health centres (16%).

So what does this all tell us?Well the biggest opportunity to boost productivity is to engage those that are quietly quitting. And the best way to engage them is through great managers, many of whom may be quietly quitting themselves.

Gallup’s answer?

Coaching training for managers.

Of course they have a cutting edge programme.

And so do I! ?

In all seriousness though, here are 5 questions you can ask your team in one to ones to let them know you are interested in them and care:

1. What would make your job more meaningful?
2. What makes you feel excluded from the team?
3. What makes you feel included in the team?
4. What do you want your next role to be like?
5. How can I best support you to get there?

After you’ve asked each question listen until your team member has finished speaking. This shows you’re interested in what they have to say.

Ask them to tell you more so they feel like you care.

And then summarise back the essence of what they said so they feel heard.

I call this the Coaching Triangle.

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